macOS Tahoe 26 Developer Beta 4
Apple today provided developers with the fourth beta of macOS Tahoe 26 for testing purposes, with the update coming two weeks after the third beta.
This update did correctly install for me via Software Update.
The only beta 4 item that I see in the releases notes is that it says Xcode Previews will “frequently panic” so you should use beta 3 instead.
You can barely tell that Continue is a button.
See also his screenshots of Safari private windows, menu backgrounds, and sidebars.
I love not being able to read the now playing track info.
Is there some kind of contest within Apple to see how little contrast can be used while still technically indicating a selection? One of these disks is selected, believe it or not!
Previously:
Update (2025-07-23): John Gruber:
There is no good argument for selection states that are anything but instantly obvious. Whoever designed this doesn’t use the app.
That playback bar though is wild
Tahoe beta dislike I haven’t others complain about yet: the difference in look between the active window and all the inactive ones is way too subtle. I repeatedly have looked at one of my windows, pressed command-w and end up closing the wrong window. Will file a FB because easy enough and don’t need a sample app. Previous OS versions had a much more pronounced shadow + more obvious titlebar changes between active/inactive.
I think the Big Sur change for active windows was a regression, and Tahoe makes it worse.
But, still, who steps back from updating a PDF document viewer in which each page is cut off at the corners and thinks yes, this is an improvement? I repeat: a selfish design choice prioritizing Apple’s goals over that of its users.
I think one reason Liquid Glass is causing such a profoundly negative reaction is that it is making a lot of people realize that the idea that they own their computer was actually an illusion. There was a sense that by choosing the Mac and local native apps you were shielding yourself from the "rent everything own nothing" remote worldview, but the inevitability of this coming disaster reveals just how little agency you really have over "your computer.”
Increasingly, the computer feels less like "your house,” and more like being a a senior in high school living in an increasingly tense environment with your parents. You're 17 but they tell you to keep the door open. You want to tell them why you're frustrated in good faith, but they know they're in the power position and just tell you "my house my rules.” It exhausting because there's nowhere else to go, and you're still expected to be productive in this environment.
On macOS especially, some of the new component designs are just baffling, like how sidebars look, how buttons take up so much more room and float for no purpose, etc. This is just a giant, nearly always ugly mess. Apple desperately needs new software design leadership.
Hard drives get perspective, time machine volumes dont…
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It feels like the Time Machine icon is bulging out at the top.
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I usually try to leave more substantive comments but these all look fucking awful. Even for a beta.
I'm starting to think Liquid Ass is a deliberately tanked feature designed to take public attention off how far Apple is behind on AI.
Public sentiment around Apple software is now dominated by a "controversial interface" rather than "non-existent AI".
And this is the fourth Beta. And all the linked screenshots reveal that the situation is far from improved. If we're generous and estimate that Mac OS 26 will be released in the second half of October, this leaves Apple about 10 weeks to fix this UI. Good luck with that.
