Juli Clover (release notes, security, enterprise, developer, full installer, IPSW):
macOS Tahoe 26.1 adds a toggle that allows you to select a Tinted mode for Liquid Glass, adding additional opacity. There are also improvements to AirPlay and FaceTime, with Apple’s full release notes below.
See also: Howard Oakley.
Tim Hardwick:
Apple quietly added a small but notable enhancement to Spotlight in macOS Tahoe 26.1, which was released on Monday. The update introduces new clipboard history controls for Spotlight, allowing users to decide how long copied items remain accessible in search results.
Previously, Spotlight could optionally retain clipboard contents for up to eight hours, but the latest update expands that flexibility with three options – 30 minutes, 8 hours, or 7 days.
John Siracusa:
Tahoe changed the timing of some app launch, termination, and run-state changes when monitored via the relevant public notification APIs.
Dan Moren:
Absolutely baffling Shortcuts bug that has persisted even in the 26.1 RC: my workflow that moves podcast files after I finish recording still gives me an incomprehensible error after it moves some of the files (“This action could not be run with the current user interface.”). Even worse, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. My workaround has been to change it from moving the files to copying them, which works fine. But it used to work with no problems. 🤷
Mario Guzmán:
Apple has fixed so many #AppKit bugs in #macOSTahoe 26.1 that I think I can release my app. It was so, so broken, especially split views and their tracking dividers in the toolbar. I think all those issues I reported are now fixed.
Andrew Cunningham:
Mac owners should also notice better audio quality for FaceTime calls “in low-bandwidth conditions,” and there’s now support for AutoMix transitions when using Apple Music over AirPlay.
Radiccio:
We have discovered a severe performance regression caused by macOS 26.1. Scrolling may appear to be very slow and the UI may stop updating entirely.
Rich Trouton:
After talking with colleagues in the Mac Admins Slack, I was pointed to a Known Issues entry for Virtualization in the macOS 26.1.0 release notes:
The serial number published for the virtual machine is 0, which prevents iCloud and related applications from functioning correctly.
Howard Oakley:
In some Finder views, such as Column View, selecting an item at the left displays the item’s thumbnail and associated metadata. Below those are a selection of tools offering Finder services, such as Rotate Left, Markup, and more. Those are non-functional in 26.1, and if you want to use any of those services, you’ll have to use an alternative method, such as the contextual menu.
Paul Kafasis:
We’re happy to report that the issues we reported have been resolved with the recent release of MacOS 26.1, and that Tahoe contains several additional fixes for various audio bugs. With that in mind, we’re now able to recommend upgrading your Mac to Tahoe (26.1 or higher).
Adam Engst:
macOS 26.1 Tahoe also adds the Tinted view, accessible in System Settings > Appearance, but in my example screenshot from “How to Turn Liquid Glass into a Solid Interface” (9 October 2025), I cannot discern any changes at all after selecting it. Maybe the changes are visible in apps other than the Finder?
Jeff Johnson:
I don’t understand what the big deal was about the Clear/Tinted toggle, because AFAICT it doesn’t make much of a difference.
Previously:
Update (2025-11-05): Pierre Igot:
How on earth does this qualify as “reduced transparency” in macOS 26?
Rui Carmo:
macOS window corners are still rounded in too many different ways (my last count was five different styles, was hoping for a 20% reduction at least).
the Tupperware toggle does not improve appearance or readability as much as I expected (on the Mac–on the iPhone I can now read some of my home screen notifications again).
Howard Oakley:
Those terms indicate an overlap with Accessibility settings. However, if either of the Accessibility settings is enabled, then the Liquid Glass setting is unavailable. I also presume that the word tinted here refers to the faint colouration that might be seen in what would otherwise be a transparent view, rather than any more generalised addition of colour.
[…]
This is one of the obvious drawbacks in Tahoe’s flexibility, in that many combinations of appearance mode, Accessibility settings and icon and widget style degrade its human interface rather than enhancing it.
Todd Thomas:
The developers responsible for Apple’s Developer app must not have tested their app on macOS 26.1. :-0
Update (2025-11-06): Howard Oakley:
If you have updated your Mac to Tahoe 26.1, you may be blissfully unaware that it will now automatically download and install some security updates, regardless of its Software Update settings. Open Privacy & Security settings, scroll down to the end and you’ll see a new item, Background Security Improvements, that Apple has kindly turned on for you. There are matching new settings in iOS and iPadOS 26.1 that are also enabled by default.
Apple seemingly forgot to mention these when listing the changes in 26.1, and its documentation of these Background Security Improvements (BSI) is sketchy to say the least. However, the description there as “lightweight security releases for components such as the Safari browser, WebKit framework stack and other system libraries” is so similar to that for RSRs as “improvements to the Safari web browser, the WebKit framework stack, and other critical system libraries” that we can only conclude the BSI is a rebranded RSR.
[…]
If Apple’s current account of BSIs is complete, the only control we have over them is whether they’re downloaded and installed automatically. If you opt for that, as Apple has set as the default, then you won’t be given any warning, or even informed when the BSI has been installed on your Mac.
[…]
If there’s a problem with a BSI, such as that in the second RSR in July 2023, then there’s no option to uninstall the BSI and revert to a previous version of that cryptex, as there was with RSRs. However, Apple might decide to remove the BSI from your Mac.
Brian Webster:
OMG everyone update to macOS 26.1 then press command-j in column mode in the Finder RIGHT NOW
There’s a new Resize columns to fit filenames option.
Previously:
Update (2025-11-10): Ryan Ashcraft:
Still haven’t shipped a macOS Tahoe update for Foodnoms because of issues like this and crashes in Catalyst.
Howard Oakley:
After many attempts to find some difference between Clear and Tinted in the bundled apps I use most often, I’ve decided that they are visually identical. And where the Liquid Glass effect results in optical interference between layers, Tinted doesn’t alter opacity to eliminate that interference.
[…]
Numbering of macOS versions needs to be restructured to accommodate RSRs.
Now, over two years later, it seems Apple has forgotten those lessons. It won’t even describe these as security updates, but “improvements”, won’t include them in the release notes for 26.1, hides their single control at the very bottom of a long list in Privacy & Security settings, rather than in Software Update, provides no manual option, and no means to uninstall them.
I wonder how long it will be before we all regret those decisions, and have to repeat past mistakes before we can learn from them.
Update (2025-11-14): Blake Patterson:
Just installed macOS 26.1. Safari still does this contrast death bug that happens sometimes when I click a link directly to an image.
Mario Guzmán:
macOS Tahoe’s Apple Music app has this annoying bug that whenever I launch it, it opens up in this small size. It doesn’t remember its last position/size.
Background Security Improvements Design Finder Liquid Glass Mac macOS Release macOS Tahoe 26 Music.app Safari Virtualization
macOS 15.7.2 (full installer, security):
This update provides important security fixes and is recommended for all users.
macOS 14.8.2 (full installer, security):
This update provides important security fixes and is recommended for all users.
Howard Oakley:
To be certain the correct updates will be installed, in the Also Available section of Software Update, click on the ⓘ button to the right of the Update Now button for Other Updates and select the appropriate macOS update and Safari, deselecting the Tahoe update there. That should ensure you don’t inadvertently upgrade to Tahoe.
Jack Brewster:
It’s some kinda bullshit that clicking the info button next to the Sequoia 15.7.2 update selects the Tahoe upgrade in the updates window. I’m sure there’s a few folks out there who will footgun themselves with this.
Jeff Johnson:
It’s diabolical that pressing this info button selects the Tahoe update instead of the Sequoia update.
Riccardo Mori:
I’m still on Ventura on this Mac. You’d think that under that “Other Updates Available” I would find the option to update to Sonoma in case I don’t want to “ “ “ “upgrade” ” ” ” to Mac OS Tahoe.
But no, it’s just a link to update Safari.
I also ‘love’ how half the preference pane becomes a marketing pitch for Tahoe.
Previously:
Update (2025-11-05): ednl:
The one-click-close of inactive tabs is finally back in Safari 26.1 (for me on MacOS 15.7.2), see quoted post for a little bit more detail.
Remaining annoyance: flash of a completely white page when navigating to a new website, despite dark mode on both MacOS and the old and new websites.
Update (2025-11-12): John Gruber (Mastodon):
Leon Cowle was brave enough to try this out, and, it turns out, just clicking the “Update Now” button next to Sequoia will, thankfully, do the right thing: install the Sequoia 15.7.2 update, not Tahoe. (I followed Cowle’s brave lead and tried it myself, and can confirm that “Update Now” installed the Sequoia 15.7.2 update.) Why the Info panel presented by clicking the “ⓘ” button next to Sequoia in the “Other Updates” section defaults to installing the upgrade to 26.1 Tahoe, I don’t know. But it sure makes it seem like we need to be more careful than we actually do if we want to stick with MacOS 15 Sequoia for now.
The “ⓘ” buttons do not, as I would expect, open a sheet with detailed information about the software updates per each section of the Software Update settings panel. Instead, even though there are separate “ⓘ” buttons in each section of the settings panel, they each open the same sheet that allows exact control over which available software updates to install. That includes the exact same default selections in this sheet.
[…]
I don’t know what the i in the “ⓘ” button is supposed to stand for, but it isn’t intuitive.
Jeff Johnson:
What the article does not state explicitly is that in the info panel opened from Also Available, the Upgrade Now button does indeed install macOS Tahoe.
Dark Patterns Mac macOS 14 Sonoma macOS 15 Sequoia macOS Release Software Update
Juli Clover (release notes, security, enterprise, developer):
iOS 26.1 adds a toggle to increase the opacity of Liquid Glass for those who want less translucency. Alarms and Timers now require a swipe to turn them off, and there’s finally an option to turn off the Lock Screen Camera swipe.
Beta Profiles:
Apple brings back transparent navigation buttons in Photos.
Steve Troughton-Smith:
There are so many critical framework fixes in iOS/macOS 26.1 that if you were planning on debuting an app with a 26.0 deployment target, I would shift that to a minimum of 26.1. Even so, there’s yet not enough here to help me get Broadcasts (and other apps) out the door.
Ryan Christoffel:
iOS 26.1 beta 4 now lets you disable the Camera swipe gesture entirely.
Lee Bennett:
I’m admittedly a little bemused by the new setting to disable the swipe right to left gesture to open the camera from the lock screen. Clearly I’m not the norm. I’ve never known a time I mistakenly opened the camera this way. In fact, I replaced the lock screen button for the camera with a shortcut action to log water consumption. The swipe gesture is almost always how I intentionally get to the camera these days.
I always use the Action button now, so it would be nice to be able to configure the swipe to do something else.
John Voorhees:
Apple has also refined Local Capture for the iPhone and iPad, which is great. Local capture allows you to record high-quality audio and video from an iPhone or iPad, while simultaneously on a video call using a service like Zoom. It’s a feature that podcasters wanted for many years, and although I was excited to find that Apple had listened to our annual requests with iOS and iPadOS 26, the implementation fell a little short because it didn’t allow for gain control, making it difficult to get a properly balanced recording with some microphones. Likewise, there was no option in the first iteration of the feature to pick where your recording was saved.
With iOS and iPadOS 26.1, both issues have been addressed sooner than many of us expected, which is fantastic.
Juli Clover:
We’ve complied a list of all of the new features in iOS 26.1, down to the tiniest interface change.
Adam Engst:
If you’re already running version 26 of any of these operating systems, you should update soon. The new features, security improvements, and unspecified bug fixes feel worthwhile given that we’re coming from an initial release with just a handful of high-profile bug fixes in 26.0.1.
However, if you haven’t yet upgraded, I recommend holding off until version 26.2, due out in mid-December.
Previously:
Update (2025-11-06): Benjamin Mayo (via John Gruber):
The Tinted glass option generally has a relatively subdued impact inside apps, making bars a bit frostier. But on the lock screen, it transforms all the notifications into grey opaque blobs. I would never choose this mode because that effect is just too ugly.
Russell Ivanovic:
iOS 26.1 review: eh it’s fine. Most of the glass effects aren’t that offensive. Do I love it? No. Do I hate it? Also no.
That said I legit can’t read the percentages on this Apple battery widget. Why the tiny font? Why so much transparency? It’s a giant widget. Gimme bigger text you cowards.
Update (2025-11-12): Marc Edwards:
I think iOS 26.1 changed the dock, so icons are no longer aligned with the grid above. I am not into this.
Design Dock iOS iOS 26 iOS Release Liquid Glass
Juli Clover (release notes, security, enterprise, developer):
iPadOS 26.1 reintroduces Slide Over, a multitasking feature that was removed with the multitasking overhaul in iPadOS 26 .
Slide Over works alongside the window-based multitasking functionality in iPadOS 26 , so you can open up multiple app windows and still swipe over to quickly access a Slide Over app. Only one Slide Over app is supported at a time in iPadOS 26.1, and the feature is accessible by tapping on the green window resizing button and choosing Enter Slide Over.
There was more discussion of this when the feature was in beta.
John Voorhees:
Apple heard from a vocal group of iPad users who relied on Slide Over to get their work done and has added the feature back to the OS with a twist. The new Slide Over supports a single app tucked just offscreen with a little Picture-In-Picture style indicator along the edge of your iPad’s screen. Previously, you could switch between multiple apps using a dedicated Slide Over switcher interface. However, now, your Slide Over window can be resized to any size, which wasn’t possible before. Also, the single Slide Over app is a per-display restriction, meaning that if you use an external display with your iPad, you get a second Slide Over app.
Second, Apple has added some new menu items for managing window. There are now options to hide your current window, hide your other windows, and close all of your windows, all of which close gaps between how windows work on the iPad and Mac.
Warner Crocker:
I do question why Apple only allows one app in this returning version as opposed to multiple apps as it did before. It was always handy to keep multiple apps available throughout rehearsal, given that I prefer to have my script open full screen on the 11 inch iPad Pro.
As a side note, I’m not a fan of the Liquid Glass border around the window in Slide Over. It waists screen real estate, almost begging you to look at the feature. Even switching Liquid Glass to the new Tinted version, now also available in iOS 26, doesn’t erase or lessen that border or its distracting impact.
Previously:
Update (2025-11-10): Greg Pierce:
I feel like the biggest usability issue with the iPadOS 26 multi-window implementation is how easy it is to accidentally make a full-screen window switch out of that mode.
It’s great that they have this affordance at the bottom right to indicate that’s where to grab it. But, it does the same thing if you grab the bottom left, which doesn’t have the affordance. Or if you pan too close to the title bar.
If it only switched using the affordance, it would be better.
Design iOS Multitasking iPadOS iPadOS 26 iPadOS Release Liquid Glass
Juli Clover (release notes, security, enterprise, developer):
visionOS 26.1 adds a Vision Pro app for the iPad, allowing users to discover Vision Pro content and spatial experiences. The app also now supports AirPlay for viewing experiences from the Vision Pro on both iPhone and iPad.
Steve Troughton-Smith:
New API on NSProcessInfo in visionOS 26.1 — isiOSAppOnVision.
Finally there’s an API to check if you’re running on visionOS in compatibility mode.
Steve Troughton-Smith:
So, so much of the visionOS experience could be vastly improved if Apple just convinced Netflix and YouTube to release their native apps.
Two companies.
Apple, you can figure out a deal with two companies, surely? Don’t you have a master negotiator SVP? Why would you spend 7 years and billions of dollars developing a product and not be able to convince two partners to ship apps they already have?
Previously:
visionOS visionOS 26 visionOS Release
