macOS 26.1
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.
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.
Tahoe changed the timing of some app launch, termination, and run-state changes when monitored via the relevant public notification APIs.
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. 🤷
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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?
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:
- Liquid Glass Toggle in appleOS 26.1 Beta
- macOS 26.0.1
- Using Apple Accounts With macOS Virtual Machines
- Limitations on macOS Virtual Machines
Update (2025-11-05): Pierre Igot:
How on earth does this qualify as “reduced transparency” in macOS 26?
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
4 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
I wonder why they don't set the serial number of the virtualized Mac to be the same as the physical Mac with an indicator that it's a VM. Microsoft seems to have solved this a long time ago. iCloud and the App Store is the main thing holding Mac virtualization back from being useful.
The setting "Reduce Transparency" did what one would expect in macOS 26 and 26.0.1. In macOS 26.1 however it doesn't anymore, to the point that I find macOS 26.1 almost unbearable to work with.
Text in sidebars is shown with transparency, even under text entry fields making them unusable.
Safari webpages are shown with transparency under the address field and buttons.
Toolbar buttons have a smudgy shadow that extends far below the button, like on a broken CRT smudge.
The new Liquid Glass option doesn't help. "Reduce Transparency" is simply broken with macOS 26.1.
The other setting, "Reduce Motion" doesn't really work anymore either. There is motion everywhere. The "special effect" when the "Control Center" disappears doesn't bear looking at.
Sorry for the rant, but I am not at all happy with what macOS has become.
> OMG everyone update to macOS 26.1 then press command-j in column mode in the Finder RIGHT NOW
Now if only Apple would add the corresponding option for good ol List view, I would be very happy. I’m constantly having to resize the width of the filename “column” (not a column) in List view, every time I navigate to a location in Finder. All “columns” get squished, so they can all be viewable in the window, presumably so that users won’t have to scroll horizontally to see them all. Pet peeve of mine for many years…. this behaviour was introduced ~ ten+ years ago.
Seems like nobody else has noticed that the new Column View setting only resizes based on the file names currently in view, and not based on the longest file name in the folder? So then you scroll, and other file names are truncated like before. Of course Apple would add a new feature and screw it up like this. They have completely lost their attention to detail when it comes to software.
If only the software teams were as good as the hardware teams... *sigh*
