Apple (xip, downloads):
Xcode 26.2 includes Swift 6.2.3 and SDKs for iOS 26.2, iPadOS 26.2, tvOS 26.2, macOS 26.2, and visionOS 26.2. Xcode 26.2 supports on-device debugging in iOS 15 and later, tvOS 15 and later, watchOS 8 and later, and visionOS. Xcode 26.2 requires a Mac running macOS Sequoia 15.6 or later.
[…]
You can now annotate C types with the SWIFT_SHARED_REFERENCE attribute.
[…]
Retain and release operations for SWIFT_SHARED_REFERENCE types can now be methods of the type. You can now annotate a C/C++ type with SWIFT_SHARED_REFERENCE(.doRetain, .doRelease) to use methods doRetain and doRelease as the lifetime operations for the type.
Nothing about the simulator and visionOS issues.
Previously:
Update (2026-01-07): Christian Tietze:
My Xcode 26.2 still suffers from an inability to compile Metal shader files because it can’t find the Metal toolchain[…] But I did have success mounting the .dmg file with the toolchain manually.
Update (2026-01-08): Rob Napier:
I have a Swift macro that wraps OSLog (which is, considered the appropriate way to do this), and I swear “jump to source” used to work fine with it (the whole reason for building the macro was to keep this support) But in Xcode 26.2, it’s linking to stuff like …/@__swiftmacro….logError…_.swift:3:8 and you can’t jump with it.
Ben Sandofsky:
I haven’t followed any conversation about this, but in Xcode 26, it seems like navigation history extends across tabs you’ve navigated to.
Example: if switch from tab A to tab B, and then hit “Back”, it just opens tab A again.
I’ve given this behavior six months, and it’s just maddening. Is there a way to revert this to the old way?
C Programming Language C++ Programming Language Mac macOS Tahoe 26 Memory Management Metal Programming Xcode
Juli Clover (release notes, security, enterprise, developer, full installer, IPSW):
macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft light when you’re on a video call in a room with poor lighting. The update also adds alarms for the Reminders app, new podcast features, updated AirDrop settings, and more.
When was the last time Apple released new OS versions on a Friday?
Jeff Johnson:
I think macOS 26.2 once again erased my Local Network permissions.
Previously:
Update (2025-12-15): Nick Heer:
I have found the version of Safari in this build of MacOS 26.2 is noticeably buggy. It sometimes stops letting me scroll a webpage and, in rare cases, I have found the browser wholly crashes when closing tabs.
Rob Jonson:
Finder in tahoe 26.2
Bizare choice to show blurred through hidden left column.
Corner radius of left menu doesn’t match blur container - so there is a tiny area where it isn’t blurred!
Howard Oakley:
I have also confirmed, as I suspected from the lack of change in the RichText.mdimporter, that the ‘LG bug’ in Spotlight remains, and still hasn’t been fixed.
Apple (Hacker News):
Enables low-latency communication between Thunderbolt 5 hosts for use cases including distributed AI inference using MLX.
Jeff Johnson:
macOS 26.2 is showing a gray background for a very noticeable second on login before displaying my desktop background image (which is the default).
Rich Trouton:
As part of macOS 10.14 Mojave, Apple introduced a number of privacy controls for user data. At the same time, Apple also introduced device management options to allow authorized applications to access data protected by those privacy controls. These permissions are referred to collectively as Privacy Preferences Policy Control (PPPC) and are deployed via management profiles from an MDM server. However, up until macOS Tahoe 26.2, there was no way to see in the Privacy & Security section of System Settings which applications had which permissions granted via PPPC management profiles.
Drewski:
I’d been holding back on switching to Tahoe 26-26.1 to let the bugs get worked out, but it seems this major release I’ve seen a lot more complaints, including here. Just curious if you’ve seen improvements with 26.2.
Previously:
Update (2025-12-16): Howard Oakley:
Several of those who have already updated to macOS Tahoe 26.2 have remarked how much larger their download was than the 3.78 GB expected for Apple silicon Macs, with some reporting over 10 GB. Here I ponder how that could happen.
[…]
What is puzzling about the 26.2 update is that it wasn’t preceded by a Background Security Improvement (BSI) or Rapid Security Response (RSR). Two of the top security vulnerabilities fixed in 26.2 (and in the Safari updates for 15.7.3 and 14.8.3) are both in WebKit, which is supplied in the Safari cryptex.
Update (2025-12-17): David Deller:
Apple responded to one of my MusicKit feedbacks (slow playlist loading, FB18157502) and based on my testing, it appears to have been fixed on macOS 26.2. Still broken on 15.7.3 (current latest Sequoia). Even so, seems like progress! Happy to see it.
Update (2025-12-26): Rob Jonson:
We’re on Tahoe 26.2 and I can’t resize finder columns because the scrollbar completely covers them.
Norbert Heger:
I guess someone at Apple must enjoy looking at toolbars like this from time to time. I don’t.
Peter Cohen:
The Gigabit Ethernet port on my Thunderbolt hub for my M1 MacBook Pro stopped working. Thought it was a hardware problem because I restarted, but the hub’s connection light stayed dead. Tried swapping ports, then cables, then even the hub.
Hadn’t thought to delete the system setting altogether. Restarted to flush the NVRAM one more time. Once it restarted, the Mac recognized the Ethernet port and the hub showed a connection light.
Worth noting that this is the second odd software setting problem masquerading as a hardware issue I’ve had since upgrading to macOS 26 “Tahoe.” Can’t remember the details of the first at the moment but it took me a while to isolate and correct, regardless.
Update (2025-12-30): Atom:
After the update, my Mac no longer maintains sleep properly. When it goes into standby, it wakes up briefly every ~15–20 seconds, then goes back to sleep, repeating this cycle indefinitely. This makes proper standby essentially impossible.
Update (2026-01-07): Juli Clover:
The M4 iPad Pro models, M3 iPad Air models, A17 Pro iPad mini, M2 to M5 MacBook Pro models, M2, M3, and M4 MacBook Air models, and other Wi-Fi 6E Macs and iPads now support 160MHz maximum channel bandwidth when connected to 5GHz Wi-Fi networks, the same theoretical maximum throughput supported by 6GHz networks. Previously, these devices were limited to 80MHz.
Finder Mac macOS Release macOS Tahoe 26 Sleep Mode Wi-Fi
Juli Clover (release notes, security, developer):
watchOS 26.2 changes the labeling for Sleep Score point ranges to better match how people might be feeling after a night of rest. The update adjusts the ranges for Very Low, Low, OK, High, and Very High sleep score results. Very High is also a new classification that replaces Excellent.
Previously:
Update (2025-12-18): Mario Guzmán:
As of watchOS 26.2 update, my Apple Watch keeps randomly doing the push notification ding and haptic feedback but there is NO notification. Nothing pops up and when I go to Notification Center, nothing is there.
All throughout the day. Rebooted both iPhone and Apple Watch and still doing it. Gahhhhhh.
Sleep watchOS watchOS 26 watchOS Release
Juli Clover (release notes, security, enterprise, developer):
iPadOS 26.2 continues with the multitasking improvements that were added with iPadOS 26.1. You can now drag and drop apps from the Dock, Spotlight Search, or the App Library to different multitasking views, including Slide Over.
Apps can be dragged to the far left or far right to enter Slide Over mode, or to the left or right to enter a tiled view. There’s also an option to drag an app to the middle to open up a larger or smaller window, with visual indicators to make it simple.
Federico Viticci (Jason Snell, MacRumors):
As you can see, the gestures are pretty much the same ones as iPadOS 18, but the interaction is slightly different insofar as the “pull indicator” for Slide Over (re-introduced in iPadOS 26.1) now serves two purposes. That indicator now acts both as a signal that you can drop a window to instantly tile it as one half of a Split View, and it’s also a drop target to enter Slide Over right away. The design is clever, if maybe a little too hard to discover…but that’s always been the case with multitasking gestures that aren’t exposed by a menu – which is exactly why Apple is now offering plenty of options in iPadOS 26 to discover different multitasking features in different menus.
I’m glad to see Apple quickly iterate on iPadOS 26 by finding ways to blend the old multitasking system with the platform’s new windowing engine. Based on the comments I received after publishing my iPadOS 26 review, enough people were missing the simplicity of Split View and Slide Over that I think Apple’s doing the right thing in making all these multitasking systems coexist with one another.
Previously:
iOS Multitasking iPadOS iPadOS 26 iPadOS Release
Juli Clover (release notes, security, enterprise, developer):
iOS 26.2 adds an option to activate an alarm when a reminder is due, an option to change the opacity of the time on the Lock Screen, updated AirDrop functionality, and new features for the Podcasts app.
It also brings Live Translation for the AirPods to the EU, and adds support for alternative app stores and other voice assistants in Japan.
See also this previous article.
Mr. Macintosh:
To be clear, I think it’s absurd that Apple doesn’t allow iOS users to downgrade. This year, Apple unsigned iOS 18 just a week after iOS 26 launched, meaning it could never be downgraded to again.
Previously:
Update (2025-12-15): Juli Clover:
After installing iOS 26.2, if you’re just tapping through screens, you could miss the update turning on automatic software updates.
My father got tricked into updating to iOS 26, and the new Safari toolbar design broke one of his essential Web sites. (One of the site’s buttons near the bottom of the screen became inoperative, though it wasn’t actually under the liquid glass.) Fortunately, this can be worked around by changing the Safari tab bar setting.
Juli Clover (Hacker News):
Apple says that the updates address over 20 vulnerabilities, including two bugs that are known to have been actively exploited.
René Fouquet:
My wife is now giving me a daily briefing about which new part of iOS 26 she found annoying.
Today: playing podcasts via a USB connection in the car no longer works and the skip button doesn’t skip anymore.
Meek Geek:
An Apple Tech Support did an AMA.
“The 26 has made work a living hell. I tell people not to even upgrade to that bullshit.”
jvepng:
let’s start a thread of iOS 26 UI glitches
Previously:
Update (2025-12-16): Joe Rossignol:
In a support document published on Friday, Apple said that a “technical failure” in Australia prevented some older mobile phones from being able to make emergency calls by dialing 000, and it said there is a low chance that it could happen again.
[…]
For iPhone 12 users specifically, Apple vaguely stated that the iOS 26.2 update released last week “provides support for this scenario.”
Christian Tietze:
Oh god, this checkmark button is the actual new default? I thought that was just bad taste in some demo apps :)
Update (2025-12-18): Sloane Crosley:
Tech companies are accustomed to a certain amount of kicking and screaming after foisting new interfaces on the public. You can’t please all of the people all of the time, especially when “all of the people” is in the billions. But ask your friends—or Google or Reddit or Bluesky or ChatGPT—about the operating system update, and you will be swept away in a river of anger. “This is like foundationally bad,” author and musician John Darnielle replied on Bluesky to someone who agreed with his original tweet (about the poor photo-cropping function). One Reddit thread was posted under the headline “New iPhone update made me so overwhelmed, I ended up throwing my phone.” The subsequent post does not specify where the phone was thrown or at whom, but I have some suggestions. One wonders at what point a company’s petrification of obsolescence risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ask yourself: Is this good for the phones? Normally, I’d be curious about the hissy-fit metrics inside Silicon Valley, about when public upset gets severe enough to become private data. But right now, I have my own problems.
I downloaded Apple’s new iOS 26.2 last week because I am a trained circus seal who will press any button presented to me. I came home late from a holiday party, agreed to the latest iOS almost by accident, and woke up to a new world. There’s something very A Thief in the Night about any new operating system, but in this case, the complaints, some witnessed, some personally experienced, are intense. Here is a partial list: the slow speed (every action takes twice as long), the animation of text bubbles, the incongruous mix of sensitivity and imperviousness to touch, the swipes to nowhere, the difficulty posting downloaded photos, the fact that almost nothing is where you left it (search fields, files), the unsolicited status sharing regarding dwindling battery life (“24m to 80%”), the lack of visual contrast, the screenshot fussiness, the requirement that users drive up to a mansion on Long Island and whisper “Fidelio” in order to toggle off the “Liquid Glass” function. You have to admit: It’s a little funny to get a transparency feature from a tech company.
Update (2025-12-19): John Gruber:
Lastly, iOS 26.2 seems to be the release that Apple is starting to suggest as an upgrade for users who hadn’t already installed it by choice. Be prepared for questions and complaints from non-nerd friends and family who’ve never even heard of “Liquid Glass”.
Jason Snell:
Apple generally tries not to leave behind users who haven’t updated or can’t update to the latest OS version. Apple also usually offers security updates for past OS versions, and indeed, the company also released iOS 18.7.3 to address the same issues.
Unfortunately, there’s an ugly catch: Numerous iPhone users have reported that if your iPhone is capable of running iOS 26 but you’re still back on iOS 18, you won’t be offered iOS 18.7.3. Instead, the only update option you’ll be given is iOS 26.2.
There are a lot of reasons to avoid updating to iOS 26, from a dislike of Liquid Glass to software compatibility to a general wariness to install major updates for a while. This move effectively forces users to take the iOS 26 upgrade if they want the security updates.
[…]
Apple shouldn’t be withholding a security update from people not willing to upgrade to the next OS version.
Update (2025-12-22): Ryan Christoffel:
But in iOS 26.2, there’s a new AirDrop enhancement available: “codes.”
[…]
Now, if there’s someone you want to use AirDrop with who isn’t in your contacts, you can temporarily “authorize” each other via this new one-time code.
Previously:
Update (2025-12-23): Glenn Fleishman:
The new AirDrop code provides more privacy (and security), and even creates a temporary contact entry for a party agreeing to receive material.
However, it makes it even harder to use AirDrop in an ad hoc fashion—sending or receiving items quickly with another person a single time or a few times when permission is granted.
[…]
Because this code method allows 30 days of sending after using a code, it offers some balance between unwanted contact and persistent availability in the vast majority of cases in which AirDrop is used.
Update (2025-12-26): Fabian reports that the clock on the lockscreen keeps moving left (via Hacker News).
Update (2025-12-29): sid:
Drag and drop an app into a folder on iPhone.
Difficulty level: IMPOSSIBLE
I’ve had problems like this with both iOS 18 and iOS 26. I miss being able to rearrange app icons with iTunes.
AirDrop Australia iOS iOS 26 iOS Release iPhone 12 Liquid Glass Software Update
Juli Clover (no release notes):
According to Apple’s release notes, HomePod Software 26.2 includes performance and stability improvements.
Needless to say, it still won’t play a lot of the music I’ve purchase from Apple.
Previously:
audioOS audioOS 26 audioOS Release
Juli Clover (release notes, security, developer):
The tvOS 26.2 update changes the way that profiles work on the Apple TV , adding an option to create a profile without an Apple Account. With no need for an Apple Account, profiles can be created for guests and children.
For profiles made for children, there is an age-restricted mode that limits the content that kids can access in the Apple TV app.
Previously:
tvOS tvOS 26 tvOS Release
