{"id":50000,"date":"2025-11-11T16:59:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=50000"},"modified":"2025-11-12T15:56:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T20:56:55","slug":"tahoes-terrible-icons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/11\/tahoes-terrible-icons\/","title":{"rendered":"Tahoe’s Terrible Icons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Kafasis<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Apple updated their own app icons on Tahoe, for both the squircle shape as well as the new “Liquid Glass<\/a>” interface. Mostly, these icons seem dumbed-down, with a loss of detail. For example, here’s Safari’s old icon from MacOS 15 (Sequoia) on the left, and the new Tahoe icon on the right.<\/p>

To me, the new icon just feels blander, and that’s widely true for all of the updated icons. A small number, such as Screen Sharing<\/a> and Audio MIDI Setup<\/a>, may be improvements. Most, however, are not. Let’s review with direct comparisons, all of which again feature the older Sequoia icon on the left and the new Tahoe icon on the right.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Apple’s scripting application previously featured an awesome little robot dude. On Tahoe, it’s barely clear that’s a robot at all. What a pity.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

These icons, however, make me sad. Perhaps one day, it will again be possible for icons to have shape and personality. We have the technology.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Adam Engst<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The post is worth reading for Paul’s trenchant commentary, but it also illustrates just how much of a step backward the Tahoe icons are in both concept and execution. I couldn’t quite believe they were as blurry as they looked in his comparisons until I extracted Safari’s icons and compared them by toggling between versions in Quick Look.<\/p>\n

The only thing I can say in Apple’s defense is that the Tahoe icons aren’t as objectionable when viewed in isolation—outside of comparisons like this, most of us don’t scrutinize individual icons. But uniform shapes and softened details have real user impact: they increase visual search time in the Dock and make it harder to distinguish apps at small sizes—especially on high‑density displays and for users with low vision.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Michael Schmitt<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I can think of no<\/em> squircle icon that is objectively better than the pre-squircle version. They all look like they’re being forced to compromise. Some, even a few Apple icons, look like they’re trying to show a little<\/em> flair with parts extending behind the squircle, but even that is verboten in Tahoe.<\/p>\n

And, they’re all smaller! A squircle icon isn’t permitted to be full size!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Dan Moren<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The look and feel of the Mac has always been—if you’ll pardon the pun—iconic. App icons were a place that developers could show off their creativity, and make apps that are instantly identifiable. Squircle jail<\/a> remains a thing in macOS 26.1 (and, I’d argue, is worse than before, with a new lighter gray background that feels even more jarring). Here’s hoping this trend gets reversed before too long.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

John Gruber<\/a> (Mastodon<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\n

They’re ugly, they’re dumb (like the new Apple Calendar icon, showing a month that somehow has only 24 days), and many of them — regardless of whether they’re aesthetically pleasing or not — are inscrutable. The fundamental purpose of an icon is to have meaning. And some of these are meaningless.<\/p>\n

Even good styles fall out of fashion as trends change. But good styles come back into style eventually. A few decades from now, no one is going to say “Hey, let’s bring back 2020s-style icons.”<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

For a remarkably long stretch, Apple’s in-house icons represented the pinnacle of an art form worth celebrating<\/a>. They were exquisitely crafted, and quite obviously the work of the most talented artists in the field. […] “Fuck it, who cares” is replacing “Insanely great” as the company’s design mantra for software.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Peter N. Lewis<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It’s bad enough they fuck up their own icons - but that they actively fuck up everyone else’s icons is unforgivable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

See also: the MacRumors forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n