{"id":50425,"date":"2025-12-12T15:27:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T20:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=50425"},"modified":"2026-04-26T09:52:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:52:44","slug":"macos-26-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/12\/macos-26-2\/","title":{"rendered":"macOS 26.2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2025\/12\/12\/apple-releases-macos-tahoe-26-2\/\">Juli Clover<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/122868\">release notes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/125886\">security<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/124963\">enterprise<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/documentation\/macos-release-notes\/macos-26_2-release-notes\">developer<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/swcdn.apple.com\/content\/downloads\/11\/14\/093-37361-A_NX0SMZC0LI\/9slwkknt5xciy7bhd9ux9utct03e07j6qp\/InstallAssistant.pkg\">full installer<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/updates.cdn-apple.com\/2025FallFCS\/fullrestores\/093-37399\/E144C918-CF99-4BBC-B1D0-3E739B9A3F2D\/UniversalMac_26.2_25C56_Restore.ipsw\">IPSW<\/a>):<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2025\/12\/12\/apple-releases-macos-tahoe-26-2\/\">\n<p>macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft light when you&rsquo;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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>When was the last time Apple released new OS versions on a Friday?<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@lapcatsoftware\/115708051312215191\">Jeff Johnson<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@lapcatsoftware\/115708051312215191\">\n<p>I think macOS 26.2 once again erased my Local Network permissions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Previously:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/04\/macos-26-1\/\">macOS 26.1<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/10\/02\/local-network-privacy-on-sequoia\/\">Local Network Privacy on Sequoia<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p id=\"macos-26-2-update-2025-12-15\">Update (<a href=\"#macos-26-2-update-2025-12-15\">2025-12-15<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/pxlnv.com\/linklog\/apple-os-26-2\/\">Nick Heer<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/pxlnv.com\/linklog\/apple-os-26-2\/\">\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ConfusedVorlon\/status\/1990100393368461322\">Rob Jonson<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ConfusedVorlon\/status\/1990100393368461322\">\n<p>Finder in tahoe 26.2<br><\/br>\nBizare choice to show blurred through hidden left column.\nCorner radius of left menu doesn&rsquo;t match blur container - so there is a tiny area where it isn&rsquo;t blurred!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/eclecticlight.co\/2025\/12\/12\/what-has-changed-in-macos-tahoe-26-2\/\">Howard Oakley<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/eclecticlight.co\/2025\/12\/12\/what-has-changed-in-macos-tahoe-26-2\/\">\n<p>I have also confirmed, as I suspected from the lack of change in the RichText.mdimporter, that the &lsquo;LG bug&rsquo; in Spotlight remains, and still hasn&rsquo;t been fixed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/documentation\/macos-release-notes\/macos-26_2-release-notes#RDMA-over-Thunderbolt\">Apple<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/item?id=46248644\">Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/documentation\/macos-release-notes\/macos-26_2-release-notes#RDMA-over-Thunderbolt\">\n<p>Enables low-latency communication between Thunderbolt 5 hosts for use cases including distributed AI inference using MLX.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@lapcatsoftware\/115712695856979634\">Jeff Johnson<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@lapcatsoftware\/115712695856979634\">\n<p>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).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/derflounder.wordpress.com\/2025\/12\/12\/pppc-device-management-settings-visible-in-system-settings-on-macos-tahoe-26-2-0\/\">Rich Trouton<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/derflounder.wordpress.com\/2025\/12\/12\/pppc-device-management-settings-visible-in-system-settings-on-macos-tahoe-26-2-0\/\">\n<p>As part of macOS 10.14 Mojave, <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.jamf.com\/en-US\/bundle\/technical-articles\/page\/Preparing_Your_Organization_for_User_Data_Protections_on_macOS_10-14.html\">Apple introduced a number of privacy controls for user data<\/a>. At the same time, Apple also introduced device management options to allow <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/guide\/deployment\/privacy-preferences-policy-control-payload-dep38df53c2a\/web\">authorized applications to access data protected by those privacy controls<\/a>. 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 <strong>Privacy &amp; Security<\/strong> section of System Settings which applications had which permissions granted via PPPC management profiles.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/talk.macpowerusers.com\/t\/for-tahoe-users-with-os-problems-has-26-2-fixed-them\/43730\">Drewski<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/talk.macpowerusers.com\/t\/for-tahoe-users-with-os-problems-has-26-2-fixed-them\/43730\">\n<p>I&rsquo;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&rsquo;ve seen a lot more complaints, including here. Just curious if you&rsquo;ve seen improvements with 26.2.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Previously:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/28\/lg-spotlight-indexing-bug\/\">&ldquo;LG&rdquo; Spotlight Indexing Bug<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p id=\"macos-26-2-update-2025-12-16\">Update (<a href=\"#macos-26-2-update-2025-12-16\">2025-12-16<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/eclecticlight.co\/2025\/12\/16\/why-was-the-26-2-update-much-larger-for-some-than-others\/\">Howard Oakley<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/eclecticlight.co\/2025\/12\/16\/why-was-the-26-2-update-much-larger-for-some-than-others\/\">\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>What is puzzling about the 26.2 update is that it wasn&rsquo;t preceded by a <a href=\"https:\/\/eclecticlight.co\/2025\/11\/06\/how-tahoe-26-1-has-enabled-automatic-security-updates\/\">Background Security Improvement<\/a> (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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"macos-26-2-update-2025-12-17\">Update (<a href=\"#macos-26-2-update-2025-12-17\">2025-12-17<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@dmd\/115731573580286426\">David Deller<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@dmd\/115731573580286426\">\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"macos-26-2-update-2025-12-26\">Update (<a href=\"#macos-26-2-update-2025-12-26\">2025-12-26<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ConfusedVorlon\/status\/2003793077883076855\">Rob Jonson<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ConfusedVorlon\/status\/2003793077883076855\">\n<p>We&rsquo;re on Tahoe 26.2 and I can&rsquo;t resize finder columns because the scrollbar completely covers them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wien.rocks\/@noheger\/115782327146927772\">Norbert Heger<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/wien.rocks\/@noheger\/115782327146927772\">\n<p>I guess someone at Apple must enjoy looking at toolbars like this from time to time. I don&rsquo;t.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@flargh\/115771010614050237\">Peter Cohen<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@flargh\/115771010614050237\">\n<p>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&rsquo;s connection light stayed dead. Tried swapping ports, then cables, then even the hub.<\/p>\n<p>Hadn&rsquo;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.<\/p>\n<p>Worth noting that this is the second odd software setting problem masquerading as a hardware issue I&rsquo;ve had since upgrading to macOS 26 &ldquo;Tahoe.&rdquo; Can&rsquo;t remember the details of the first at the moment but it took me a while to isolate and correct, regardless.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"macos-26-2-update-2025-12-30\">Update (<a href=\"#macos-26-2-update-2025-12-30\">2025-12-30<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/talk.macpowerusers.com\/t\/macos-tahoe-mostly-impressed-but-serious-issue-after-update\/43882\">Atom<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/talk.macpowerusers.com\/t\/macos-tahoe-mostly-impressed-but-serious-issue-after-update\/43882\">\n<p>After the update, my Mac no longer maintains sleep properly. When it goes into standby, it wakes up briefly every ~15&#x2013;20 seconds, then goes back to sleep, repeating this cycle indefinitely. This makes proper standby essentially impossible.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"macos-26-2-update-2026-01-07\">Update (<a href=\"#macos-26-2-update-2026-01-07\">2026-01-07<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2026\/01\/05\/wifi-6e-macs-ipads-bandwidth-increase\/\">Juli Clover<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2026\/01\/05\/wifi-6e-macs-ipads-bandwidth-increase\/\">\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"macos-26-2-update-2026-01-14\">Update (<a href=\"#macos-26-2-update-2026-01-14\">2026-01-14<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/MacOS\/comments\/1qbmtai\/this_is_so_irrtating\/\">Miserable-Guide8844<\/a> shares a video of the Spotlight search not finding an app that&rsquo;s displayed in the very same Spotlight window.<\/p>\n\n<p id=\"macos-26-2-update-2026-01-20\">Update (<a href=\"#macos-26-2-update-2026-01-20\">2026-01-20<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/talk.tidbits.com\/t\/scansnap-s1300-glitchy-in-macos-26-2\/32653\/1\">TBTdn<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/talk.tidbits.com\/t\/scansnap-s1300-glitchy-in-macos-26-2\/32653\/1\">\n<p>Did some nice scanning last fall with faithful companion [ScanSnap] S1300 (page count &gt;11k). Updated to 26.1, weeks later did disappointing scanning (colors off, text faded, even high resolution scan not clear). Now on 26.2, it does one page and quits, doesn&rsquo;t save the scan anywhere findable.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffgeerling.com\/blog\/2025\/15-tb-vram-on-mac-studio-rdma-over-thunderbolt-5\/\">Jeff Geerling<\/a> (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macintouch.com\/posts\/49515\">Ric Ford<\/a>):<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.jeffgeerling.com\/blog\/2025\/15-tb-vram-on-mac-studio-rdma-over-thunderbolt-5\/\">\n<p>Apple gave me access to this Mac Studio cluster to test RDMA over Thunderbolt, a <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/documentation\/macos-release-notes\/macos-26_2-release-notes#RDMA-over-Thunderbolt\">new feature in macOS 26.2<\/a>. The easiest way to test it is with <a href=\"https:\/\/exolabs.net\">Exo 1.0<\/a>, an open source private AI clustering tool. RDMA lets the Macs all act like they have one giant pool of RAM, which speeds up things like massive AI models.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"macos-26-2-update-2026-02-03\">Update (<a href=\"#macos-26-2-update-2026-02-03\">2026-02-03<\/a>): <a href=\"https:\/\/social.panic.com\/@cabel\/115996856618198505\">Cabel Sasser<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/social.panic.com\/@cabel\/115996856618198505\">\n<p>hey folks am i going crazy or did the latest macOS update make backlight brightness changes really chunky? i.e. you can see screen backlights step up and down in very specific steps as they adjust to ambient light? i swear it used to be way smoother.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@monkeydom\/116005574105731627\">Dominik Wagner<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@monkeydom\/116005574105731627\">\n<p>New fear unlocked:<\/p>\n<p>Messages randomly renaming known group chats with short hex numbers on some of my macs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&rsquo;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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-12-12T20:27:57Z","apple_news_api_id":"c6e7fbbe-3d25-47f1-aa40-817057700c3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-04-26T13:52:52Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Axuf7vj0lR_GqQIFwV3AMPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[458,952,30,2303,2742,141,2062,1042,201,187],"class_list":["post-50425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-finder","tag-fujitsu-scansnap","tag-mac","tag-macos-release","tag-macos-tahoe-26","tag-messages","tag-sleep-mode","tag-spotlight","tag-thunderbolt","tag-wifi"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50425"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51712,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50425\/revisions\/51712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}