macOS Tahoe 26 Is Apple's "Liquid Glass" Design a Slick Sip or Overwrought Overload?

Hands-on with macOS Tahoe 26: Liquid Glass, New Theme Options, and Spotlight

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) unveiled the sleek and transformative macOS Tahoe 26, featuring the all-new Liquid Glass design language. This ambitious update is poised to refresh the Mac experience, aligning it with Apple’s broader design vision. I’ve spent the last day exploring the developer beta on an M4 MacBook Air, and here are my initial impressions.

The changes, while visually striking, are a blend of elegance and occasional excess. However, the enhanced Spotlight search features definitely stand out as practical and efficient improvements.

Liquid Glass: A Subtle Transformation

macOS 26 introduces glassy transparency across the user interface, including:

• The Dock: A frosted background offers a more translucent look than its predecessor.
• Finder: Rounded designs create a softer, more modern feel.
• Widgets: Calendar and weather widgets adopt the hazy, frozen glass aesthetic.
• Built-in Apps: Subtle transparent accents add depth and visual interest.

The effect is subtler on the Mac compared to the iPhone, perhaps due to the larger screen. The transparency serves as an accent rather than a dominant feature. Personally, I'm still on the fence about whether I fully embrace it, but as with most UI changes, time will tell.

The Dock now features a frosted background, a noticeable shift from Sequoia’s flatter design. The pop-ups for volume and brightness have also been revamped with the distorted glass look, relocated to the top-right corner. While functionally sound, their elongated horizontal design feels a bit out of place to me.

One of the most surprising changes is the invisible Menu Bar. The dark gray bar that traditionally masked the screen’s notch is gone, replaced by a seamless transition into the wallpaper. Initially jarring, I quickly adapted, and the border becomes almost unnoticeable, even with a bright wallpaper. For those who prefer the classic look, the "Reduce transparency" option in accessibility settings restores the filled-in Menu Bar, albeit at the cost of all the other transparent effects.

The coolest feature enabled by the invisible Menu Bar is a new animation in Mission Control. When you swipe up with three fingers, a glass pane descends from the top, distorting the view of the wallpaper underneath. It’s a kitschy but delightful touch that stands out among Tahoe's visual updates.

The way this top pane in Mission Control distorts the wallpaper as it slides in is fun, I’ll give it that. Screenshot: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Widgets now reside directly on the desktop, providing at-a-glance information without requiring a swipe to the Notification Center. This allows users to customize their desktop similar to an iPad home screen.

Theme Customization: A Personalized Experience

Following in the footsteps of iOS 18, macOS Tahoe 26 introduces comprehensive theme controls. The Appearance menu now lets you adjust:

• Overall Look: Choose between light, dark, and auto modes.
• Highlight Colors: Customize the accent colors throughout the system.
• Icon and Widget Styles: Fine-tune the appearance of icons and widgets.

Experimenting with these settings can drastically alter the look and feel of macOS, ranging from minimalist to flamboyant. The level of customization is truly impressive.

Open a Finder window and you see more of Tahoe’s rounded design, with the sidebar now looking like its own tall, oval-ish nested window. Screenshot: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Spotlight Evolved: Keyboard-Centric Efficiency

Power users will particularly appreciate the enhanced Spotlight functionality, which significantly improves keyboard-based navigation. Spotlight now offers shortcuts for:

• Finding Files
• Launching Apps
• Performing Actions
• Accessing Clipboard History

Pressing Command and Space activates Spotlight as usual, but hovering over the search bar reveals four icons representing these new functions, each with a corresponding keyboard shortcut (Command + 1, 2, 3, or 4).

I especially appreciate the ability to set custom quick key commands. For example, I assigned "M" to create a message and "TM" to set a timer. These actions still require typing out specific details, but the hotkey integration streamlines the process for frequent tasks. If you’re comfortable navigating apps with Tab and Alt keys, you’ll feel right at home.

Typing actions into Spotlight. You can see some of the quick keys I set up are suggested right at the top. Screenshot: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Some have compared these changes to "sherlocking" Raycast, a popular and highly customizable Spotlight alternative. While macOS Tahoe's updated Spotlight encroaches on some of Raycast’s territory, it doesn’t yet offer the same level of extensibility and advanced features like math calculations, unit conversions, and third-party extensions. Raycast remains a powerful tool for advanced users, and it will take time for Apple to fully win them over.

Final Thoughts

This is just a preliminary look at the macOS Tahoe 26 developer beta. As developers continue to explore the software and Apple releases further updates, there will undoubtedly be more to uncover. The public beta is slated for next month, and Apple may introduce significant changes and UI refinements before then. Even in its early stages, macOS Tahoe 26 shows promise, offering a blend of aesthetic enhancements and functional improvements that could redefine the Mac experience.

Tags: Apple, macOS Tahoe, Liquid Glass, WWDC, M4 MacBook Air, Spotlight search, Mac, UI changes, macOS 26, New design

Source: https://www.theverge.com/apple/685052/apple-macos-tahoe-26-beta-hands-on-liquid-glass-themes-spotlight