Tahoe

2026-09-10

The latest version of macOS is version 26.6.2, "Tahoe", released on 17 Aug 2026.

Apple had announced Tahoe on 09 Jun 2025. (The major version number jumped from 15 to 26.)


Apple released MacOS 26 (Tahoe) Beta 1 in July 2025.
Apple released macOS 26.0 on 15 Sep 2025.
Apple released macOS 26.0.1 on 02 Oct 2025, fixing installation problems, 7 bug fixes, and 1 security bug.
Apple released macOS 26.2 on 17 Dec 2025, fixing 46 security bugs and a new Safari.
Apple released macOS 26.3 on 11 Feb 2026, fixing security bugs and adding support for the M5 MacBook Pro.
Apple released macOS 26.3.1 on 11 Feb 2026, fixing security bugs.
Apple released macOS 26.3.2 on 11 Feb 2026, fixing security bugs.
Apple released macOS 26.4 on 24 Mar 2026, fixing many security bugs.
Apple released macOS 26.4.1 on 09 Apr 2026, fixing bugs.
Apple released macOS 26.4.2 on 22 Apr 2026, fixing a serious security bug that let the FBI extract deleted Signal messages.
Apple released macOS 26.5 on 11 May 2026, providing over 70 security fixes. There is a new Safari also.
Apple released macOS 26.5 on 11 May 2026, providing over 70 security fixes. There is a new Safari also.
Apple released macOS 26.5.1 on 09 Jun 2026, providing a fix for "an enterprise security bug."
Apple released macOS 26.5.1 on 09 Jun 2026, providing a fix for "an enterprise security bug."
Apple released macOS 26.5.2 on 29 Jun 2026, fixing 38 flaws, including 11 security bugs and a lot of WebKit/Safari vulnerabilities.
Apple released macOS 26.6 on July 27, 2026, fixing over 155 security bugs.
Apple released macOS 26.6.1 on Aug 6, 2026, fixing 30 CVEs.
Apple released macOS 26.6.2 on Aug 17, 2026, fixing 33 CVEs. (26.6.3 is a release candidate)

This note describes how to update a computer from an older version of macOS to Tahoe.

Features of Tahoe

(I am not interested in features marked *)

Here is a nice article from macrumors about 50 interface changes in Tahoe.

Here is an article comparing Sequoia and Tahoe by William Bollson. Not sure I agree with everything he says.

I installed Tahoe 26.6.2.

I updated to Tahoe 26.6.2 on September 1, 2026. macOS 26.6 has a new feature that "optimizes the Spotlight index to prepare for macOS 27," whatever that means. See the comprehensive MrMacintosh article and an article by Howard Oakley. So far, the release is working now.

There are still some problems. Aquamacs didn't work: trying to use the menus wouldn't drop them down and let me select an item. I installed the "alpha 2" test release of Aquamacs from aquamacs.org and it works well enough to use, with some problems.

Tahoe 26.5.1 and 26.5.2

Originally 26.5.1 was for M5 Macs only, according to Macworld. Then I was nagged to install 26.5.2 on my M2 Air. Glad I din't. People had multiple complaints.

Black Screen, no boot with 26.4.1

Some users had their Macs die completely, unable to boot, black screen, after trying to install Tahoe 26.4.1. Supposedly this problem has been fixed for Tahoe 26.5. I am going to wait to make sure everything is fixed. This reminded me to wait till others have succeeded before installing a new version.

People who called Apple Support were told to go to an Apple Store, which couldn't fix the problem: the Geniuses told the users that their computer required a new main board, $700 or more if they their machine was not on AppleCare. See this MacRumors discussion. Some people recovered from this state by using Device Firmware Update, using an IPSW file for macOS 26.3.1 and performing a Revive.

See also this Reddit discussion.

Issues with Backup to NAS

There were other issues with Tahoe: If you use Time Machine to back up over a local network to NAS storage using the AFP protocol, Cultofmac.com reports "with macOS 26.4 Tahoe, Apple appears to have broken Time Machine backups over the network." Some people had similar problems with Sequoia. Gadgethacks reports that Time Machine backup to network NAS devices will not be supported in the next version of MacOS. Users will have to redo their backup to use SMB storage instead of AFP.

Liquid Glass and System Settings

Early user feedback about the "Liquid Glass" appearance is negative. It changes the look of the Desktop a lot. (I installed iOS 26.4 on my phone, which also has Liquid Glass: I kind of like some of the changes, and the others didn't bother me.) Windows and icons got rounded corners.

After I installed Tahoe, I had to spend some time adjusting settings to make it comfortable. The Liquid Glass interface makes some text smaller and harder to read. I had to use System settings...  ►  Accessibility and adjust text size. I turned on Tinted mode and changed Accessibility > Display to Reduce Transparency. I also adjusted Accessibility > Display > Text Size > Custom > Finder . I am sure I will do more fiddling. See this.

Other Observations

Some users reported issues with Slack, Vscode, and Cursor on Tahoe... (I don't use these). The first day I installed Tahoe, after it had been running for about 5 hours, Activity Monitor said that Window Server had used over 19 hours of CPU time, and spotlightknowledged.updater had used 10, and mediaanalysisd had used 11. I think this was the predicted Spotlight indexing change.

What Changes with Liquid Glass

This page describes 26.2 changes. I do not use most of these features anyway: lock screen sliders, Measure app, Apple Music lyrics, Podcasts, News, Reminders, Safety Alerts, Health app, Games, Safety Alerts, Freeform.

What you Should Do to Get Ready for Tahoe

Who Can Update

Not everyone can use the new OS version.

Plan your install

When you decide to install Tahoe, do it carefully. You may find that there are issues that affect you: do your homework. Check MacInTouch to see if there are problems with macOS 26 that affect you.

Make sure you back up your entire disk before starting to install Tahoe. Preferably to more than one place.

Make a list of the hardware you depend on, and search the web to check that each device will work. Older printers and scanners can have issues.

Leave yourself enough time. Upgrading will tie up your computer for an hour or so. Your computer may be slow until it re-does the Spotlight index.

Howard Oakley has written a useful guide: Prepare to Upgrade MacOS.

Particular issues before upgrading

Here is a partial list of minimum program versions needed for Tahoe. For other programs, check product websites.

Program Minimum Version Notes Function
Aquamacs Emacs 3.9.2 alpha2 free Text editing
Audacity 3.7.7 free Music editing
Adobe Photoshop CC Photoshop CC is $120/yr. See below. (Apple Silicon supported.) Graphics
Adobe Illustrator CC Illustrator CC is $240/yr. See below. (Apple Silicon supported.) Graphics
Apple XCode 26 free with registration; also install Command Line Developer Tools in Terminal application development
Little Snitch 6.3 $59 Security: report network traffic
Brother HL-4150CDN driver Brother does not support this printer, according to their website. Support stopped at 10.15.x Catalina. Apple no longer maintains https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201465 . I have this printer and it still seems to work. Printer driver
Brother HL-5450DN driver Brother does not support this printer, according to their website. See above. I have this printer and it still seems to work. Printer driver
Homebrew 5.0.3
6.0.0 is latest		 Replaces MacPorts. This is where I get Perl, ImageMagick, Go, and GraphViz. Unix applications
Microsoft Office Upgrade to Microsoft 365 or use Word, Excel, PowerPoint for $99/year at microsoft365.com. Word processing, spreadsheet, etc
Libre Office 26.8 free word processing, spreadsheet, etc
Onyx 4.9.9 free System configuration
Super Duper! 3.20 You should change all your backup volumes to be APFS. Much faster and more reliable.
Super Duper! 4.0.5 $43.95 New version.
Banktivity 10.1 now $60/yr. Personal finance
Inkscape 1.4.4 seems to be fixed. website very slow. SVG drawing

Adobe: Renting Instead of Buying

Adobe no longer sells regular application versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat. Instead they rent you a Creative Cloud subscription. Stop paying, the apps stop working. They tell you that one advantage is that you'll get bug fixes and new features whenever they decide to release them. (There are a lot of tricky deals, initial teasers, different bundles. You could pay $20/app/mo or $600/yr for all CC apps. Adobe also sells Photoshop Elements 2020 and Premiere Elements 2020 as non-cloud applications for $100 each one-time, or both for $150.)

There are alternatives to Adobe products. I am using Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. They are one-time-purchase instead of rent. Affinity has been sold to Canva. Canva's other products are sold by subscription instead of one-time purchase. Ruh-roh.

I want a replacement for Adobe Acrobat: PDFPen ($80) might work. Has to be scriptable.

Microsoft: Renting Instead of Buying

Microsoft wants to rent you "Office 365" for $99/yr. The "forever" Home version of Office 2024 will not be sold or supported any more.

There are free alternatives to Microsoft products. I have installed LibreOffice (free) and plan to use its tools going forward instead of Word/Excel/PowerPoint. This will require some learning and configuring of LibreOffice .. I will write it up.

Quicken: Renting Instead of Buying

Same story with Quicken. I bought Banktivity and it seems to work.

Banktivity: Renting Instead of Buying

Banktivity has gone from a one-time purchase to a yearly sub. Grrr.

Installing Tahoe

I have installed Tahoe. Went OK.

  1. Clean up and update software before installing.
    • You can download the Tahoe Installer from  ► System Settings... ► Software Update. It is free. This downloads a large file, the Tahoe Installer, to your disk. You can create a bootable installer volume on a USB key using these instructions. Apple's license terms say you can update all your computers with one purchase.
    • Get the applications on your computer ready for Tahoe: apply the latest fixes.
    • Delete junk files. Carefully.
    • Delete Safari, iTunes, and Firefox caches, so your backup will be faster.
    • Write down your settings for applications and system parameters, e.g. your desktop background and screensaver. Some Apple-provided screensaver pictures may not be available in the next version: make a safe copy of anything you will want after upgrading.
    • Empty the Trash.
    • Clean up damaged and duplicate fonts.
    • Have your software license keys handy in case you have to re-authorize products.

    For Programmers

    • If you use MySQL, back up your databases with mysqldump databasename > db.sql. Then stop MySQL.
    • If you are using a local Apache, save a copy of /etc/apache2/httpd.conf.
    • If you installed modules via CPAN, make a list of them.
    • Homebrew often does not need to be reinstalled on a macOS upgrade. ?? If you are changing machine architectures, compilers, etc, then uninstall it and then reinstall Homebrew, and the programs it installs, after updating the OS. To list your ports do brew list > brewmods.txt in a Terminal window.

    Here is a little shell script I run to do the backups.

    	#!/bin/sh
	# PRE-UPGRADE
	# .. run before an OS upgrade
	# .. saves lists of things that may have to be repaired after upgrading
	#
	# dumps them into $HOME/Documents/preup so that they will be synced to iCloud
	if [ -d $HOME/Documents/preup ] ; then
	  cp /etc/apache2/httpd.conf $HOME/Documents/preup/saved.httpd.conf
	  perldoc perllocal | grep "::" > $HOME/Documents/preup/cpan_modules.txt
	  brew list > brewmods.txt
	  mysqldump mydatabase > $HOME/Documents/preup/mysql_dump.sql
	  echo "Back up your hard drive"
	else
	  echo "$HOME/Documents/preup not found.. create it and rerun"
	fi
	#
  2. Backup and prepare.
    • BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVE to an external disk. I used SuperDuper to clone my whole drive. Some cautious people make two backups.
    • If you are using an anti-virus product, disable it, or installation may fail. Since most anti-virus software is tightly integrated with the operating system, you may have to install a Tahoe-specific version of your software after installing Tahoe anyway. Check with the maker of your software.
    • If you connect your Mac to the network using Wi-Fi, select  ► System Settings... ► Network ► Wi-Fi and delete any Wi-Fi networks you don't want to use. (If you don't, your computer could connect to a very slow network during installation, which will slow down your install.)
  3. Install
    • If you use a wireless mouse or keyboard, put in fresh batteries.
    • Set screen saver to NEVER, and turn off Time Machine.
    • Dismount and unplug or power off external drives.
    • Restart your computer. (I've had problems where my computer hangs on shutdown. Restarting seems to fix it for a while. Don't want this trouble when installing a new OS.)
    • Run the Tahoe (macOS 26) installer. If you downloaded it, use that copy. Or you can just select  ► System Settingds... ► Software Update and install by clicking on the link.
      • The installer will run for about half an hour, then reboot.
      • The "time remaining" will show wildly varying estimates as the installer proceeds.
      • Eventually you will be presented with a login screen; enter your password.
      • Then the system will display your desktop. All your files and applications should be there.
    • If Tahoe asks you if you want to "enable Desktop and Documents folder syncing to iCloud," you can say NO, and turn it on later. I say YES and use iCloud for this and it seems to be great.. I had to move files around to make it back up the right things. If you say YES, these folders will be backed up in iCloud and available on all your Apple devices, which you may not want. Saying YES may also enable  ► Storage ► Store in iCloud]% without asking, which will delete files from your computer's drive if it gets too full -- I do not enable this. Make sure it is OFF. Adam Engst's TidBITS article on Optimized Storage is very helpful.
    • Once the install has completed, use  ► System Settings... ► General ► Software Update and  ► App Store... to make sure you have installed the latest versions of Apple software. This step may find additional OS and application updates (might take another hour).
    • Do a "smoke test" to verify that your computer is working OK: make sure the applications you depend on are still working. Try out the applications from Apple that were updated with the OS. If you have trouble, restore your backup and go back to the old OS version.
  4. Recover
    • Wait for Spotlight to finish indexing (may take many hours since it is redoing the whole index). Performance may suck till it finishes.
    • Turn on Time Machine and start your backup, if you use it.
    • Restart the computer. Often this speeds things up.

Post Install Tasks

Once you are satisfied that your computer works acceptably, and you are going to stay on Tahoe, you can make some adjustments. Some folks have complained that installing an update changed their settings.

Results

Installing took less than ah hour. Things that work: