Apple Releases macOS Tahoe 26.1 With New Liquid Glass Setting and More

[zemoleman]

No fix for Wallpaper issue, still can't select a folder of pictures to be used as Wallpapers. I can't believe this wasn't fixed. This whole OS was touted as giving us new ways to customize our visual experience of Mac OS but taking away as simple a feature as using your own folder of pictures as background/Desktop images is simply ludicrous.

EDIT: Found the fix. Move your folder of pictures somewhere else, give Wallpaper a minute, move it back to where it was and now you can select "Your Photos". Jeepers creepers Apple, please get some beta testers who are older than 14, maybe add some testers who have been around since Day 1 who used ResEdit to make their folder outlines darker and customized their environment with every System upgrade before getting down to any serious work. That as simple a feature as this had to be solved with any kind of workaround is completely unacceptable and indicative of an out of control/haphazard spiral where things are rushed simply to bring a slew of new features across the finish line. Steverino is truly spinning in his urn.

FURTHER EDIT: It is still a mess, can't delete old folders listed in Wallpaper, selected folder does not "stick", keeps reverting to Tahoe wallpaper. So much for customizing my Mac the way I want to. You might think much ado about nothing but this mess is emblematic of what a horrorshow Apple software has become.

 

[MacATDBB]

Slightly odd upgrade experience. I clicked 'check for updates' and the preference panel showed the 26.1 update. So I went to make a cup of tea before coming back to click install. On clicking install I got the message "update has changed, please try again or contact Apple support". I clicked check for updates a second time and then things progressed as usual ... not sure what that was all about but I'm seeing 25B78 as the version which seems right.

 

[eVasilis]

No fix for Wallpaper issue, still can't select a folder of pictures to be used as Wallpapers. I can't believe this wasn't fixed. This whole OS was touted as giving us new ways to customize our visual experience of Mac OS but taking away as simple a feature as using your own folder of pictures as background/Desktop images is simply ludicrous.

View attachment 2575961

All the wallpapers, desktop pictures if you will, I use are in a separate folder and are pictures I took myself. That is on a mac mini m4 running 26.1

 

[edubfromktown]

It's stuff like this that will get me to use my Windows computer a lot more and even buy one in the future. I have the M1 Mac (2021) and while it still works, I can't help but feel like I would rather be on my Acer computer from 2019. I've used Windows more than Mac in my life (And Fidelity works better on Windows, not to mention I use Excel and Quickbooks) but just asthetically, it looks a lot better.

Windows is no panacea. Microsoft has released some really horrid updates over the years, broken things badly at times, iexplorer.exe still lurks under the hood (and crashes haha), font rendering is still ugly, regedit mess, ...

I've used Windows longer than macOS too though haven't on personal systems for nearly 25 years. Transitioned to an M4 Air at work (running Sequoia) a few months back. It does everything that I need better, faster and more efficiently than an enterprise Dell Latitude laptop running Windows 11.

 

[MacATDBB]

No fix for Wallpaper issue, still can't select a folder of pictures to be used as Wallpapers. I can't believe this wasn't fixed. This whole OS was touted as giving us new ways to customize our visual experience of Mac OS but taking away as simple a feature as using your own folder of pictures as background/Desktop images is simply ludicrous.

EDIT: Found the fix. Move your folder of pictures somewhere else, give Wallpaper a minute, move it back to where it was and now you can select "Your Photos". Jeepers creepers Apple, please get some beta testers who are older than 14, maybe add some testers who have been around since Day 1 who used ResEdit to make their folder outlines darker and customized their environment with every System upgrade before getting down to any serious work. That as simple a feature as this had to be solved with any kind of workaround is completely unacceptable and indicative of an out of control/haphazard spiral where things are rushed simply to bring a slew of new features across the finish line. Steverino is truly spinning in his urn.

Weirdly, I had no issues with this. 'Your Photos' was there as an option with some pics of our dogs in a folder showing up in Sequoia and all versions of Tahoe. I might be tempted to take a look at the errors in the console app after opening the wallpaper preference panel if this returns.

 

[Donkey Man]

My oh my, how far we've fallen here.
It's so sad.

They do not need to be doing these macOS "updates" so often.
I really wish they'd stop it and go to an 18-24 month cycle on Mac at least.

As if having longer update cycles would improve anything in terms of fixing long-standing bugs…

 

[zoozx]

As if having longer update cycles would improve anything in terms of fixing long-standing bugs…

Apple hasn't been apple for a LONG time, long standing bugs seem to be permanent these days so they can spend all there time on needless crap ! , just for the sake of change...

 

[xnsys]

Apple hasn't been apple for a LONG time, long standing bugs seem to be permanent these days so they can spend all there time on needless crap ! , just for the sake of change...

Agreed, and it seems that the moment of change was shortly after the passing of Steve Jobs, and Tim Cook wishing to put his stamp on everything, almost undoing all the good work from SJ.

 

[alexandr]

You‘ve just discovered the new rippled glass 😀

iShattered

 

[Ursadorable]

Cool? I guess? I mean the .0 works fine for 99.999% of people.

Clearly not.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/do-you-like-liquid-glass-on-mac.2462862/

 

[raindogg]

Looks like Apple fixed the mini player in Apple Music App. I can now add a song to a playlist without enlarging the player. Small but it was annoying.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Where's the Tint?

there is basically no difference between LG clean and LG tinted on macOS 26.1.

View attachment 2575887 View attachment 2575888

Looking at this literally makes my brain hurt.

Goodness, this is so awful.

 

[turbineseaplane]

As if having longer update cycles would improve anything in terms of fixing long-standing bugs…

Not on its own, no, you're right.

It would require a fundamental shift in goals from Apple and a new commitment to making the most bug free and polished OS they could, and not just jamming in half baked new "features" and forced visual change for the sake of change.

 

[Ruggy]

Windows is no panacea. Microsoft has released some really horrid updates over the years, broken things badly at times, iexplorer.exe still lurks under the hood (and crashes haha), font rendering is still ugly, regedit mess, ...

I've used Windows longer than macOS too though haven't on personal systems for nearly 25 years. Transitioned to an M4 Air at work (running Sequoia) a few months back. It does everything that I need better, faster and more efficiently than an enterprise Dell Latitude laptop running Windows 11.

Many many Windows machines get bricked by firmware updates. Check it out.

 

[burgman]

Agreed, and it seems that the moment of change was shortly after the passing of Steve Jobs, and Tim Cook wishing to put his stamp on everything, almost undoing all the good work from SJ.

I have yet to hear Cook say anything like "you're holding it wrong"... Early users really miss Ping. Apple, like Microsoft in those days were monarchs. Still today, but less so than under founders. With all the shortcomings

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Many many Windows machines get bricked by firmware updates. Check it out.

Firmware (bios, uefi) is handled by the computer or peripheral manufacturer, not Microsoft, unless it's a Surface.

I don't like Windows 11, but these days I can do my work on Windows or Mac all the same, and I don't particularly care which. At least Microsoft is letting one customize the OS enough that I don't have deal with luqid-butt transparency nonsense. My work-issued Dell Latitude is just as stable and snappy in day-to-day usage as my MacBook Pro.

With my windows desktop (Windows 10 IOT) , if something goes wrong with an update (firmware-wise) and it bricked, I can chuck the part and replace it, including the motherboard. It's never happened in the 30 years I've owned computers, but I guess it could.

 

[Parowdy]

Is this build same as RC? iOS, iPadOS, WatchOS, and HomePodOS all ask me to upgrade again.

My iPhone and watch didn’t ask for a new update. Strange.

 

[Osxguy]

Prob the only one with my little Mac mini m2 but got stuck at the continue screen after update. Had to restart in safe mode and delete the auto start.

 

[j569mxr]

is the tint a psyop? it makes no difference if it's on or off.
i held off on 26 until they made glass less glassy, and now that i've upgraded i wish i had not.

 

[tennisproha]

Has Apple brought back the Compact Tabs layout in Safari yet?

 

[SunMac]

Slightly odd upgrade experience. I clicked 'check for updates' and the preference panel showed the 26.1 update. So I went to make a cup of tea before coming back to click install. On clicking install I got the message "update has changed, please try again or contact Apple support". I clicked check for updates a second time and then things progressed as usual ... not sure what that was all about but I'm seeing 25B78 as the version which seems right.

Why did you choose to make tea before pressing 'Install'? Seems like the most efficient way to install a MacOS update would be to press 'Install' before you go to make your tea. Maybe Job's sensed your strange decision to make tea before pressing 'Install' and forced an odd change of installer files.. Finder feels snappier though.

 

[rog]

Literally 7 times now running the updater, goes through installation and reboot and then nothing. Still stuck on 26.0.1
Apple is just complete garbage. This on a 2024 Mini M4 Pro

 

[stephe22]

As if having longer update cycles would improve anything in terms of fixing long-standing bugs…

Exactly. Longer release cycles make things worse not better.

 

[Janichsan]

Some examples what "Tinted" changes:

Finder
Clear

Tinted

Mail
Clear

Tinted

Music
Clear

Tinted (note the reduced distortion effects on the left side)

It's basically buttons and toolbars where the glass effect is reduced. Other things like the Dock or the Control Center are completely unaffected by the setting.

 

[.wojtek]

Cool? I guess? I mean the .0 works fine for 99.999% of people.

[citation_needed]?

Honestly, I would love to see the update stats and compare it with previous rollouts…