Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

macOS Emerald to macOS Big Bear: What Will Apple Name macOS 27?

Don’t care what they call it. Just needs an option to turn off Liquid Glass for better readability and usability.

And please Apple, ditch the ugly, space-wasting rounded window corners! 🙏
 
  • Like
Reactions: trusso
srbNYC said:
Why do OS versions have names, but iOS versions don't?
Click to expand...

They do! They’re just less widely known compared to the macOS names.

Some examples:

iPhone OS 1.0 – Alpine
iPhone OS 2.0 – Big Bear
iPhone OS 3.0 – Kirkwood
iPhone OS 3.1 – Northstar
iOS 4.0 – Apex
iOS 5.0 – Telluride
iOS 6.0 – Sundance
iOS 7.0 – Innsbruck
iOS 8.0 – Okemo
iOS 9.0 – Monarch
iOS 10.0 – Whitetail
iOS 11.0 – Tigris
iOS 12 – Peace
iOS 13 / iPadOS 13 – Yukon
iOS 14 / iPadOS 14 – Azul
iOS 15 / iPadOS 15 – Sky
iOS 16 / iPadOS 16 – Sydney
iOS 17 / iPadOS 17 – Dawn
iOS 18 / iPadOS 18 – Crystal
iOS 26 / iPadOS 26 – Luck
 
  • Like
Reactions: srbNYC, Larsvonhier, Samplasion and 1 other person
There’s are literally hundreds of names to choose from should they stick with California places. Nothing stopping them registering new names through shell companies, even.

Golden Gate, Point Reyes, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Big Bear, Channel Islands, Kings Canyon, Palomar, Anza Borrego, Lassen, Carmel, Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Bodega Bay, Half Dome, Marin, Napa, Truckee, Alcatraz, Angel Island, Donner Pass, El Dorado, Imperial Valley, Junipero, Kern River, Laguna, Owens Valley, Pinnacles, Russian River, Salton Sea, Trinity Alps, Ukiah
 
  • Like
Reactions: eitanharlev
MacRumors said:


Every year heading into WWDC, one thought on many Mac fans' minds is what Apple will choose as the name for the next version of macOS. The tradition dates all the way back to the beginning of Mac OS X with big cat names like Leopard, and Apple eventually shifted to California-themed names with the unveiling of OS X Mavericks.

macOS-27-Feature-Blue.jpg

Apple has yet to announce the name for macOS 27, but macOS Emerald and macOS Big Bear have emerged as two speculative possibilities.

While it will have a new Siri app and other Apple Intelligence enhancements, macOS 27 will reportedly be focused on bug fixes and stability improvements. In other words, it will be a refined version of macOS Tahoe. For this reason, macOS Emerald could be a fitting name for macOS 27, given that Emerald Bay is part of Lake Tahoe. This would be similar to how macOS High Sierra was a refined version of macOS Sierra.

macOS Big Bear is another speculated name, as MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris discovered that the filename for Apple's WWDC 2026 hashtag graphic on X mentions "Project Big Bear." macOS Big Bear would refer to Big Bear Lake in California. However, the filename could obviously end up being unrelated to macOS 27 naming.

Back in 2014, we discovered more than 20 California-themed trademark applications filed by various limited-liability companies, which were all but certain to be shell companies created by Apple to hide its identity. Over time, some of the trademarks like Yosemite, Sierra, Mojave, Monterey, Mojave, Ventura, Sonoma, and Sequoia were indeed used as macOS names, while trademark applications for other names were abandoned.

Apple has still proceeded to use some of the names with abandoned trademark filings as macOS names, such as Big Sur in 2020. So, there is still a possibility that macOS 27 will use one of the names that Apple had filed to protect many years ago.

Here is a list of the remaining words that Apple had filed:
  • California
  • Condor
  • Diablo
  • Farallon
  • Grizzly
  • Mammoth
  • Miramar
  • Pacific
  • Redtail
  • Redwood
  • Rincon
  • Shasta
  • Skyline
  • Tiburon
Of course, there is no guarantee that Apple will ever use any of these names. It is simply fun to think about the possibilities each year.

Apple will unveil macOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 keynote on Monday, June 8.

Article Link: macOS Emerald to macOS Big Bear: What Will Apple Name macOS 27?
Click to expand...
These guesses are ridiculous as Apple goes with more prominent, tourist attractions. I'm thinking:

Venice
La Jolla
Santa Monica
Hollywood
Cupertino
Zuma
Malibu
Los Angeles
 
mlayer said:
I like Diablo, mostly because Mt. Diablo is one of the tallest peaks in the Bay Area and Apple tends to ignore anything that's inland and not in or near the Sierras. Skyline works because it's a famous winding mountain road in the Peninsula. Shasta's pretty cool as it's really tall and is a dormant volcano. Other than that, why not use one of the bodies of water, like the Sacramento or San Joaquin River? Or Delta?
Click to expand...
They might have to license it from the producers of The Big Bus, namely Paramount. "We ALL remember Mount Diablo!"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back