macOS Tahoe: A Pattern of Poor Usability and Design Regression

[Deuce2]

I’ve been using macOS daily for decades, across both Intel and Apple Silicon eras, and I don’t say this lightly… macOS Tahoe represents a noticeable regression in basic usability and visual design discipline.

This screenshot is a simple but telling example. In the Messages app, Dark Mode, macOS renders white text on a very light background, resulting in insufficient contrast and reduced legibility. This isn’t an edge case or an obscure preference setting... it’s a direct violation of long-established usability and accessibility principles.

At a minimum, Apple should be meeting:

• WCAG contrast guidelines
• Clear foreground/background separation
• Predictable visual hierarchies across light and dark modes

Instead, Tahoe feels increasingly inconsistent, as if visual polish is being prioritized over functional clarity. Dark Mode, in particular, seems treated as a skin rather than a first-class design system... leading to situations where text becomes harder to read precisely when users choose Dark Mode to reduce eye strain.

This issue isn’t isolated. Across Tahoe, there’s a growing pattern of:

• Low-contrast UI elements
• Ambiguous visual cues
• Excessive translucency that undermines readability
• Visual effects competing with clarity

Apple used to be the company that understood that good design is invisible… that it gets out of the way. Lately, macOS feels like it’s drifting toward aesthetics-first decisions that ignore real-world usage and professional workflows.

If Apple wants to continue positioning macOS as a productivity-first OS, these basics need to be addressed. Visual consistency, contrast, and legibility are not subjective preferences... they’re foundational to usable software.

Curious if others are seeing the same pattern in Tahoe, especially those running Dark Mode full-time.

 

[Genelec8341]

Thats why I'm sticking with Sequoia for as long as possible.

 

[PotentPeas]

To note, I haven't upgraded to Tahoe yet, so I have not experienced this myself. ...But I have run across similar things on iOS 26.

Do you have either "high contrast" or "reduce transparency" accessibility settings set? I've seen examples of those settings making things *worse* in a few cases. Regardless, if that is how Messages looks in dark mode in *any* situation/configuration, that is disgusting.

I hope that they take some time to really focus on polish and attention to detail in macOS 27.

 

[Deuce2]

Do you have either "high contrast" or "reduce transparency" accessibility settings set? I've seen examples of those settings making things *worse* in a few cases. Regardless, if that is how Messages looks in dark mode in *any* situation/configuration, that is disgusting.

Good catch! Thank you for flagging that.

You're right… after digging further, this turned out to be tied to the Liquid Glass appearance setting. Switching it from Clear to Tinted resolves the contrast issue in this specific case.

That said, this still reinforces an underlying usability concern. A default appearance option that can render text unreadable in Dark Mode... even if "fixable" via a secondary setting... is a design flaw, IMHO. Users shouldn’t have to troubleshoot appearance combos to maintain basic legibility.

 

[PotentPeas]

That's not one of the settings that I asked about, but good find...

I do recommend the "Tinted" setting to everyone who I run across who is using iOS 26. It makes text in the "glass bubbles" much more readable if there is a conflicting background, whether you are using dark mode or light mode. From what I have seen, it makes much less of an impact on macOS 26. But, clearly, here is a case where it matters.

 

[nebojsak]

 

[fisherking]

I’ve been using macOS daily for decades, across both Intel and Apple Silicon eras, and I don’t say this lightly… macOS Tahoe represents a noticeable regression in basic usability and visual design discipline.

View attachment 2596425

This screenshot is a simple but telling example. In the Messages app, Dark Mode, macOS renders white text on a very light background, resulting in insufficient contrast and reduced legibility. This isn’t an edge case or an obscure preference setting... it’s a direct violation of long-established usability and accessibility principles.

At a minimum, Apple should be meeting:

• WCAG contrast guidelines
• Clear foreground/background separation
• Predictable visual hierarchies across light and dark modes

Instead, Tahoe feels increasingly inconsistent, as if visual polish is being prioritized over functional clarity. Dark Mode, in particular, seems treated as a skin rather than a first-class design system... leading to situations where text becomes harder to read precisely when users choose Dark Mode to reduce eye strain.

This issue isn’t isolated. Across Tahoe, there’s a growing pattern of:

• Low-contrast UI elements
• Ambiguous visual cues
• Excessive translucency that undermines readability
• Visual effects competing with clarity

Apple used to be the company that understood that good design is invisible… that it gets out of the way. Lately, macOS feels like it’s drifting toward aesthetics-first decisions that ignore real-world usage and professional workflows.

If Apple wants to continue positioning macOS as a productivity-first OS, these basics need to be addressed. Visual consistency, contrast, and legibility are not subjective preferences... they’re foundational to usable software.

Curious if others are seeing the same pattern in Tahoe, especially those running Dark Mode full-time.

good thing you started another thread about these things 🤣

meanwhile, my messages look like this. why is yours so different?

 

[triptolemus]

Messages looks fine, Tahoe dark mode...

 

[Cape Dave]

I’ve been using macOS daily for decades, across both Intel and Apple Silicon eras, and I don’t say this lightly… macOS Tahoe represents a noticeable regression in basic usability and visual design discipline.

View attachment 2596425

This screenshot is a simple but telling example. In the Messages app, Dark Mode, macOS renders white text on a very light background, resulting in insufficient contrast and reduced legibility. This isn’t an edge case or an obscure preference setting... it’s a direct violation of long-established usability and accessibility principles.

At a minimum, Apple should be meeting:

• WCAG contrast guidelines
• Clear foreground/background separation
• Predictable visual hierarchies across light and dark modes

Instead, Tahoe feels increasingly inconsistent, as if visual polish is being prioritized over functional clarity. Dark Mode, in particular, seems treated as a skin rather than a first-class design system... leading to situations where text becomes harder to read precisely when users choose Dark Mode to reduce eye strain.

This issue isn’t isolated. Across Tahoe, there’s a growing pattern of:

• Low-contrast UI elements
• Ambiguous visual cues
• Excessive translucency that undermines readability
• Visual effects competing with clarity

Apple used to be the company that understood that good design is invisible… that it gets out of the way. Lately, macOS feels like it’s drifting toward aesthetics-first decisions that ignore real-world usage and professional workflows.

If Apple wants to continue positioning macOS as a productivity-first OS, these basics need to be addressed. Visual consistency, contrast, and legibility are not subjective preferences... they’re foundational to usable software.

Curious if others are seeing the same pattern in Tahoe, especially those running Dark Mode full-time.

"This issue isn’t isolated. Across Tahoe, there’s a growing pattern of:

• Low-contrast UI elements
• Ambiguous visual cues
• Excessive translucency that undermines readability
• Visual effects competing with clarity

Apple used to be the company that understood that good design is invisible… that it gets out of the way. Lately, macOS feels like it’s drifting toward aesthetics-first decisions that ignore real-world usage and professional workflows."

THANK YOU! Well said. My thoughts precisely. It is a huge backwards step in all that we have learned (painfully) about UI/UX over the last 25 years or so. And accessibility? Yeah, that flew right out the window.

 

[myhaksown]

Good catch! Thank you for flagging that.

You're right… after digging further, this turned out to be tied to the Liquid Glass appearance setting. Switching it from Clear to Tinted resolves the contrast issue in this specific case.

View attachment 2596447

That said, this still reinforces an underlying usability concern. A default appearance option that can render text unreadable in Dark Mode... even if "fixable" via a secondary setting... is a design flaw, IMHO. Users shouldn’t have to troubleshoot appearance combos to maintain basic legibility.

Thanks for this, I didn’t realize this was an option. I ended up changing it on my iPhone. My Mac doesn’t support Tahoe so I’m all good there. I’ll be changing it on my iPad Pro tho too

 

[Fishrrman]

As someone with "aging eyes", I found "dark mode" very difficult to read when it first came out, so I've never used it. If it's worse now, I won't be noticing.

I prefer "the traditional look" of the Mac OS...

 

[scrapesleon]

thank goodness I'm still on sequoia looking at that text hurt my eyes lol

 

[astrorider]

Like the other posters mentioned, my Messages in Tahoe doesn't looks like yours in Dark mode even with "Clear" Liquid Glass setting. Maybe it's a bug and a restart would help?

 

[maxoakland]

Like the other posters mentioned, my Messages in Tahoe doesn't looks like yours in Dark mode even with "Clear" Liquid Glass setting. Maybe it's a bug and a restart would help?

Why is Mac OS so buggy now? I feel like I have to restart it as much as windows 98

 

[aries81]

Again? Why bring this up incessantly? There already are a million threads on this.

 

[Fallforward]

You have a choice of either of these two options....
1. Settings->Appearance->Tinted
2. Settings->Accessibility->Display->Reduce Transparancy = on

MacOS will not allow you to do both. I have Dark Mode always on and, at least for me, #2 is better for all around results not limited to your specific issue. Consider testing each and compare your your perference.

Combined with black wallpaper and black lock screen, which has always been my preference anyway, I have zero issues with Liquid Glass.

If your wallpaper is not black, you can also use the following to see the menu bar better....
- Settings->Menu Bar->Show Menu Bar Background = off

 

[nebojsak]

I have Reduce Transparency on. Overall look reminds me of the Big Sur, though I'd like more grayish black

 

[macbookj0e]

good thing you started another thread about these things 🤣

meanwhile, my messages look like this. why is yours so different?


View attachment 2596483

It warrants another thread as it’s such an important issue affecting devices we use every day.

We pay premium prices for premium Apple products and their software of late has become far from premium. The more threads there are the higher the chances our voices will be heard and therefore something may or may not be done about it.

Craig Federighi needs to be the next person out of apples door in my opinion as this isn’t good enough across all platforms. Not to mention the AI fiasco he led.

 

[Novae Bentos]

The mere fact that you have to tinker with visual settings to make it useable makes Tahoe a total usability failure - that alone warrants any number of threads.

 

[nebojsak]

The mere fact that you have to tinker with visual settings to make it useable makes Tahoe a total usability failure - that alone warrants any number of threads.

It's not tinkering, it's options. I mean, what's wrong with having more options in Settings?

 

[FatLouie]

I will stay on Sequoia for a very long, long time...unless LG can be completely turned off.

If a user must reduce transparency, add a tint, or take any other action to use the OS and its apps, then the GUI is broken. Apple's arrogance has broken the GUI, negatively affecting a large number of users with visual impairments.

 

[FatLouie]

It's not tinkering, it's options. I mean, what's wrong with having more options in Settings?

We all love options. However, these options still leave the GUI broken. Had Apple taken the path where Tahoe looked the same as Sequoia after install, and given the users the option of LG, well, the angst would have been a lot less. One of the aspects I like about Linux is that I can pick my GUI, fonts, etc.

Apple screwed up.

 

[nebojsak]

If a user must reduce transparency, add a tint, or take any other action to use the OS and its apps, then the GUI is broken.

It's not broken. The world doesn't revolve around you. You have option to leave it full blown LG or to reduce its appearance. I don't like full blown LG either and have reduced motion and transparency, but I'm fully aware there are people who like it that way.

 

[nebojsak]

We all love options. However, these options still leave the GUI broken. Had Apple taken the path where Tahoe looked the same as Sequoia after install, and given the users the option of LG, well, the angst would have been a lot less. One of the aspects I like about Linux is that I can pick my GUI, fonts, etc.

Apple screwed up.

No. It's just that Apple chose to go with such UI for a while. Like it was with Aqua, brushed metal, flat or whatever. And they're not gonna revert it fully anyway.

I didn't like Aqua. I'm not a fan of overly detailed kitschy (in my opinion) 3D icons and general overly skeuomorphic UI. But I had to get used to it, I had no other choice. People need to realize that there's no way a single UI will be accepted by everyone.

 

[avro707]

This screenshot is a simple but telling example. In the Messages app, Dark Mode, macOS renders white text on a very light background, resulting in insufficient contrast and reduced legibility. This isn’t an edge case or an obscure preference setting... it’s a direct violation of long-established usability and accessibility principles.

iOS 26 on Safari has similar glitches with the battery status, phone reception and time at the top of the screen on certain websites (but not all the time) where you have white background on white text (even worse).

It's not tinkering, it's options. I mean, what's wrong with having more options in Settings?

Might confuse people, and Apple doesn’t like doing that, right.

Personally I think Liquid Glass needs to go and we return back to the Sequoia interface. Then Apple does a huge effort to really make that work very fast. And while they are at it, work with AMD to get GPU drivers for newer Radeon GPUs for those of us with late 2022 machines that still support GPUs.

Keep us going until Apple decides what it is doing with the machine after the inadequate 2023 M2 Mac Pro.