macOS Tahoe Review: Spotlight Shines, Liquid Glass Disappoints

[Smartuser]

I’ll agree that Apple is only consistent with iPhones and iOS, but by and large, when they have Mac releases in October/November, you can usually rely on macOS coming out a week or two earlier. Even iPhones aren’t 100% if you consider the iPhone SE/16e. iPad hardware releases are all over the place, sometimes in October, sometimes in September, sometimes in March of May. There are so many Mac models that there is no way to predict when anything comes out, but we generally expect something in October. Soon, iPhone non-pros will move to March while Pros and foldables will come out in September.

We can usually tell when macOS comes out by its beta release schedule. All the OS’es but macOS tend to go from bi-weekly to weekly earlier than macOS does. The gap between the transition will probably tell us when macOS comes out.

Yeah... no... It's complicated. One of the invariants of this forum is that somebody will always post how macOS releases are aligned with new Mac hardware, and that's not really true.

First, since the hardware releases are sprinkled over the entire year (I'm hard pressed to think of a month that didn't have a release in the last decade), they're bound to have something close to October-ish, but that doesn't mean coordination. The MacBook Air is the most popular Mac, and that hasn't coincided with a macOS release in a long time. The M2 MBPs and the M5 ones (according to Gurman) are definitely not aligned with macOS.

I think the actual situation is that iOS is a must to have ready for the September iPhone releases, releasing macOS within a month or so after that is a goal (not a must), and it tends to be an even looser (note that I'm using the word correctly, it's not a misspelling of "loser", rather I really mean "more loose") goal is to release new MBPs sometime in October or so, but they've been known to miss that goal. And again, that only applies to MBPs. All other Macs tend to be all over the place to begin with.

 

[Smartuser]

If you're comparing one macOS release to another, you may be right. But if you compare to Windows or many Linux variants, macOS still sets the standard.

People demand more, more, more... and when Apple delivers, the complaints never cease to amaze. 🤣

When I see the thread titles of this forum, it's a whole new definition of negativity. Judging by those, Apple should never have existed. That's why I have "Featured" off and only engage with threads occasionally.

 

[2128506]

Did anyone mention Vista yet?

Mac OS Vista!

Ba-dum-tss.

 

[parameter]

If the liquid glass on Mac isn't good - Sorry, but I'm going to complain about it. I'm a Mac-first user, have been for 30+ years.
Apple is (or was) always known for their impressive GUIs and thoughtful design. Sure, there have been blunders, but this sounds like a combination of very large blunders scattered all of the Mac UI.....NOT what I was hoping for. And I was definitely not hoping that the Mac would be last on the list for getting the new UI designs.

I have to use my Mac for work, so I don't dare to install the public beta on it. So I can't say first hand, but this report scares me.

It's just another Here we go again Apple. Massive failure at just about all levels.

Solution: Do some serious employee (including board members and executives) housecleaning. It's the only solution at this point. The sooner they recognize this, the sooner we might have an Apple company around that survives disaster after disaster.

I honestly just wish that the stock price just tanks. And I apologize in advance to anyone holding Apple stock, it's not personal. I had some back in the day. But these days, Apple is only driven by increasing their stock price, and it has just gotten out of control at this point. If the price drops, they'll have to actually work for once, which will bring the price back on up for anyone holding it.

Other than that, I only see declining products across the board.

 

[JohnC1959]

If the liquid glass on Mac isn't good - Sorry, but I'm going to complain about it. I'm a Mac-first user, have been for 30+ years.
Apple is (or was) always known for their impressive GUIs and thoughtful design. Sure, there have been blunders, but this sounds like a combination of very large blunders scattered all of the Mac UI.....NOT what I was hoping for. And I was definitely not hoping that the Mac would be last on the list for getting the new UI designs.

I have to use my Mac for work, so I don't dare to install the public beta on it. So I can't say first hand, but this report scares me.

It's just another Here we go again Apple. Massive failure at just about all levels.

Solution: Do some serious employee (including board members and executives) housecleaning. It's the only solution at this point. The sooner they recognize this, the sooner we might have an Apple company around that survives disaster after disaster.

I honestly just wish that the stock price just tanks. And I apologize in advance to anyone holding Apple stock, it's not personal. I had some back in the day. But these days, Apple is only driven by increasing their stock price, and it has just gotten out of control at this point. If the price drops, they'll have to actually work for once, which will bring the price back on up for anyone holding it.

Other than that, I only see declining products across the board.

Wouldn't it be nice if firing several top people really was a way to make a company better. Obviously there's at least as much a chance that would make things worse.

Anyway, I'll never base how I think a new release is or will be from comments here as they skew WAY negative compared to the general public. So far the biggest negative I can see so far is maybe readability issues with the liquid glass and it's looking like there may be enough settings to tweak that to the likes of most users.

Time will tell, but I prefer to assume the best until I actually use it.

 

[aperfectcircle]

Nice video. Happy with all the changes. Have not yet tried out the beta. Eagerly looking forward to trying it out.

Yeah it’s not as doom and gloom as some make out. I was hesitant this year, and didn’t install Tahoe until beta 3, but I’m really enjoying it. Safari certainly needs some work as it’s not in the greatest shape at the moment. Apart from that and the odd quirk, Tahoe is fine.

 

[Smartuser]

Wouldn't it be nice if firing several top people really was a way to make a company better. Obviously there's at least as much a chance that would make things worse.

Anyway, I'll never base how I think a new release is or will be from comments here as they skew WAY negative compared to the general public. So far the biggest negative I can see so far is maybe readability issues with the liquid glass and it's looking like there may be enough settings to tweak that to the likes of most users.

Time will tell, but I prefer to assume the best until I actually use it.

When I posted from it earlier, I noticed there's a way to set the surfaces to dark, which makes the text more readable.

This is not the last beta, and things aren't set in stone.

 

[JohnRckr]

I’m glad I recently got rid of my last Mac product I had.

 

[Smartuser]

I’m glad I recently got rid of my last Mac product I had.

Your signature contradicts that, so either you're not good at making up or at updating things.

 

[tobybrut]

Yeah... no... It's complicated. One of the invariants of this forum is that somebody will always post how macOS releases are aligned with new Mac hardware, and that's not really true.

First, since the hardware releases are sprinkled over the entire year (I'm hard pressed to think of a month that didn't have a release in the last decade), they're bound to have something close to October-ish, but that doesn't mean coordination. The MacBook Air is the most popular Mac, and that hasn't coincided with a macOS release in a long time. The M2 MBPs and the M5 ones (according to Gurman) are definitely not aligned with macOS.

I think the actual situation is that iOS is a must to have ready for the September iPhone releases, releasing macOS within a month or so after that is a goal (not a must), and it tends to be an even looser (note that I'm using the word correctly, it's not a misspelling of "loser", rather I really mean "more loose") goal is to release new MBPs sometime in October or so, but they've been known to miss that goal. And again, that only applies to MBPs. All other Macs tend to be all over the place to begin with.

I disagree with you strongly, but there’s no way to prove either of our viewpoints without someone from Apple telling us. The reason I believe you are wrong is that given your explanation, Apple would simply release macOS at the same time as iOS/iPadOS. There is no other reason to delay it a month or so. Yet, they are virtually never released at the same time. Even if it’s in September, it’s not in the same week. Why?

In the last twelve years, six times they’ve released in October or November and six times in September. Those dates tend to be correlated with Mac month, as tech blogs tend to call it. Before that, release dates were all over the map. It’s pretty clear they target a specific time after the iOS/iPadOS release dates typically intending to release Macs. It doesn’t always work out for them, but that is their target. iPhones on the other hand are far more crucial to the company since they sell a paltry 20-23 million Macs compared to 240 million iPhones.

They probably would have released MacBook Pros this October but I suspect the delays reported for the tandem OLED displays have forced them to postpone the next two MacBook Pro launches. if they launched the M5’s this October, it would mean likely two years before the M6’s to account for the delays in the screens. That forces them to space out the launches to give them 18 months between launches, which forces a delay of six months for the M5 versions. Apple likes to make sure a new OS version is ready for that. That they are forced to postpone the M5 launch may change up their release schedule, but as I said, it’s the gap between the betas switching to one week will tell us when macOS launches this year.

Similarly, iPadOS is released at the same time as iOS because they almost always have an iPad release, typically the base iPad, on an annual basis. That doesn’t always work out for them, but that is the trend.

 

[Smartuser]

I disagree with you strongly, but there’s no way to prove either of our viewpoints without someone from Apple telling us.

In the last twelve years, six times they’ve released in October or November and six times in September. Those dates tend to be correlated with Mac month, as tech blogs tend to call it. Before that, release dates were all over the map. It’s pretty clear they target a specific time after the iOS/iPadOS release dates typically intending to release Macs. It doesn’t always work out for them, but that is their target. iPhones on the other hand are far more crucial to the company since they sell a paltry 20-23 million Macs compared to 240 million iPhones.

They probably would have released MacBook Pros this October but I suspect the delays reported for the tandem OLED displays have forced them to postpone the next two MacBook Pro launches. if they launched the M5’s this October, it would mean likely two years before the M6’s to account for the delays in the screens. That forces them to space out the launches to give them 18 months between launches, which forces a delay of six months for the M5 versions. Apple likes to make sure a new OS version is ready for that. That they are forced to postpone the M5 launch may change up their release schedule, but as I said, it’s the gap between the betas switching to one week will tell us when macOS launches this year.

I don't know why this would be worth a strong disagreement as opposed to a simple disagreement. I don't have any emotions in this.

Apple themselves have said that the MacBook Air is the world's most popular Mac. So if it would be somehow important to have new full versions of macOS released with new Air models, they would much rather coordinate that with macOS than the MacBook Pros.

Yet its release dates have never been tied to macOS full version release dates in any kind of way.

As someone who tends to order these products on the first day, I've seen what they actually do: Have a special branch macOS version just for that particular model when it is released so its new features are supported, release some patches in that branch if any issues crop up, then merge that into the main branch in the next point release or soon after.

I'm not under the impression that MacBook Pro customers are the types who somehow care about whether they get a brand new full macOS release with their new laptop or not, but I can be convinced otherwise. My impression is that they only care that the new features are supported by macOS, which is always the case.

When the M2 MacBook Pros came out later than expected, nobody said a word to the effect of "I would have expected a new macOS Version with that", and Apple didn't delay the release until January of 2023.

The reason macOS releases come out in the fall is that iOS and macOS tend to share new features, so it makes sense to make them available on both platforms as close to simultaneously as possible. macOS tends to be later because iOS has the higher priority.

TLDR: Correlation (where it even exists here) is not causation. macOS does not wait for the Mac and vice versa.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Sorry but not “wowed” by transparent icons!

 

[MilaM]

People seem to enjoy tweaking the UI of their Macs and iPhones, and I get why. It helps to make the device more unique and personal. I'm not sure though, if changing the tint will satisfy a lot of users. The aesthetics are quite questionable, and the result does not change the look and feel all that much. Maybe one day Apple will allow you to theme iOS more substantially (I'm thinking custom icons and fonts). That way, if you didn't like liquid glass, you could just download and install a theme that is suits you more. Seems unlikely, considering how opinionated Apple has been about their UI creations in the past, but one can dream 😇.

 

[JLL]

The underlined tabs in Safari was a bug mentioned in the release notes.

 

[woolypants]

Like others here, I just don't "get" Liquid Glass and I wish there was a way to just turn it off. Maybe an accessibility option.

Visually Liquid Glass just looks really amateurish. It's pretend. It's fake. It's not real.

But there's also the usability aspects to it. Older people in particular are just going to struggle with trying to visually parse items against a weak translucent background. I do think Apple's focussed too much on younger people with this update. Maybe that makes commercial sense but, again, just a simple switch to turn it all off would be the perfect solution.

 

[DrJR]

This exemplifies the very nature of why OSX doesn’t belong on iPad.

 

[tobybrut]

Apple themselves have said that the MacBook Air is the world's most popular Mac. So if it would be somehow important to have new full versions of macOS released with new Air models, they would much rather coordinate that with macOS than the MacBook Pros.

Apple orients their timelines with the Worldwide Developers Conference, which has been held in June every year since 1989, hence why they don’t release new .0 versions early in the year. I wouldn’t be surprised if WWDC + a healthy beta period is why they settled on September for iPhone month. If it didn’t matter when they release their OS’es that aren’t tied to hardware, why don’t macOS and iOS betas synchronize on weekly releases and come out at the exact same time? There is no logical reason for that except that they want iOS and macOS to have their time to shine separately.

 

[judgeFire]

Spotlight has made it more difficult to search my computer for files. I don’t need to search the internet, just find the files I want. Ugh.

Does cmd-option-space still bring up Finder’s Find? That’s the more featureful search option, with filters for a hundred meta-data details

 

[adrianlondon]

I don't think many (who've posted here) will agree, but ....

I'm on dev beta 4 (same as public beta 1) and it's really not that much different to Sequoia. Sure, some things are more "faded" and there's a bit more "curviness" to some elements, but don't think it's something completely different.

There are new features of course, but as far as the basic UI is concerned, it's not as drastic a change as some portray.

To be fair, I think the same way about the latest iOS 26 beta and iOS 18, so maybe it's just me 😁

 

[Michael0816]

Who's seriously reviewing an unfinished, still months away product?

 

[Smartuser]

Apple orients their timelines with the Worldwide Developers Conference, which has been held in June every year since 1989, hence why they don’t release new .0 versions early in the year. I wouldn’t be surprised if WWDC + a healthy beta period is why they settled on September for iPhone month. If it didn’t matter when they release their OS’es that aren’t tied to hardware, why don’t macOS and iOS betas synchronize on weekly releases and come out at the exact same time? There is no logical reason for that except that they want iOS and macOS to have their time to shine separately.

Nowadays, iOS and macOS betas and releases are synchronized to the day. macOS sequoia was released at the same time as iOS 18 on 9/16/24.

The M4 MBPs came out in on November 8th of last year. In the adapted words of Phil Schiller: Synchronized release of macOS and Macs my <censored>.

Look, you said this:

Apple likes to put out new versions of their OS’es when they introduce new hardware.

This is 100% supported by its actions wrt to the iPhone and Apple Watch, somewhat the case for the MacBook Pro, and totally not the case for everything else, so it's wrong overall or needs many asterisks and qualifications, and that's really all I"m pointing out here.

I know and agree with nearly everything else you say including the WWDC timeline, but again, if measured by their actions, Apple doesn't give a <censored> about simultaneous or even closely timed releases of their OSs and their new hardware outside of iOS/iPhone and watchOS/Apple Watch.

"Apple likes to release new MBPs somewhat close to new versions of macOS if they can make it so" would have been acceptable.

 

[Smartuser]

Who's seriously reviewing an unfinished, still months away product?

Seriously as in can be taken seriously? Nobody.

 

[LexualDesire]

[Deleted]

 

[tomtad]

Longhorn is finally here

 

[AndyUnderscoreR]

With the exception of reducing visual clutter by removing the menu bar, there's literally nothing in this video that I want, and lots of things I don't want but probably won't be able to get rid of. Cramming a mail client into a search bar? Really?

Design-wise it's still a big backward step. How can a company that's just faced a major backlash over UI readability decide that a UI dominated by unnecessary circles was the right way to go?

Apple needs to look at everything they have changed and throw out all the changes that are only there to so Tim has something 'cool' to show off at the launch and keep the ones that make the Mac simpler and faster to learn and use... if there are any.