9 macOS Tahoe Tips You’ll Actually Use
While the most obvious change to macOS Tahoe 26 is the newly rounded and translucent Liquid Glass interface appearance, there are also a variety of neat new features and customization options that you’re sure to appreciate easily well.
Let’s review some of the most useful tips for macOS Tahoe that you’ll want to check out, and that you’ll actually use.
1: Try the New Clear & Tint Appearance Customizations
Aside from the new Liquid Glass interface appearance, there are also new customization options for the appearance of icons and widgets. The “Clear” look goes great with Liquid Glass and makes all the icons and widgets more subtle, while you can use the ‘Tint’ option to make the icons and widgets take on any color hue you’d like. This is a fun way to further customize your Mac look and feel.
System Settings > Appearance > Icon & Widget Style > choose ‘Clear’ or ‘Tint’
The effect is immediate in the Finder:
2: Try New Folder Color Customizations
Going beyond the aforementioned tint and clear icon and widget style customizations, you can also specify a color to use for your folders in the Finder, offering yet another great way to customize the look and feel of your Mac experience.
System Settings > Appearance > Folder Color > select the folder color of your choice
3: Use The New Spotlight Launchpad App Launcher
Spotlight has consumed Launchpad and now has an integrated app launcher. While some Mac users miss Launchpad and appreciate some alternatives, others might like the new Launchpad that has been incorporated into Spotlight, and a big part of that is simply learning how to use it properly.
Hit Command+Spacebar to open Spotlight as usual, then hit Command+1 to open the new Launchpad / App Launcher, then either find the app you want to launch, or start typing the name and hit return
4: Use the New Spotlight Clipboard Manager
Clipboard managers and clipboard history are wildly useful features that third party apps have long existed to suit the need for, but now macOS Tahoe brings a native simple clipboard manager, and it’s incorporated directly into Spotlight for quick and easy access. Using the Spotlight clipboard manager feature is super easy, here’s how it works:
Hit Command+Spacebar to open Spotlight as usual, then hit Command+4 to enter the clipboard history manager feature of the new Spotlight. Click the copy/file icon to the right of the item to copy it back to your active clipboard.
5: Try the New Phone app on Mac
MacOS now has a native Phone app that lets you handle, make, and receive phone calls directly from your computer. Plus you can access voicemails, see your recent call list, contacts, and more. There are also the new features of Call Screening and Hold Assist available on the Mac side of things too. The Phone app for Mac interface is a little weird, but it works, and it’s undoubtedly useful for when your iPhone isn’t nearby.
Phone.app is located in the /Applications folder, or via Spotlight.
6: Journal app for Mac
Journal app has arrived on the Mac as well, and it will sync to your iPhone Journal app as well as iPad Journal app, if you let it. If you’re a fan of keeping a journal and jotting things down about your day, this is an easy app to do that with. Many people use Notes for journaling, but why not try the dedicated journal app, since it’s easier than ever and right there?
7: Auto-join iPhone Hotspots if your Wi-Fi Goes Out
If your home wi-fi or ethernet goes out, you can set MacOS to automatically join iPhone wi-fi hotspot so you can continue to use and access the internet. This is easy to enable in wi-fi settings.
Go to System Settings > Wi-Fi > scroll all the way to the bottom for “Ask to join hotspots” > set to “Automatic”
8: Enjoy the New Aerial Wallpapers & Screen Savers
macOS Tahoe includes new beautiful wallpaper and screen saver options, including variations of Lake Tahoe scenery, stunning beachscapes of Goa India, tea leaf gardens in India, flybys through the Himalayas, and travels up the upper reaches of the Ganges river.
Go to System Settings > Wallpaper > Landscapes > and explore all the new beautiful options here.
9: Set Custom Wallpaper Backgrounds for Messages Converations
Setting a custom wallpaper background for significant Messages conversations offers a nice way to customize the appearance of chats in the Messages app, and also offer a very obvious visual cue of what message thread you’re in. If you’ve ever accidentally sent the wrong text to the wrong person, you know how embarrassing that can be, and by setting unique custom wallpapers per contact (or significant chat anyway) it makes it much easier to determine immediately who you’re talking to.
From Messages app > open a conversation thread > click on the person or group chat name at the top > go to “Background” and set your custom wallpaper background for that thread.
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macOS Tahoe includes even more changes and small features here and there, and of course the super obvious visual overhaul of Liquid Glass too. If you have a favorite feature or change, share it with us in the comments, we’d love to hear about it.
And by the way, if you feel macOS Tahoe is slow you can take some advice along with make a variety of adjustments to speed things up a bit, but be aware that some of those tweaks are going to impact the appearance of Liquid Glass interface elements.
What do you think? Do you love the new Tahoe features? Do you have a favorite? Share your thoughts below.
Anyone around in 2000 will remember MacOS X beta. Glassy look, rounded corners, blobby buttons… A whole lot different from Systems 6 to 9 when multiFinder was the bee’s knees.
I moved to MacOS 26 straight from my 27″ iMac 2015. I have kept it and a PowerMac G5 both running ancient OS’s but at least pages displayed in Preview have square corners rather than rounded off. Which makes Preview useless for soft proofing before sending high res PDFs for printing. Also, clicking on buttons in many websites and even Apple’s own apps often don’t result in an action, the workaround being to make the app window full size.
MaxcOS 26 feels less stable and a lot less user-friendly than OSX beta, I have spent hours leaning how to turn off the most irritation features. And don’t get me started about the new iPad and iPhone OS’s.
While I don’t like change, if we don’t let the smart young things update the look of MacOS, it will soon look very dated. Then sales to new, younger, customers will drop off. So, embrace the change and get with the program! 🤣🤣🤣
I,m with you , 83 and been on Mac for many years , nothing serious just a user and getting tired of Apple doing everything possible to make every model I,ve ever used redundant! Have purchased many models and I,m back to IPAD as a last resort , this is it after this Apple can stick it ,
Rather than changing the look and feel of it, they should be adding security, more security and more security….. show the originating full address of the sender in mail and there should be an instant widget to block out them in this day and ageand making sure that the apps people currently use work with it like Dexcom hell they could even update some printer drivers from the year of the flood still using an HP 1012 hopefully it works with the new OS haven’t done my income taxes yet so I haven’t needed to print anything
I’ve wondered for years how many Mac (or any other computer or phone) users are excited by new OS’s, new GUI’s, all these hot new features, as opposed to people like me who have long since tired of having to relearn how to do the things we need to do just to use our computers as the tools they have long since become.
I know, Apple feels like they have to keep the buzz going to sell new models, and the geeks behind the scenes need to stay entertained, but as someone who has used Macs sinc System 6.7, I am sick to death of this. I’d love to know if anyone knows how many other people feel the same way.
I agree 100% with ‘slfltdoc’. All those kids who do the programming think ‘new and flashy’ is the only criterion. In fact, most people want ‘easy’, ‘clear’, ‘simple’, ‘fast’ and effective/efficient – plus ‘no problems’.
Yes, I totally understand your feelings. I feel this every time I update to the latest OS. But it is the price of progress across the board in the system you have come to rely on. The latest version may cause some initial headaches for you and likely others, but for some users, it results in significant improvements in what they can do. All OSs, not just Apple’s, and not just Macs/iPhones, Ipads, go through update cycles.
The alternative is much, much worse for all of us.
I totally agree. There’s a difference between useful and pretty and Apple seems to have gone down the “pretty” road. The worst may have been switching from the Preferences controls to the current Settings fiasco but 90% of the new Tahoe features amount to nothing. The brainiacs at Apple are turning a very useful tool into a game board. I’d be happy to go back to Snow Leopard if all the new apps worked and it had the modern security features of today.
I totally agree. I think the balance of ease of use and functionality peaked at Snow Leopard. I’d probably still use it if it still had secure browsing and e-mail support.
Apple continues to remove functionality and features, hoping most of the fans are to distracted by the pretty colors and new look to notice what’s been lost or dumbed down.
I completely agree. More stupid shortcuts that I’ll never remember, useles customization that makes the UI illegible, and more settings to reset with every update. I’m still bitter about all the trouble “organize by conversation” caused me in Mail.