Some Mac users who have updated to macOS Tahoe 26 feel like the new operating system runs slower than their prior MacOS installation did. Reports online suggest there can be general sluggishness and lagging performance, sometimes with frame rate drops and stuttering animations on the screen, or even when typing. Other users in various forums have voiced complaints that app launching is slower or that app performance and interactions within MacOS, Finder, Photos, Safari, Chrome, and other apps may feel slower. Some MacBook users report their laptop battery drains faster, or that the MacBook feels hot to the touch as well. While every new MacOS release tends to find user reports like this, some complaints regarding sluggish or slow macOS Tahoe performance, unusual heat, and other weirdness may be easily resolved.
If your Mac feels slower after installing macOS Tahoe 26, read along and we’ll discuss some of the reasons that may be, along with some tricks to help improve performance.
macOS Tahoe 26 adds some new features, but it also has taken a prominent popular feature away on the Mac, and that is the removal of the dedicated LaunchPad app from macOS Tahoe. LaunchPad is the simple app launcher that is kind of iOS-like and has been on the Mac for a longtime, visible in the Dock for quick access to apps, and by keyboard shortcut. It was quite popular, so it makes sense that this change is impacting a fair number of Mac folks.
To be clear, while the LaunchPad app itself is removed from Tahoe, it has actually just been reincorporated into Spotlight, the MacOS Search feature. But it’s not quite the same, either visually or in functionality, and a fair number of Mac users who really liked Launchpad are disappointed by this change.
If you miss LaunchPad in macOS Tahoe, we’re going to offer you two solutions. First, we’ll show you how to use the new LaunchPad interface within Spotlight, and second we’ll introduce you to a free replica app that brings a LaunchPad alternative to macOS Tahoe.
I admit, I was a hater. I absolutely loathed the Liquid Glass interface on iOS 26. I thought it was obnoxious, distracting, excessive, confusing, ugly, hard to read. My initial impressions were really bad, it was so weird looking and off that it made me hate using my iPhone and I immediately regretted upgrading to iOS 26.
But then I went through all the various customization options, particularly for the Home Screen icons and Lock Screen, and made a few adjustments to Accessibility settings, I customized a couple wallpapers for my most frequent Messages conversations, and now I really like iOS 26 and the Liquid Glass interface changes. Say what?
Apple has issued the first beta versions of iOS 26.1, MacOS Tahoe 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and the rest of the OS 26 suite. The first betas are available for any user registered in the developer beta program, and soon after for public beta testers too.
It’s not entirely clear what the focus of iOS 26.1 beta, MacOS Tahoe 26.1 beat, and ipadOS 26.1 beta will be, but presumably it’s bug fixes and feature tweaks, perhaps to address some of the early complaints and issues reported about the new operating systems.
If you’re anything like me, you’re typically excited about new operating systems being released, but also approach with a little hesitation. After diving right into iOS 26 on iPhone, I regretted it for various reasons including some Liquid Glass annoyances, sluggishness, and battery drain (though my opinions are rapidly evolving, more on that separately!), and so I am taking a much more cautious approach regarding installing MacOS Tahoe 26 on my MacBook Air.
I’m certainly intrigued by MacOS Tahoe 26 and its newness, but my Mac is used almost exclusively for work and productivity, and I am going to sit on the sidelines a bit longer to wait and see. I’ve seen enough feedback, gripes, complaints, social media threads, forum posts, and reviews, and this article is going to discuss how I arrived at my currently paused position on MacOS Tahoe.
iOS 26 is in the wild, and aside from the mixed reactions to the Liquid Glass interface, there are also wildly different reports of battery life performance post-update. A notable number of iPhone and iPad users are complaining throughout social media and online forums that iOS 26 battery drains faster than it did before, and sometimes these are accompanied by complaints that iPhone feels hot to the touch.
Reports of reductions in battery life are fairly common after iOS updates, and iOS 26 is no different in this regard. It’s important to understand some of the reasons why this might be happening, what’s normal and not, and what if anything you should do about it on your iPhone or iPad.
iOS 26 introduces a completely new design schema called “Liquid Glass” that has more transparency, translucency, movement, and shininess. To say that iOS 26 Liquid Glass is polarizing would be an understatement, as opinions on the new look could not be more extreme, with some users thinking it’s amazingly fantastic, and others like myself are really quite miserable with the new look and reduced usability on their freshly updated iPhone and iPad.
While Liquid GL-ass looks pretty great in Apple’s manicured marketing images, in practice Liquid Glass means lower contrast, cramped UI elements and overlapped text, general legibility issues, excessive movements and unnecessary visual animations that are sluggish and distracting, weird looking icons that look askew or slanted, and a generally more distracting and confusing interface appearance and user experience that is harder to read and more difficult to interact with. Me personally, I hate it, and I’m not alone. It’s no wonder that a good number of iPhone and iPad users are wondering if they can disable the Liquid Glass interface completley in iOS 26, because it’s harder to use for many of us. While Apple should introduce a “Classic” iOS 18 look option for users who prioritize usability and accessibility on their devices, that’s not happening yet (and let’s be honest, probably never will), so in the meantime you can sort of tone down some of the most dramatic Liquid Glass interface changes and ploppy chunky animations with a handful of settings changes.
Note: If you have not yet updated to iOS 26 on your iPhone or iPad, you should know that looking at screenshots and Apple’s beautiful marketing images does not truly represent what the new Liquid Glass interface actually looks and feels like on your own device. If you’re at all concerned about legibility, usability, accessibility, and readability, you’ll probably want to avoid the update and prevent your iPhone from auto-updating to iOS 26 and instead update to iOS 18.7 and remain very cautious about installing future iOS updates. I wish I had stayed on iOS 18 myself, but my job here is to muck with this stuff so I am committed to the dizzying iOS 26 experience and boy oh boy am I going to whine about it while simultaneously trying to offer solutions to others who also hate Liquid Glass.
If your iPhone and iPad is already on iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 and you’re not enjoying the new visuals and user experience, I have collected some tips below to make it a bit more legible and usable.
An annoying and somewhat alarming issue can occur for some iPhone users where the iPhone Touch Screen becomes unresponsive to touch after installing an iOS system software update. This often means the iPhone will seemingly successfully install the new update for iOS, but the lock screen can not be unlocked or swiped away, and touch elements on the screen do not work either, it’s not subtle, it’s as if the entire touch screen is just completely not working and unresponsive to any touch.
This happened to me recently, with my iPhone Pro becoming completely unresponsive after installing iOS 18.7 update, and the touch screen would not work at all. Read more »
Apple has released iOS 18.7 for iPhone, along with iPadOS 18.7 for iPad. These new software updates are available alongside the major new release of iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 for users who are not yet prepared or interested in installing those major new versions of system software for whatever reason.
The release notes for iOS 18.7 are brief and only mention security updates, so it’s assumed that no new features or other changes are included in the update, though there are few new Emoji icons in the equivalent MacOS 15.7 release so those are possibly here too.
Apple has released MacOS Sequoia 15.7 and MacOS Sonoma 14.8 for Mac users who are not yet interested in upgrading to MacOS Tahoe 26. While MacOS Tahoe 26 is generating the majority of attention for Mac users at the moment, a significant number of people will continue to use the MacOS Sequoia and Sonoma releases for various reasons, and Apple will continue to issue software updates and security updates to these versions for a while.
MacOS Seqouia 15.7 includes some new emoji icons along with security updates, and macOS Sonoma 14.8 includes security updates and patches but no new emoji.
Apple has launched watchOS 26 for Apple Watch, and tvOS 26 for Apple TV. Both are major new software updates for those devices with the Liquid Glass interface update, and include a variety of new features and improvements, making them compelling updates to those in the Apple ecosystem.
MacOS Tahoe 26 has been officially launched by Apple to all Mac users with compatible hardware. The new operating system for Mac includes some notable visual changes and a variety of new features, which is sure to generate considerable interest. MacOS Tahoe 26 is labeled that way but
The most significant new obvious change to MacOS Tahoe 26 is the introduction of the Liquid Glass interface look which is more animated, translucent, and shiny, with some new icon customization options and other visual changes. You will also find a refreshed lock screen with new wallpapers and new screen savers, some newly redesigned system icons, and various other changes on the appearance side of things. In terms of features, MacOS Tahoe 26 features major Spotlight changes like the inclusion of Launchpad and a new clipboard history feature, Live Activities from iPhone show on Mac, Messages app gets custom background options and group polling, Phone app with Voicemail comes to MacOS, Journal app, and many other little features, updates, and changes to the Mac operating system.
Separately, iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 have also been made available, along with watchOS 26, tvOS 26, homeOS updates, visionOS 26, and more.
Apple has released iOS 26 for iPhone, and iPadOS 26 for iPad, as software updates for all iPhone and iPad users with compatible devices. The release of iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 provide many new features and improvements to the operating systems, and bring some significant changes too. The release of the iOS 26 software update may be somewhat polarizing, as all major system software releases with interface changes are, but the redesign with many new features is sure to make it another popular version of iOS.
iOS 26 brings the all new Liquid Glass interface appearance which is much shinier and more translucent with more animations, icon customization options, new wallpapers, new ringtone options, a redesigned lock screen look, CarPlay gets a visual revamp, Messages app gains polling and custom backgrounds, Preview app, Apple Intelligence improvements, and more. Specific to ipadOS 26 is the inclusion of a menu bar and new window-based multitasking experience, along with Phone app. The
Separately, MacOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26 are available as well, along with updates to basically every other supported Apple device.
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Some years ago, Apple introduced a default setting on iPhone and iPad that automatically installs system software updates, including major updates like iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. If you do not want your iPhone or iPad to automatically update to iOS 26, you can make a settings adjustment to make sure that does not happen.
Whether you are sitting on the sidelines for compatibility reasons, aren’t yet interested in the update, or perhaps you have not yet prepared for iOS 26, you might have an interest in preventing your iPhone or iPad from updating to iOS 26 automatically, which usually happens overnight.
iOS 26 is on the way, bringing a pretty significant software update to iPhone and iPad. With a variety of interesting new features and notable visual changes like the Liquid Glass interface appearance style, Messages group chat polling and custom backgrounds, new ringtones, Preview app, and much more, the excitement around the release is understandable.
But before you go jumping into the iOS 26 update on iPhone, or iPadOS 26 update on iPad, you’ll probably want to take a little time to prepare your device for the next major system software version. Let’s review some of those helpful steps to get you started.
The release candidate build of iOS 26 for iPhone and iPadOS 26 for iPad has been released to users participating in the developer beta and public betas for Apple system software. The release candidate (RC) build is typically the final version that is released to the general public, assuming no major bugs or problems are discovered.
The iOS 26 RC build comes alongside the availability of MacOS Tahoe 26 release candidate, watchOS 26 RC, and tvOS 26 RC as well.
iOS 26 introduces the Liquid Glass interface appearance that is more translucent and shiny with some additional icon customization options. You’ll also find new wallpapers available, a revamped lock screen, new ringtone choices, and a revamped CarPlay appearance too. But that’s not all, you’ll also gain background wallpapers for Messages along with group chat polling, Preview app, improvements to Apple Intelligence if your device supports it, and more. iPadOS 26 gains all of that plus new multitasking windowing options for apps and a menu bar, along with Phone app.
Apple has released MacOS Tahoe 26 as a release candidate build (build number 25A5353) for users participating in the developer beta and public beta programs. The RC (release candidate) build for Tahoe comes alongside RC builds for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26, and watchOS 26 too. RC builds are often the final version released to the general public if no major bug or issue is found, and typically indicate the end of the beta testing cycle.
MacOS Tahoe 26 introduces the new Liquid Glass interface appearance to Mac which features more translucency and shinineness with less contrast. You’ll also gain new icon customization choices, new wallpapers, new screen savers, some newly redesigned icons, and other little changes for the interface. Additionally, MacOS Tahoe 26 includes a handy clipboard history feature within Spotlight, Launchpad has turned into an app launcher within Spotlight, Messages app gains background customizations and group chat polls, Phone app with voicemail comes to Mac, Journal app comes to Mac, and many other smaller features and changes.
