Latest news with #macOSTahoe26
Hans India
24-06-2025
- Hans India
Apple Restores Finder Icon in macOS Tahoe 26 After Backlash
Apple has quietly addressed a highly-discussed design change in its latest macOS update—one that sparked more backlash than applause among Mac enthusiasts. In the second developer beta of macOS Tahoe 26, the company has restored the classic Finder icon to its traditional color layout, reversing a tweak introduced in the initial beta that left users scratching their heads. The change is part of Apple's broader Liquid Glass design overhaul, which was unveiled at WWDC 2025 as a key aesthetic update in macOS 26. The sleek and reflective style has been applied system-wide to deliver a more polished, modern user experience. However, when it came to the beloved Finder icon, Apple's bold design experiment didn't go over well. In the first beta version of macOS Tahoe 26, developers noticed that Apple had flipped the blue and white sections of the iconic smiling Finder face—a move many described as jarring and unnecessary. 'An outrage!' exclaimed Jay Peters, a technology editor at The Verge, capturing the sentiment of many loyal Mac users who've come to appreciate the icon's familiar look as a visual anchor of macOS. Fortunately, it didn't take long for Apple to pivot. The second beta version, released on June 24, restores the Finder icon to its original blue-left, white-right orientation. 'Apple has seen reason,' Peters remarked in his coverage, pointing out that tradition won out in this design debate. A comparison published by 9to5Mac visually confirms the reversal, offering side-by-side shots of the original, the altered version, and the now-restored icon. But the Finder icon wasn't the only thing Apple tweaked in its latest beta. macOS 26 beta 2 also introduces a new option to restore a background to the menu bar, a feature aimed at improving visibility and legibility—a subtle but welcome change for those who found the translucent look difficult to read. Meanwhile, similar usability improvements are being made in iOS 26. The latest developer beta for Apple's mobile OS includes a refreshed Control Center design that enhances clarity, aligning with Apple's apparent focus on better accessibility and user-friendly visuals across its platforms. While the Liquid Glass design language is a bold and largely well-received update, Apple's quick course correction with the Finder icon shows that user feedback still matters—even in the tiniest pixels of the user interface. For Mac traditionalists, it's a reassuring nod to the importance of visual consistency and familiarity, even as the OS evolves. As the beta testing cycle continues, more refinements are likely before macOS Tahoe 26 officially rolls out later this year. But for now, the Finder is smiling once again—just the way it should.
Mint
18-06-2025
- Mint
Apple brings Journal App to more devices with iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe
Apple's native Journal app, first introduced in 2023 with iOS 17.2, is set to make its way to the iPad and Mac later this year, the company confirmed during its WWDC 2025 keynote. The expansion comes alongside the launch of iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26, which will bring a host of new features to Apple's ecosystem. The journaling app, designed to help users document their thoughts and daily experiences, will now take full advantage of the hardware and interface capabilities of the iPad and Mac. Until now, the app has been limited to the iPhone, but the move to bring it to more devices is seen as a natural progression. On the iPad, Journal will gain support for the Apple Pencil, allowing users to include handwritten notes, sketches, and drawings within their entries. Additionally, users will be able to insert photos, audio clips, and other media to enrich their daily logs. The larger screen real estate and multitasking capabilities of the iPad are expected to enhance the journaling experience significantly. Mac users, meanwhile, will benefit from the familiarity and efficiency of a physical keyboard, offering a more seamless way to type entries compared to the iPhone's on-screen keyboard. Apple also highlighted that the app will support multiple journals for different themes or life events, all of which will be synchronised across Apple devices via iCloud. Journal entries will be end-to-end encrypted and securely stored on iCloud, ensuring privacy and peace of mind. To safeguard content further, entries can be locked using Touch ID or Face ID, depending on the device in use. The app also introduces features aimed at helping users revisit their memories, such as a location-based map view of entries, the ability to bookmark moments, and advanced filters to search through past logs using criteria like photos, locations, and fitness activities. Powered by on-device machine learning, Journal provides intelligent prompts tailored to each user's recent activity — including places visited, music played, and photos taken — to encourage meaningful and consistent journaling habits. The updated Journal app will become available on iPad and Mac with the rollout of iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26, both scheduled for public release later this year. With its arrival across Apple's wider product range, the app is expected to become a more central part of users' digital lives, encouraging reflection and creativity on a broader scale.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
What is Liquid Glass? Internet reacts to Apple's new software design
Apple's Liquid Glass made a splashy debut this week, but it might not be for everyone. Some social media users have been quick to criticize or poke fun at the "beautiful, new" software design for iOS 26, which was unveiled at the 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference, an annual information technology conference hosted by the tech juggernaut. The design, dubbed Liquid Glass, was crafted with a "translucent material [that] reflects and refracts its surroundings, while dynamically transforming to help bring greater focus to content," Apple said in a news release. Alan Dye, Apple's vice president of Human Interface Design, called the iOS 26 rollout the company's "broadest software design update ever." 'It combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context," said Dye in a statement. Here's what to know about Liquid Glass, and what people are saying about it. Liquid Glass is a new software design, or aesthetic, described by Apple CEO Tim Cook as "Expressive. Delightful. But still instantly familiar." According to Apple, the "look" makes apps and system experiences more expressive and delightful while being instantly familiar. It is translucent and behaves like glass in the real world and its color is informed by surrounding content and intelligently adapts between light and dark environments. The new design, unlike previous iterations, will extend across platforms, including iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, tvOS 26 and watchOS 26. Many people like the idea of Apple's "Liquid Glass," but the execution, not as much. Some of the most prominent concerns include the readability of notifications and the distortion to the image behind the squiggly, bubble-shaped app outline. "The new liquid glass looks abysmal and is a perfect example of focusing on form/prettiness/design over of functionality/readability/practicality like, what are we doing here," an X user wrote in a June 9 post. Some have also speculated the new design would not have passed the sniff test of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. "Steve Jobs had very famously said that design was how it works, not how it thoughts on liquid glass would have been interesting," one user wrote, referencing a famous quote from the founder. Others, still, felt that Apple completely missed the mark by offering the "liquid glass display" instead of revisiting the AI upgrades unveiled at last year's WWDC. Memes, critiques and threads have surfaced on social in the wake of Apple's announcement. See a compilation of posts made about "Liquid Glass" below: Contributing: James Powel and Mike Snider, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is Liquid Glass? New Apple iPhone aesthetic sparks discussion
Hans India
11-06-2025
- Hans India
First Look at macOS Tahoe 26: Liquid Glass UI and Smarter Spotlight Search
At Apple's WWDC 2025, the company unveiled its latest desktop operating system, macOS Tahoe 26, debuting an all-new visual style dubbed Liquid Glass. The design is set to appear across Apple's device lineup, and after spending a day testing the developer beta on an M4 MacBook Air, it's clear Apple is blending form and function with mixed results. The update brings smoother transparency effects throughout macOS, from the Dock and Finder to widgets and system apps. On the Mac's larger display, the Liquid Glass design feels more like a subtle visual layer than the bolder implementation seen on iPhones. It's a noticeable shift, though whether it becomes more appealing over time remains to be seen. The Dock now features a frosted translucent background, moving away from the flatter aesthetic of macOS Sequoia. Widgets like Weather and Calendar adopt the same hazy, frozen-glass look, while dropdown menus retain a higher opacity for better readability. New UI elements also bring more dramatic changes. For example, the volume and brightness indicators have been relocated to the top-right corner of the screen and revamped with a distorted glass style. However, their elongated horizontal form may not sit well with every user. 'Frankly, they're ugly, and I find their new elongated horizontal look strange and out of place,' the user noted. A particularly notable tweak is the Menu Bar, which is now invisible—removing the previously opaque bar that used to hide the screen's notch. While it opens up more visual space, it may feel disorienting to long-time users. Beyond visuals, the real winner in this beta could be Spotlight. The updated search feature is now faster, smarter, and more useful in daily tasks, offering improved contextual awareness and better results across local files and web content. While the aesthetics may still divide opinions, the functional upgrades to Spotlight are a clear productivity boost, hinting at Apple's continued push to combine elegant design with powerful utility.
Tatler Asia
11-06-2025
- Tatler Asia
Here's what was announced at Apple WWDC 2025, and what it means for Apple users. (It's looking good.)
Liquid Glass leverages the powerful graphics hardware in Apple devices to dynamically render a crystal-like material that visually behaves like real-world glass. Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV users will notice various interface elements—such as buttons, sliders, switches, text, tab bars, sidebars and media controls—taking advantage of real-time rendering. Even the Home Screen, Control Centre, Lock Screen and notifications receive an eye-catching makeover. Interface elements, such as lens-like buttons and panels, exhibit optical properties that subtly magnify the content beneath. Liquid Glass elements come with either a clear appearance or coloured tints, which can layer across dark and light modes. iOS 26: A shinier, smarter iPhone experience Above Users look forward to WWDC mainly because of iOS updates. This year, iOS 26 features a new Home Screen and Lock Screen design along with a new look for app icons and widgets on the iPhone (Photo: Apple) In addition to its new name, iOS 26 introduces several improvements over its predecessor, iOS 18. The most visible is the Liquid Glass design, inspired by the translucent display of Apple's Vision Pro headset. Beyond visual enhancements, iOS 26 delivers new features for key iPhone apps, including Phone, Camera, Messages, Safari, Maps, Photos, Wallet, Music and CarPlay. A new Games app consolidates all games, offering an improved experience for Apple Arcade subscribers. In the Phone app, a new unified layout combines Recents, Favourites and Voicemail. Users can now screen unknown senders in Messages and create custom backgrounds. The Camera app sports a simplified interface with clear photo and video options, while the Photos app offers separate Library and Collection views. iOS 26 is expected to launch in September. iPadOS 26: Power and flexibility for iPads Above iPadOS 26 takes takes advantage of a larger touchscreen along with unique features of the iPad (Photo: Apple) PadOS 26 marks one of the most significant updates for iPad to date. It brings the Liquid Glass aesthetic while preserving the intuitive design of earlier versions. A new windowing system allows users to manage windows with simple gestures—closing, resizing, minimising or tiling them with a flick. Using Exposé, users can view all open windows at a glance for faster navigation. The enhanced Files app offers improved file management, including a new List view, folder customisation, folder dragging in the Dock and the ability to set default apps for opening files. The new Preview app enables users to manage and edit PDF and image files. Meanwhile, Background Tasks allow users to run and monitor hardware-intensive operations. macOS Tahoe 26: A refined desktop experience Above macOS Tahoe 26 introduces a new design for Mac (Photo: Apple) With the new Liquid Glass enhancing the Mac experience, macOS Tahoe 26 introduces a redesigned Dock, sidebars and toolbars. An enhanced Spotlight redefines the search experience on the Mac with search results ranked intelligently based on user relevance while having the ability to search documents even on third-party cloud storage. Actions such as sending an email, playing a podcast or creating a note can be directly launched from Spotlight. With Continuity, users can make cellular calls on their iPhone using the Phone app on the Mac. Notifications on the iPhone can also be displayed on the desktop. MacOS Tahoe 26 also introduces several improvements in apps like Safari, Messages, Photos, FaceTime, Journal and Notes. watchOS 26: A smarter companion on the wrist Above watchOS 26 offers a new look with advanced health features (Photo: Apple) watchOS 26 introduces a refreshed look to Smart Stack widgets, hints, Control Centre, notifications and navigation. The new Workout Buddy feature uses workout data and fitness history to generate personalised motivational messages—such as pep talks or workout insights—via an AI-generated voice model based on real trainers. The Workout app benefits from an updated layout and navigation. Smart Stack's improved prediction algorithm ensures users can access key information faster. Additionally, a new wrist flick gesture lets users dismiss notifications without touching the screen. visionOS 26: Enhancing spatial experiences Above Apple Vision Pro lets users share spatial experiences with other users in the same room (Photo: Apple) visionOS 26 introduces enhanced Personas for Apple Vision Pro users, with more photorealistic avatars that feature finely rendered hair, eyelashes and skin. The OS now supports 180° and 360° cameras from GoPro, Insta360 and Canon, enabling more immersive content creation. The new update also supports PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers, expanding gaming options. Spatial experiences—such as 3D movies, games and content—can now be shared with other Apple Vision Pro users in the same room. Using generative AI, 2D photos can be transformed into immersive spatial images that can be viewed from multiple perspectives. Apple Intelligence: getting smarter across the system Above Shortcuts are supercharged with Apple Intelligence, allowing users to tap directly into Apple Intelligence models (Photo: Apple) Apple Intelligence introduces new capabilities that will be available across Apple devices. Live Translation is now integrated into Messages, Phone and FaceTime, performing translations on-device and displaying them as text or audio in real time. Visual intelligence enables users to identify objects using their camera and pose questions to ChatGPT about what they see. It can also recognise events and automatically add them to a user's calendar. Additionally, Apple Intelligence-powered Shortcuts can summarise text, compare audio transcriptions and create images using tools such as Writing Tools and Image Playground.
