Apple introduced its new version of macOS at WWDC 2025, dubbed Tahoe — or macOS 26, if you want the proper number. It's one of the largest redesigns macOS has seen in years, showcasing the new Liquid Glass design language that Apple is rolling out across all of its various operating systems. In addition to redesigned windows and icons, macOS Tahoe will let you customize the color of app icons and folders, as well as add an emoji or icon.

Outside of an entirely new design, Apple is introducing a new Games app for macOS Tahoe, as well as Shortcuts, which will let you automate different tasks on your Mac. Like other OS updates, macOS Tahoe is entering a public beta in July, and it'll be available broadly this fall.

Liquid Glass in macOS Tahoe

It's looking a lot like Aero is making a comeback

Apple is redesigning all of its operating systems around the idea of Liquid Glass — somewhat of a 2025 take on Windows Aero that we had back in Vista. Windows are semi-transparent, and they feature rounded corners with highlights, almost as if they're floating on glass. You'll be able to see multiple layers of Liquid Glass in apps, and, as mentioned, Apple is letting you customize the color and icons of folders.

In addition to the new design, Apple is adding a handful of features debuting in the new iOS 26. In the Messages app, you'll now be able to add a photo background to your messages, as well as generate your own, and you'll be able to use the new Polls feature in group chats. Apple is also bringing more tools to AI Playground, including image styles available through ChatGPT, and Live Captains, which will immediately translate videos and calls in both languages.

Shortcuts bring automation to macOS Tahoe

A new tool for power users

macOS Tahoe is adding a major new feature to Apple's OS called Shortcuts. It's basically an automation interface that allows you to create new scenes, create routines, and even tap into Apple Intelligence to automate certain tasks. At a high level, you can use Shortcuts to automate basic tasks based off of a trigger. You can set up a shortcut when you receive an email or text message, for example, or at a certain time of day. And from there, you can tie different actions to the trigger, such as opening certain applications, setting your status, or minimizing certain windows.

Where Shortcuts really get impressive is intelligent actions. You can combine Shortcuts with Apple Intelligence to program complex automations, all without any coding knowledge. Apple shared an example from a lecture, where Shortcuts was able to ingest the lecture recording, feed that to an AI model for a summary, and generate a file with that response. After setting up this automation, you'll be able to run it through Shortcuts for any audio recording.

You can take this feature much further. Apple showed off examples of playing a podcast on triggers, or creating an audio recording. And you can tie these automations to Quick Keys, which is a new feature in macOS Tahoe that allows you to trigger Shortcuts with just a few inputs, similar to a text expander.

The new Games app is more than a launcher

Finally a proper way to play macOS games

With the release of macOS Tahoe, Apple is introducing the new Games app. At a high level, it's a launcher for your games. If you're purchasing titles through the App Store, you'll be able to launch them and see your progress through the Games app. More importantly, however, the Games app adds a new game overlay. Through the overlay, you'll be able to access system settings like volume and power mode, as well as respond to messages and invite your friends to play.

Behind the scenes, macOS Tahoe brings Metal 4 to games. Metal is Apple's graphics API, similar to DirectX on Windows, and it's been slowly catching up to the PC ecosystem. Metal 4 brings frame interpolation and better denoising to macOS. Apple didn't share a ton of details on Metal 4 during its presentation, but it looks like Apple is taking notes from AMD and Nvidia by adding support for frame generation technologies, and perhaps even AI-powered denoising for ray tracing.