macOS Tahoe 26.1 beta 4 arrives: Everything new

Tahoe brings Liquid Glass to your MacBook, and there are even more changes ahead.
 By 
Tim Marcin
 on 
apple logo with screen behind it
Credit: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Apple is rolling out a new macOS beta shortly after its initial release last week. The new release — macOS Tahoe 26.1 Beta 4 for developers — brings a few new things to track or try out, just in time for the launch of the new M5-powered MacBook Pro tomorrow.

The Apple-focused tech outlet 9to5Mac parsed through the new beta and already picked out a couple of changes. The main thing? There's now a toggle to play with the transparency of the new Liquid Glass design, according to 9to5Mac.

Otherwise, it's the boring, usual stuff. The new beta includes "the usual bug fixes and performance improvements," 9to5Mac noted. The developer notes from Apple, for instance, say that it fixed a missing search bar in the Apple TV app. The notes from Apple also show that there were background issues that the updated beta resolved.


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So, there really isn't too much of a change. And the original beta itself was pretty minor, too. As Mashable's Alex Perry wrote, there was a slight alteration to the Macintosh HD desktop icon and evidence that there were plans to support third-party AI models in Image Playground, eventually.

MacOS 26 Tahoe itself, not any beta, did bring some major changes. Most notably, it got the Liquid Glass design change that dramatically shifted how Apple devices look for users.

Topics Apple MacBook

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Tim Marcin
Associate Editor, Culture

Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, trends, and the occasional hot take. You can find him on Bluesky (sometimes), Instagram (infrequently), or eating Buffalo wings (as often as possible).

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