The next version of Apple’s desktop operating system for its Macs, to take the baton from macOS 15 Sequioa next year, will apparently be macOS Tahoe.
According to Mark Gurman’s newsletter for Bloomberg – a leaker who’s already flagged an apparent change in numbering, predicting this will be macOS 26, not 16 – Lake Tahoe is seemingly the next place that Apple will name its product after.
Cue a bunch of jokes drawing similarities between the next macOS and the hulking Chevrolet Tahoe, and tongue-in-cheek comments about how the operating system is bound to be bloated and slow.
As ever, this is still a rumor, so we shouldn’t get carried away with the idea – though Gurman is one of the more prolific and reliable Apple leakers, for sure.
At any rate, whatever the next incarnation of macOS is actually called, when is it out, and what can you expect from it?
Let’s dive into those details and touch on a few of the rumored key features to watch out for in macOS 16, or indeed macOS 26 – Tahoe – ahead of Apple’s big revelations about the operating system at WWDC 25 soon.
macOS 16: release date
macOS Tahoe hasn’t been officially revealed or talked about yet, but we're expecting to see it announced at WWDC 2025, which kicks off on June 9.
A potential release date also hasn't been aired. However, Apple typically deploys its new version of macOS in September or October, so we can likely expect the refreshed desktop OS to roll out to Macs around that time.
macOS 16: Rumored new features
1. An all-new look
If you’ve been getting a bit bored with the look of macOS, which hasn’t changed much as this decade has rolled onwards, here’s some potentially good news – one of the major changes rumored for Tahoe is a revamped look.
While not much in the way of detail has been provided, the rumor that the interface is due for a big overhaul again comes from Mark Gurman. In theory, this is part of a plan to align the design language and appearance of Apple’s software across iOS, macOS, and iPadOS (as well as other platforms).
So, it’ll be of even greater benefit to those with multiple Apple devices to have similar-looking icons or menus (and more besides, no doubt).
2. Accessibility features in spades
Apple recently announced a raft of new accessibility functionality across its various devices including Macs, and some of these will surely debut in macOS Tahoe.
That includes Personal Voice, which can capture the voice of someone who is losing their ability to talk, and Magnifier for Mac. The latter leverages your iPhone (or a USB camera) to be able to zoom in to, say, a distant whiteboard, and present the writing on the board to the user on their Mac’s screen – seriously nifty stuff for those who are vision-impaired.
In a similar vein, Accessibility Reader can take images of book pages and show them on the Mac display, allowing for zooming, or changing fonts or colors to make things clearer.
3. Wi-Fi timesaver
This is a feature that’s coming with iOS 19, according to Gurman, but logically it must also apply to macOS Tahoe (and other Apple platforms besides), because it’s all about unifying public Wi-Fi logins across multiple Apple devices for convenience.
As it stands, when you’re in a hotel, gym, or other place with public Wi-Fi, you may have to fill out a form before you can connect to the network and go online. Doing this on multiple devices is even more of a pain, but with this new feature, you’ll only have to complete said form once, and all your other Apple devices will automatically use those details.
So, for example, tackle the form on your MacBook, and you’ll also be good to go on your iPhone and iPad – neat.
You might also like…
