Apple has today released macOS Tahoe 26.1, watchOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1, and HomePod Software 26.1 to the public.
As with iOS 26.1 and iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1 adds a new "Tinted" option for Liquid Glass, which we believe may improve the legibility of visual elements that use that design language for some users. This setting can be found in System Settings > Appearance.
Our experience is that the following accessibility bugs have been resolved in macOS Tahoe 26.1:
- VoiceOver no longer prepends numbers and symbols in the Calculator edit field with "Left to right mark."
- Items in the "Available controls" group in Control Center's edit interface are no longer doubled.
- The "Activity view" group in Mail is no longer visible to VoiceOver.
We are additionally aware of one new accessibility bug in this release:
- When placing VoiceOver focus on a link, there is a slight delay between the sound indicating focus playing and the contents of the link being spoken. This delay may be more reliably reproducible when using VoiceOver’s “Find next link” command, or when focusing on a visited link.
If you notice any further changes, improvements, or regressions in your use of these releases, please post a comment below with your findings.
Release notes
macOS Tahoe 26.1
This update adds a new tinted option for Liquid Glass along with other features, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac.
For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit: https://support.apple.com/100100
watchOS 26.1
This update includes improvements and bug fixes.
For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/100100
tvOS 26.1
This update includes performance and stability improvements.
HomePod Software 26.1
This update includes performance and stability improvements.
How to update
To install macOS Tahoe 26.1, choose System Settings from the Apple menu, select General in the table, click Software Update in the scroll area, and click the Update Now button to begin the update process. If other updates are available, you can click the Info button to see details about them and select specific updates to install.
watchOS 26.1 is available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update) or by going to the Watch app on your iPhone and navigating to General > Software Update. To install the update, your Watch must be connected to its charger and have at least 50% battery power.
To install tvOS 26.1, on Apple TV 4K or Apple TV HD, go to the Settings channel, then look for the System section near the bottom. From here, look for Software Updates under Maintenance, then select Update Software and Download and Install. Wait for your Apple TV to download the update. Don't disconnect or unplug your Apple TV until the update completes.
By default, HomePod and HomePod mini automatically install new software updates, but you can manually check for updates in the Home app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Comments
Is Safari any better?
It sounds like Safari was involved in a horrific car crash in 26.0. I don't suppose it has improved at all in this release has it?
Aside the link delay problem and not focusing on page on load
I didn't personally have any major occurrence of snr on 26.
But seems that each macos blind user lives in its own world :)
Safari
My biggest worry with Safari on 26.0 was that VoiceOver would sometimes just not see content. So as you browse, it just silently jumps over it and you wouldn't know it was there. I presume this relates to some specific situations but I've been here before with Sonoma where some web sites I depend on became unusable and so this is really concerning to me.
The other thing I have heard is that nav navigating from the toolbar to the content has become more difficult, e.g. you can't just navigate to heading and find yourself in the first heading on a page. This sounds like it would be something that would drive me absolutely crazy all the time and, whilst not a showstopper, would cause a big productivity hit.
I'm sure there are some other things I've forgotten. I don't remember hearing that SNR was any worse, so at least that is a small comfort.
I need to find myself a big chunk of time to try installing it on my usb flash drive so I can test it out. But honestly there are things I would rather be doing with my free time.
as broken as the betas?
the beta of 26.1 was badly broken as far as having a nasty delay between pressin ga key command and voiceover speech on the web, which made it almost unusable. This occurred particularly if verbosity settings were set to announce the 'type' after the content in a link. can anyone confirm if this is the case in the release version?
@mr grieves
My biggest worry with Safari on 26.0 was that VoiceOver would sometimes just not see content. So as you browse, it just silently jumps over it and you wouldn't know it was there. I presume this relates to some specific situations but I've been here before with Sonoma where some web sites I depend on became unusable and so this is really concerning to me.
Spotted as early as the early betas of 26, still there in some form or another with extremely specific cases, for example apple own security public mailing list :)
safari and delay with links
I noticed that it specifically mentions the sound when talking about the bug with the links. I have my sounds turned off, does that matter?
Yup...
This skipping-over-a-chunk-of-text bug didn’t come with the new Tahoe update, but rather with a Safari update that was released around the same time as the 26.0 software update. Now I have to use two browsers on my college’s Canvas site to make sure I’m not missing paragraphs from my research articles. The funny thing is, these websites are completely accessible—it’s just VoiceOver being annoying.
what if I turn sounds off?
I have sounds turned off, so there are no clicks or anything when I navigate the screen. If I keep it this way, will there still be a delay? Or am I cleared?
When did all of these quirks start with macOS?
I am genuinely asking here. When did all of these quirks start with macOS? Such as not being able to do work processing properly, not being able to read characters, words, lines, etc. on certain webpages, and so forth and so on? I've never used an M series Mac, and I understand that they are superior to the Intel based models. However, back when I was in college that's all there was, and they worked wonderfully. It seems to me like all of these problems started with the new M series chips.
Am I wrong? Or are all of these quirks more recent?
Sidenote, I am aware that SNR actually began with Catalina, which started on Intel based Macs.
RE: MacOS Quirks/Issues
Hi Brian,
Your question about recent macOS issues is a good one, and what I perceive to be a decline in recent years is definitely a necessary discussion. That said, just to keep things organized, I think it would probably be best to create a new topic in the macOS forum; so that we can keep this post dedicated to specific questions/issues with the 26.1 releases.
Thanks,
Michael