macOS Tahoe 26.0 Beta 3 - Bug fixes, changes, and more

[vincenzo79]

Personally, I thought it would reset everything, but it didn’t — I found all my old applications still there. What I can tell you is that the update must have the final ‘g’, otherwise it gets stuck… and anyway, I’ve never encountered all these problems with beta versions before. I’ve been using them for several years and never had an issue… but this year… it’s a different story…

 

[iBookmaster]

Personally, I thought it would reset everything, but it didn’t — I found all my old applications still there. What I can tell you is that the update must have the final ‘g’, otherwise it gets stuck… and anyway, I’ve never encountered all these problems with beta versions before. I’ve been using them for several years and never had an issue… but this year… it’s a different story…

Yeah, I do think Apple is putting more focus on iOS and iPad OS. I have an M1 iPad running the newest beta and it's almost flawless/ready for official release. Works really well.

 

[Adora]

Personally, I thought it would reset everything, but it didn’t — I found all my old applications still there. What I can tell you is that the update must have the final ‘g’, otherwise it gets stuck… and anyway, I’ve never encountered all these problems with beta versions before. I’ve been using them for several years and never had an issue… but this year… it’s a different story…

I just rebooted and it was much smoother and faster than the update-installer that permanently rebooted and sometimes got stuck with its progress bars. Could be only because the update already had been installed but I don't think so.

 

[vincenzo79]

I just rebooted and it was much smoother and faster than the update-installer that permanently rebooted and sometimes got stuck with its progress bars. Could be only because the update already had been installed but I don't think so.

Could it be related to Spotlight indexing?
Anyway, I find Beta 3 much smoother compared to Beta 2, aside from some graphical issues in third-party applications, like Android Studio for example.

 

[Adora]

Personally, I thought it would reset everything, but it didn’t — I found all my old applications still there. What I can tell you is that the update must have the final ‘g’, otherwise it gets stuck… and anyway, I’ve never encountered all these problems with beta versions before. I’ve been using them for several years and never had an issue… but this year… it’s a different story…

I you have problems, using a full installer to update is always the best option. Because it overwrites every system file again and not only the ones that got updated. So if any of those files that don't get updated are corrupted, they will be replaced with a fresh one again.

Also updates often don't update the recovery partition. I think my iMac still was on 14.x although it had gone through all updates from 15.0 Developer Beta 1 to 15.4 I think. And the 14.x version on Recovery was even older than the one I updated from to 15.0.

The only disadvantage of updating with a full installer is the bigger file to download. I always start both at the same time and the updater normally finishes first and then I just restart and cancel the installer download and it later again.

Could it be related to Spotlight indexing?
Anyway, I find Beta 3 much smoother compared to Beta 2, aside from some graphical issues in third-party applications, like Android Studio for example.

Not sure what it is. I don't think it's Spotlight because I disabled it completely for a while in Beta 2 and that didn't change anything.
But everything is definitely smoother now and my M4 Pro Mini doesn't always feel hot anymore when I touch it. Often it's just cool. But sometimes it's getting very warm again for no reason. Before it always was hot, even in low power mode.

 

[MakaniKai]

Check in System Settings -> Appearance whether ‘Allow wallpaper tinting in windows’ is enabled. If it’s enabled, turn it off and the windows should change to their neutral colour.

It’s been a thing since Dark Mode was first introduced, and extended to light mode as well in Big Sur.

Woohoo! Thank you! I had no idea this setting existed. Now I need to go close the bug I filed xD oops..

 

[StellarVixen]

Tab bar definitely needs work, especially in dark mode. Light mode is kinda ok, in dark mode it is often impossible to tell what tab is selected.

 

[disruptor85]

Are you guys being able to Reload the Updates page in Mac App Store? It is not possible always, only in certain occasions, really weird

 

[StellarVixen]

Are you guys being able to Reload the Updates page in Mac App Store? It is not possible always, only in certain occasions, really weird

Wish I could test, but I am not logged into Apple account on machine on which I run beta.

 

[Aoligei]

Finally got hands on a used 16" MacBook Pro. Installed macOS Tahoe on this machine and it isn't a good experiences. Machine runs very very warm, with fan constantly on. Dropped frame is very frequent.

It is clearly that Intel Macs are second thought for Apple now. I can't believe maOS is so bloated that even Core i7 with AMD Radeon graphics can't run it well.

Even Windows 11 runs better on this machine than macOS Tahoe

 

[fisherking]

Finally got hands on a used 16" MacBook Pro. Installed macOS Tahoe on this machine and it isn't a good experiences. Machine runs very very warm, with fan constantly on. Dropped frame is very frequent.

It is clearly that Intel Macs are second thought for Apple now. I can't believe maOS is so bloated that even Core i7 with AMD Radeon graphics can't run it well.

Even Windows 11 runs better on this machine than macOS Tahoe

sigh, you do realize we're only at developer beta 3? running hot is not unusual, there's lots to be sorted out, fixed, fine-tuned...

 

[Aoligei]

sigh, you do realize we're only at developer beta 3? running hot is not unusual, there's lots to be sorted out, fixed, fine-tuned...

Not really. Beta 3 runs noticeably better on Apple Silicon Macs than Intel. Even the lowest end M1 Mac mini performance better than Intel.

I am not even saying intensive applications, just web browsing on Safari cause fan ramps up on Intel Mac. What I am observing is that the Core i7 MacBook Pro running macOS Tahoe is visibly slower and laggy than Windows 11 running on Intel N100 mini PC.

I understand this is beta 3, but Tahoe on Intel Mac is clearly after thought.

 

[novagamer]

Not really. Beta 3 runs noticeably better on Apple Silicon Macs than Intel. Even the lowest end M1 Mac mini performance better than Intel.

I am not even saying intensive applications, just web browsing on Safari cause fan ramps up on Intel Mac. What I am observing is that the Core i7 MacBook Pro running macOS Tahoe is visibly slower and laggy than Windows 11 running on Intel N100 mini PC.

I understand this is beta 3, but Tahoe on Intel Mac is clearly after thought.

That's the lowest end 16" and is literally the worst spec'd Mac officially supported by Tahoe. You could make a case that the 2020 13" MBP is a bit worse but it has a newer generation processor that is a decent bit faster. Don't be surprised the developer beta runs poor on your machine, it will improve for the final release and I'd judge then only.

For some perspective, the "lowest end" M1 Mac Mini is 35% faster in single core, and 30% faster in multi-core vs. your computer. It also has at least 8GB of unified memory to work with so the M1 GPU can get nearly double the memory your AMD GPU has.

Nothing about this is surprising, sorry to say. I'd keep it on the old OS for now and try again upon release, but honestly buying any 16" intel MBP right now is not a smart move, particularly if it isn't a very high-end configuration with at least the Radeon 5500M or 5600M.

 

[Aoligei]

That's the lowest end 16" is literally the worst single-core speed Mac officially supported by Tahoe. Don't be surprised the developer beta runs poor on it.

The lowest end M1 is 35% faster in single core, and 30% faster in multi-core vs. your processor. It also has at least 8GB of unified memory to work with so the GPU can get at least nearly double the memory your AMD GPU has.

Nothing about this is surprising, sorry to say. I'd keep it on the old OS for now and try again upon release, but honestly buying any 16" intel MBP right now is not a smart move, particularly if it isn't a very high-end configuration with at least the Radeon 5500M or 5600M.

I am not surprised that Apple Silicon Macs runs Tahoe well, it seems that macOS Tahoe is centred around Apple Silicon Macs.

But I am surprised about how poorly macOS Tahoe runs on Intel and how little optimization that was done on Intel side. As much as I wanted Apple to extend life for Intel Macs, macOS Tahoe is should probably be Apple Silicon only.

Windows on other hand, seems well optimized for different kind of hardware, especially optimizations for lower end hardware. I honestly surprised how poorly macOS Tahoe runs on top line 2019 MacBook Pro and how well Windows 11 runs on low end hardware like Intel N100.

Regarding to purchasing Intel MacBook Pro right now, I am doing this for collection purposes. I got this for little over $500USD, so it is pretty cheap. I wanted a 16" MacBook Pro, but even 16" M1 MacBook Pro is pretty expensive.

One should only buy Intel Mac if one wants 1) run macOS 2) want to use x86 application 3) wants to run alternative operation systems, especially Windows natively. Intel Mac is still pretty good value, if one consider running Windows, compare with some newer Windows laptop.

 

[novagamer]

I am not surprised that Apple Silicon Macs runs Tahoe well, it seems that macOS Tahoe is centred around Apple Silicon Macs.

But I am surprised about how poorly macOS Tahoe runs on Intel and how little optimization that was done on Intel side. As much as I wanted Apple to extend life for Intel Macs, macOS Tahoe is should probably be Apple Silicon only.

Windows on other hand, seems well optimized for different kind of hardware, especially optimizations for lower end hardware. I honestly surprised how poorly macOS Tahoe runs on top line 2019 MacBook Pro and how well Windows 11 runs on low end hardware like Intel N100.

You are running a developer beta. Are you a developer? If you're not, don't run them with old hardware Apple employees are probably not testing beyond "this boots".

They certainly are keeping the 2019 Mac Pro alive and performant for this final release but the optimizations in things like Metal 4 can't even apply to your machine. My M4 Max is actually faster in Tahoe even at this Beta stage, they are absolutely rightly focused on Apple Silicon. MPSGraph performance is increased for Apple Silicon due to the metal improvements for example.

At least you can boot to Windows 10 with the MBP to keep it alive, Microsoft is extending support if you pay a small fee into late 2026 now so that buys some time, but Tahoe at final release will probably run OK enough for you to use and that should be supported with security updates for a couple years post release.

Don't run it in beta if you don't need to develop a Mac App right now, you can target new platforms on the old OS if you are developing for iOS etc.

 

[mxrider88]

I don't understand why they removed safari compact view. That, plus the fact that the UI elements are bigger like a fisher price computer for kids, makes safari unpleasant to use, the UI is taking way too much space. Safari on Sequoia is just perfect, they seem to be on a crusade to ruin every single piece of software they ship. I am absolutely convinced that the majority of apple executives don't use Macs in their private life.

 

[Madonepro]

Finally got hands on a used 16" MacBook Pro. Installed macOS Tahoe on this machine and it isn't a good experiences. Machine runs very very warm, with fan constantly on. Dropped frame is very frequent.

It is clearly that Intel Macs are second thought for Apple now. I can't believe maOS is so bloated that even Core i7 with AMD Radeon graphics can't run it well.

Even Windows 11 runs better on this machine than macOS Tahoe

Say after me, B, E, T, A... It's working hard, because it's a beta, not a finished product. It will have all sorts of code being run, testing functions at a high level, and indexing. You are using a MBP that is at least 5 years old too, which is fast becoming obsolete. With that happening next year, perhaps macOS 26 isn't for your MBP, as it won't be supported for much longer.

 

[adrianlondon]

For the first time, I logged into a site requiring a texted code* and the option to paste it in to Firefox, and then have it deleted, is excellent! It's one of the things I missed when moving from Safari to Firefox years ago.

I skipped the first two betas, so this is new to me.

* Yeah, I know it's not good security but not all sites I use have moved on to passkeys or app-based 2FA (I use Authy)

 

[nortonandreev]

I find it a bit awkward that the beta updates option is not synced between devices. I had it enabled on my iPhone, but it was not on on my MacBook.

 

[nortonandreev]

Beta 3 still running quite slow on my MacBook Pro M4, and battery is still draining fast.

 

[adrianlondon]

Beta 3 still running quite slow on my MacBook Pro M4, and battery is still draining fast.

It's doing fine here. What processes are running?

Activity Monitor (sort by CPU) or "top -o cpu" in terminal.

 

[Nanis]

In B3, Microsoft Outlook, there is a bug where clicking different mail account doesn't work, anybody noticed this?

 

[MayflyMaven]

Beta 3 still running quite slow on my MacBook Pro M4, and battery is still draining fast.

It's doing fine here. What processes are running?

Activity Monitor (sort by CPU) or "top -o cpu" in terminal.

I see the same thing. Consistently, mds, mds_stores, and mdworker are at the top of the activity chart. Naturally it just stopped as I was about to take a screenshot, but typically mds and mds_stores are consuming 150-170% cpu (each). My most recent stint was ~50% total CPU for several minutes, but often I find the system completely pegged with Spotlight processes.

I'm not sure this is new though, Spotlight seemed like a busy bee on Sequoia too.

 

[iBookmaster]

Beta 3 still running quite slow on my MacBook Pro M4, and battery is still draining fast.

Have you tried shutting down then starting up in Safe Mode. Then restarting back to normal? Someone else suggested opening Font Book and resetting fonts in the Advanced section of Font Book Settings.

 

[adrianlondon]

Try these in terminal (they turn spotlight indexing off and back on):

sudo mdutil -a -i off
*wait a minute and/or reboot*
sudo mdutil -a -i on