OS Sequoia to Golden Gate

[1rottenapple]

Hi all,

I am one of those hold outs from mac Sequoia to Mac OS Tahoe, which I found unpleasant to use and changed too much the feel of my computer that I use work and my business. How is Golden Gate? Is the user interface still like Tahoe?

I also kept my iPad and skip iPad OS 26. I since have updated to OS 27 Beta and its actually ok. It's not bad (which is a weird compliment). I figure I can roll back and go to the old version iPAD os 18 if I don't like it. I wonder if I can have the same experience with Golden Gate then? Will it be, "not bad"?

I am slightly concerned about security on my mac which makes me want to go to the new version, though I don't go on illegal streaming sites or other website.

 

[PotentPeas]

Sequoia will continue to get security updates through September 2027.
If you're on the fence, hold out for the final release at least.

 

[ProTruckDriver]

I'm also on holding out to see if Golden Gate has a "Toggle" to shut down AI like in Sequoia. If not I'll stay with Sequoia until 2027.
If there is no Toggle in Golden Gate, I'm hoping enough people complain to put one in on the next upgrade after Golden Gate. I'm not going to hold my breath on them putting the Toggle in though.

 

[benholt]

Visually it's still Tahoe DNA — same Liquid Glass language, same rounded surfaces. What Apple has toned down between 26.4 and Golden Gate beta is depth: the glass reads more opaque by default, the corner radius is pulled back on more surfaces, and a few of the animation timings that felt off in early Tahoe have been eased. It's recognisably the same OS, just less shouty about it.
That said, if Sequoia is working for your business machine, PotentPeas is right — you've got security updates until September 2027 and Golden Gate is still beta. I've been running 27 on my Studio as a test bed and it's stable for me, but I wouldn't move a paid workflow onto it before 27.1 or 27.2. Roll-back on macOS is doable but nowhere near as clean as iPadOS — you're looking at a Time Machine restore or a full reinstall from a USB installer, not a two-tap downgrade.

 

[1rottenapple]

Damn I was hoping someone would say oh yeah it's great haha.

I really like Sequoia, its feels my mac operating system from years ago but new feature. Ok I'll hold off unless its no longer feasible.

I briefly bought a macbook pro 2021 from amazon and used Tahoe for a few days, before noticing issues with the track pad and returning it. Needless to say I did not like Tahoe.

 

[Fishrrman]

I have an m4 Mini which came with Sequoia as "the factory OS".
It's still on Sequoia. I just "like the looks of it".

I have a couple of external SSDs for experimentation with newer OS releases:
- one for Tahoe
- one for the Golden Gate betas.
This way, I can experiment with them, while still keeping the Mini "on Sequoia".

The newer OS's are ok... but... I STILL "like the look" of Sequoia and will remain there for the foreseeable future.

I care NOTHING about "being up-to-date with the latest security fixes".
Been using Macs just shy of 40 years, have always had that policy and still doing just fine, thank you very much.

 

[ProTruckDriver]

I have an m4 Mini which came with Sequoia as "the factory OS".
It's still on Sequoia. I just "like the looks of it".

Same here. I don't believe I'll upgrade until 2027 when I have to.

 

[SDAVE]

Performance is much improved over Tahoe, I would wait for .3 Golden Gate before upgrading tho
Too many quirks and issues in DB4 for now

 

[Wasp14]

FWIW Sequioa is still getting security updates, it just had one this week. I don’t think you’ll be able to downgrade to iPad OS18 anymore, you’ll be stuck on 27.

 

[IvyKing]

FWIW, Sonoma is also getting security updates, I've updated to 14.8.8 one two of my Macs, the other has the latest Sequoia update. My plan is to wait until consensus is reached on Golden gate being stable before updating. Will probably update on of the Sonoma boxes first.