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macOS Tahoe 26 gives your Mac a significant redesign, headlined by the new Liquid Glass design language. The update also brings new ways to personalize your Mac, with new icon tinting features, menu bar customization, and more.
Here’s how these new customization options work.
Icon tinting
Apple added icon tinting to the iPhone with last year’s iOS 18 update. This year, those same options (plus one new one) are available on the Mac.
Here’s how to customize the color of your app icons with macOS Tahoe 26:
- Open System Settings
- Click “Appearance” in the sidebar
- Look for the new “Icon & widget style” section
Here, you can choose between default, dark, and clear tinting options for your Mac. There’s also a fourth option to tint your icon with any color of your choosing. You can also choose to use light or dark icon styles.
Menu bar
When Apple announced macOS Tahoe 26 at WWDC, it touted that the menu bar was completely transparent as part of the Liquid Glass redesign. This change was met with criticism from some users, so Apple added a toggle to choose between menu bar designs, giving you another customization option on your Mac.
- Open System Settings
- Click “Menu Bar” in the sidebar
- Toggle on or off “Show menu bar background”
This gives you a choice between a completely transparent menu bar or one with a distinct background. I’m a huge fan of the transparent option, but you can take your pick.
Folder customization
Apple has completely overhauled the ways you can customize your folders in macOS Tahoe. Now, you can easily add emojis or symbols to folders, plus change your default color of all your folders.
- Open “Finder”
- Navigate to a folder of your choosing
- Right-click on the folder icon and choose “Customize”
Here, you can choose to customize that folder with any symbol, emoji, or color. You can also change the system-wide color of all your folders by going to the “Appearance” menu in System Settings.
More customization options macOS Tahoe
- You can pin collections in the Photos app for easier access.
- You can pin albums, artists, songs, and playlists in the Music app.
- The layout of Control Center is now fully customizable..
- New ways to view apps and customize the layout of results in Spotlight.
- New themes to customize the interface in Terminal.
- The ability to set custom backgrounds for conversations in Messages
What are your favorite macOS Tahoe features and customization options? Let us know down in the comments.
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My favorite iPhone accessories:
- Anker Power Bank with built-in USB-C Cable
- Charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods at the same time
- Bring wireless CarPlay to any car
- Anker MagSafe Power Bank
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