At Apple’s WWDC 2025, the company unveiled its latest desktop operating system, macOS Tahoe 26, debuting an all-new visual style dubbed Liquid Glass. The design is set to appear across Apple’s device lineup, and after spending a day testing the developer beta on an M4 MacBook Air, it’s clear Apple is blending form and function with mixed results.

The update brings smoother transparency effects throughout macOS, from the Dock and Finder to widgets and system apps. On the Mac’s larger display, the Liquid Glass design feels more like a subtle visual layer than the bolder implementation seen on iPhones. It’s a noticeable shift, though whether it becomes more appealing over time remains to be seen.

The Dock now features a frosted translucent background, moving away from the flatter aesthetic of macOS Sequoia. Widgets like Weather and Calendar adopt the same hazy, frozen-glass look, while dropdown menus retain a higher opacity for better readability.

New UI elements also bring more dramatic changes. For example, the volume and brightness indicators have been relocated to the top-right corner of the screen and revamped with a distorted glass style. However, their elongated horizontal form may not sit well with every user. “Frankly, they’re ugly, and I find their new elongated horizontal look strange and out of place,” the user noted.

A particularly notable tweak is the Menu Bar, which is now invisible—removing the previously opaque bar that used to hide the screen’s notch. While it opens up more visual space, it may feel disorienting to long-time users.

Beyond visuals, the real winner in this beta could be Spotlight. The updated search feature is now faster, smarter, and more useful in daily tasks, offering improved contextual awareness and better results across local files and web content.

While the aesthetics may still divide opinions, the functional upgrades to Spotlight are a clear productivity boost, hinting at Apple’s continued push to combine elegant design with powerful utility.