Report: macOS 27 to feature UI tweaks to address some Tahoe design complaints

Apple is preparing to roll out a ‘slight redesign’ for the next version of macOS, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The update will feature a refinement of the Liquid Glass design language, cleaning up some of the rough edges seen in the Tahoe user interface.

This will apparently include tweaks to the use of transparency and shadows across the system, which should address some user criticism about poor contrast when using Tahoe apps.

According to Gurman, the Tahoe incarnation of the new design was somewhat unfinished. The macOS 27 follow-up will help deliver Liquid Glass on the Mac in the way the design team originally intended.

Here’s how Gurman describes the current situation in his newsletter:

In fact, the changes to macOS are meant to make Liquid Glass look the way Apple’s design team intended it to from the start. Last year’s operating systems didn’t necessarily suffer from design problems, I’m told, but rather a not-completely-baked implementation from Apple’s software engineering team.

From the sounds of it, if you hate the concept of Liquid Glass in general, you probably still won’t like macOS 27. But if you have specific issues with readability on Mac, like perhaps with the transparency of sidebars, macOS 27 might just deliver changes that make you happy.

Outside of the design tweaks, Apple will also use macOS 27 as an opportunity to deliver software reliability and efficiency improvements. Code cleanup is apparently a theme across the new operating system versions this year. Apple will likely tell users they can expect better performance and longer battery life after updating, similar to the marketing for iOS 12.

Across macOS 27 and iOS 27, the big new feature will be the revamped Siri with chatbot functionality (powered by the smarter Gemini-based models) and other smaller enhancements powered by upgrades to Apple’s artificial intelligence platform. The Siri and Spotlight Search functions will also be unified.

Apple will officially unveil the new operating systems at its WWDC developer conference, on June 8.