Apple releases iOS, iPadOS, macOS 26.4 with a long list of medium-size tweaks
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Jeez, I just was forced to upgrade to Tahoe 26.3.1.(a) yesterday.
That must have been a hell of a significant Webkit security update.
That must have been a hell of a significant Webkit security update.
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Years-old bugs like the notifications screen locking while you're actively touching and scrolling it, or the random LOUD keyboard, still remain
God Apple, please, just Snow Leopard year all the things this WWDC
God Apple, please, just Snow Leopard year all the things this WWDC
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I might agree with that last sentiment, if not for the fact that Liquid Glass desperately needs a do-over.
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Are you coming from the Windows world? This is how high-resolution screens work on macOS. Everything not just fonts) is kept at the same physical size but is twice as sharp. That’s what you should be getting when you select the 1080p settings. It’s only equivalent to 1080p in size, not actual 1080p.
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I would like to hold out, but I saw over on Apple Insider (IIRC) that yet another US government made hacking tool has leaked online, and it is effective against anything running iOS <18.7. Since my device won't update past iOS 18.2, I'm kind of in a box.
Either I leave my digital ass hanging out for hackers, to keep using a UI that isn't too large for my screen (iPhone 14 mini) and still allows my battery to go all day, or I upgrade to a battery draining, fugly UI'd OS that is secure. (I'm half convinced all the glass effects in liquid glass were selected because they are hell on the battery and older graphics chips, and so might entice you to replace your phone a year earlier than you might otherwise do)
Considering how much of my life is accessible from my phone, it feels like Apple is weaponizing their upgrade schedule like the fucking mafia. "This is a nice collection of bank accounts and personal information, would be a shame if somebody - not me, mind you - but somebody were to break into your device and steal all that information"
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As someone who hated Liquid Glass when it came out, I can say you get used to it (at least with reduce transparency on). It doesn’t suddenly become less ugly, you just learn to tune out the ugly.
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For those that care, links to Enterprise and Developer release notes for macOS 26.4.
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jonbob_newcastle
Ars Praetorian
Except when it can’t decide if UI elements should be light or dark.
Read this page on an iPhone and tap the address bar. It’s jarring, you’ll see.
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Hello, fellow traveler! As a jolly clever Ars commenter once phrased it, "Security is a process" not a state.
So you will always need to apply updates and patches if you wish to always be secure.
sudo killall Security
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I genuinely do not get the hyperbolic disdain for liquid. Honest to god I barely notice a difference.
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It’s got its annoyances, but I actually like it. I went from an iOS 26 beta back to 18 before 26 was fully released, and was surprised to find I missed the new look.
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Apple needs a few "Tock" years in a row. I would love for modern hardware that is as capable, easy to use, and as (relatively) fast as Snow Leopard / iOS 6.
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I sure hope so. In 2026, it is kind of wild to me that I cannot say "Siri, turn off the outside lights and lock the front door" without a "Sorry, I can't handle combined requests" response.
I don't even think that needs an LLM, frankly. You're clearly halfway there, you've recognized that I am asking for two things. Can you do those two things independently and then let me know when both are done?
It is unfathomable to me how uninterested Apple seem to be in making Siri even remotely useful.
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Something that is unintuitive (and frustrating) is that, for certain monitors, you get pretty good scaling choices. For others, and it seems to be down to manufacturer rather than resolution, you are given 2-3 choices: "excruciatingly tiny, borderline unusable," "too big, some apps are borderline unusable," and "remember when displays were 640x480? wasn't that great?"
I moved from one of these monitors (a 3440x1440 Asus monitor I had repurposed from my gaming PC) to a different monitor of the same resolution and got the "good" scaling choices. I now have a "5K" Dell ultrawide (5120x2160) which was billed as having macOS support, which to its credit it does. It was definitely very refreshing to not have to hack around this, you can even pick specific target resolutions if you own the correct device.. You can hack/kludge this together for any display, but if so, why not just let the user do this without needing to trawl GitHub / install apps / etc?
On the Windows side you have those more granular choices regardless of your connected device, for good or ill in some cases, but it's nice to be able to move UI scale in 25% increments which is not an offering in macOS if you happened to bring the wrong display.
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That's how it has been since the first ever Mac. Before those other OSes you listed even had GUIs.
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ubercurmudgeon
Ars Tribunus Militum
Updating from macOS 26.3.1 to 26.4 is, according to System Settings, an 8.91 GB download. And 26.3.1 was itself a 4.26 GB download to update from 26.3 when it was released not quite three weeks ago. More than 13 GB in one calendar month, to keep just one Apple device securely up-to-date. This is insane. Not everyone has unlimited and ultra-fast Internet access.
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I know. I have it on my iPad Pro (I wanted the windowing system).
My concerns are the battery, and the UI elements getting larger on my small screen.
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Is this fixed in 18.7.1?
I looked at the Apple insider article.. it says up to 18.7. So.. I think that means I’m fine?
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Really wish Apple would decouple safari updates from iOS ones.
Didn’t IE teach us that integrating the browser into the OS was a bad idea?
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like all - I just updated the "background" security update just a few days ago. IMHO was in a strange menu choice and not under the normal software update.
I'm conflicted about the news that Maps will have ads coming. I do appreciate the Google Map search here feature to find things to do, eat, hotel etc. Which Apple is missing. So Yay! but more ads?! will they really be ads?
You know that Notifications are going wrong when you need to introduce Scheduled Notifications and later Priority Notifications. I can't tamp them down fast enough. No I don't want to save money on my car warranty.
I'm conflicted about the news that Maps will have ads coming. I do appreciate the Google Map search here feature to find things to do, eat, hotel etc. Which Apple is missing. So Yay! but more ads?! will they really be ads?
You know that Notifications are going wrong when you need to introduce Scheduled Notifications and later Priority Notifications. I can't tamp them down fast enough. No I don't want to save money on my car warranty.
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I manage literally 30+ reminders a day. I'm constantly needing to update them (so it's more akin to 40-60 edits every day) and here's why Liquid Death is so deadly to my productivity.
Opening the hit application Reminders in earlier but recent versions of macOS, click on the i-in-a-circle to Show Reminder Info.
It expands thusly.
You can click on any part of the time or date and then tab/shift-tab amongst those six fields.
You can press up/down to modify the date without losing focus. (Less crap versions of macOS let you do so on the time fields, as well.) Keyboard navigation and editing are very quick.
Let's see the same window in Tahoe™. (Don't mind the tinting; Screen Capture.app is also displeased with Tahoe™.)
What's this? Some inebriated bellend has decided to hide the date and time items! Why in the name of Woz would the two most basic and important editable items be hidden in the edit information pane?
(Also note the four panels on the left are no longer fixed but slide SIMPLY TO SHOW OFF the useless translucency effect.)
Then when you click to unhide one (both are not allowed), the position shifts and you CAN'T EDIT so you must reposition the cursor again and click again.
Since the date and time are no longer on speaking terms, you can't tab from one to the other and must click the Time section to expand it but beware the hidden dead zones. Everything unhelpfully shifts around so editing is mouse-dependent and in
cred
ib
ly
te
deeeeeee
ousssssss as well as slow and frustrating.
May I remind everyone that Reminders.app is for productivity and this UI facilitates the opposite of productivity, FSS (For Steve's Sake)?
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I see the difference. Some of it is fine. Some of it is not fine. Some of it is adjustable. Some of it is not adjustable. Sometimes the grocery store moves things around, too.
The universe continues apace.
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For a moment I thought you were exaggerating but then I realized this means I have to update my four devices (Mac mini, iPad, personal iPhone and work iPhone), tell my wife to update her phone when she's back home and then update my parents Mac and phones when I visit them.
I feel like a system administrator … when in reality I work in finance!
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I'm glad for you, honestly. I wish it wasn't noticeable to me. Just because you are not bothered by these issues, does not make it unreasonable for those of us who are. The inverse of "don't yuck my yum" applies here. Just because you don't find something distasteful, does not mean others extreme aversion is in error.
I forced my boss to let me switch from a windows machine to a Mac a few years ago, and EVERYONE in my house noticed within a week. I don't take kindly to my devices acting badly, and windows was ALWAYS behaving badly, which meant my family had to hear my bitching at/about my windows computer (I have a temper, what can I say). When I made the switch to a Mac, the shouting mostly went away. Think monthly, instead of daily to hourly. However, they have all noticed how much more frustrated I am with the devices that are running some version of OS26. And that is in spite of the fact that none of those devices are my daily drivers.
I have never understood why some folks care so much about their local sports team. Rich people playing a kids game simply does not elicit any fucks from me. I don't comment, generally, on how weird it is that other DO care. I just count myself luck that I don't, since it means I have more time for other things on my already too short weekends.
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Ah, If something had a negative impact on my workflow, even a tiny bit, I too would be frustrated.
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If there isn't a setting for reducing the corner radius and transparency, I'm not interested.
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Good example. Anything that is focused on productivity should have a UI that is largely, if not entirely, navigable from the keyboard. No mouse clicking required.
And it would be one thing if the App simply never was navigable that way. Just makes it a bad app for its intended purpose, which is true of a lot of 1st party apps for which there is a robust 3rd party market. However, when they take an app that is good, and make it suck that is stupid. When they do so ENTIRELY for the purpose of changing how it LOOKS to meet some arbitrary and ugly aesthetic... that is when it gets insulting.
Form should follow function, and OS26 is all about form, at the expense of function wherever necessary.
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I'm not a fan. The rounded windows and white on white everywhere. It's like looking at a modern painting.
And for someone with vision issues, they're solutions basically don't do anything. Accessibility? Just stop changing it and making it worse. Safari when it goes into the background all the tabs turn grey. WHY? just to make it harder to read?
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