5 unique macOS 26 features you need to check out

Apple officially unleashed macOS 26 Tahoe in September. While most of it was about its massive visual facelift, there’s a bunch of functional upgrades hiding just beneath that new coat of paint as well. It’s easy to get distracted by the aesthetics, but we’ve dug past the shiny stuff to find the features that will actually change how you work.

1. Custom folders

Your desktop no longer has to be a boring sea of default blue. macOS 26 now gives you proper control over folder customisation. You can now tint your folders with specific colours or, even better, slap an emoji right on them.

So, now you can paint folders with important files red and maybe add an alert/warning emoji for greater emphasis.

How to use:

1. Right-click it in Finder and select one of the colour options.
2. Hit the Customise Folder option from the same menu.
3. Select an emoji to paste directly onto it.

2. Spotlight is a command centre now

Spotlight got the biggest update in its history. It’s not just a search bar anymore. It’s a full-on command centre. You can now perform actions directly without opening an app. Type “Create Note” and just start typing your note.

Spotlight even has a built-in clipboard history, letting you grab stuff you copied ages ago without a third-party app. The real power move is “Quick Keys”. You can assign short strings to launch complex actions. For instance, you can set “sm” to “send message” and it just works.

How to use:

1. Press Command + Space to open Spotlight as usual.
2. Type an action verb like “Send Message to John” or “Create Reminder”.
3. To set up Quick Keys, head to “System Settings” and look for the “Spotlight” panel.
4. You can configure your custom text triggers there, or link them to new Shortcuts.

3. Genuinely smart automations

The Shortcuts app on Mac finally gets the smart triggers its iPhone counterpart has had for a while now. Your Mac can now react to its environment. You can set an automation to run when you connect to your work Wi-Fi, or when you plug in an external monitor. It can even watch a folder and automatically process files you drop into it.

Moreover, thanks to Apple Intelligence, these automations can also get weirdly smart. You can build a shortcut that takes a file, asks AI to summarise it, and then creates a new note with that summary.

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How to use:

1. Open the “Shortcuts” app.
2. Navigate to the “Automation” tab in the sidebar.
3. Click the “+” button to create a new one.
4. Select your trigger, like “When a file is added to a folder” or “When a display is connected”.
5. Add your desired actions to the workflow.

4. Continuity with iPhone grows even tighter

Apple is tightening its ecosystem grip with two killer Continuity updates. First, there’s a dedicated Phone app on the Mac. You can make and take all your iPhone calls, check voicemail, and browse recent callers directly from your desktop.

Second, Live Activities from your iPhone now appear in your Mac’s menu bar. That food delivery status, your Uber’s arrival time, or the live sports score will just be sitting up there in a little pill.

How to use:

1. Ensure your Mac and iPhone are on the same Apple ID, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on.
2. Enable Handoff in “System Settings” under “General”.
3. Launch the new “Phone” app on your Mac to get started.
4. Live Activities should appear automatically in the menu bar when active on your phone.

5. Instant transcription in the Notes app

The Notes app now has built-in audio transcription. This should come very handy for anyone who conducts interviews or takes a lot of audio memos.

Now, you no longer need to export your audio, upload it to a third-party service, and then paste the text back. You just drop your audio file directly into a note, and macOS 26 generates the full transcription right there.

How to use:

1. Record your audio using Voice Memos or another app.
2. Open the “Notes” app and create a new note.
3. Add the audio file directly into the body of the note.
4. The app will automatically process the file and display the transcription beneath it.