The official release of the Mac's operating system is now macOS Tahoe 26.4, as Apple continues to add performance and security updates, plus a little more.
Following the public release of macOS 26.3 in February 2025 with no significant new features, Apple has updated that version twice. Once was to support the new Studio Displays with macOS 26.3.1, and the once more with macOS 26.3.2 with more support for the MacBook Neo.
Now those are all superseded with macOS 26.4, which has been publicly released after weeks of beta testing. There was one curious moment when Apple released a macOS 26.4 beta a day later than its iOS 26.4 one, but there's no apparent reason for that.
Every release has behind-the-scenes improvements to both performance and security. Visibly, the most striking addition to macOS 26.4 is that it now brings all users the option to use the MacBook Neo's colorful wallpapers, plus eight new emoji.
Perhaps more usefully, there's also now a charge limit slider which preserves the batteries on the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and now also the MacBook Neo. This is similar to the option introduced for iPhone in iOS 18, which lets users specify the maximum amount they want their battery to be charged to.
New Battery Charger Slider in macOS 26.4
The most enormous number of users will never notice the feature, nor use it if they do. But users who are already concerned about battery life will find it useful.
So for instance, someone who leaves their MacBook plugged in all day may never need to care. But someone who needs to carry it around a lot may want to spend time finding the optimum charging rate for them.
Speaking of time, though, macOS 26.4 comes with a warning of what is to come with macOS 28. Specifically, the Rosetta 2 application that was introduced to ease the transition from Intel to Apple Silicon, is going away.
That was always inevitable, and in fact macOS Tahoe is already slated to be the final OS update to support any Intel Macs. It's now six years since Apple Silicon was introduced, and the last Intel-based Mac was the 2019 Mac Pro, discontinued three years ago.
Still no Siri, but it's no surprise
Various rumors have claimed that Apple will debut an improved Siri with macOS 26.4 and iOS 26.4, although Apple has only ever said it will come in 2026.
There's no sign of it in iOS 26.4, and as WWDC 2026 nears, it's possible that Apple will wait until its announcement there of iOS 27. Although that would then mean a public release of the improved Siri not coming until around September 2026.
Alternatively, Apple may repeat what it did with Apple Intelligence when it was first launched. Then the betas again had no sign of the feature, until Apple switched on the back end of Apple Intelligence and made it widely available.
If you've been waiting for macOS 26.4 and iOS 26.4 for the improved Siri, you're not getting it — but you should upgrade anyway. Upgrade for the emoji if you must, but certainly upgrade for the various security and performance improvements there will be.
Just don't update immediately if you have a mission-critical task to complete. Give it a few days so that others can find any problems — and so that Apple can fix them.
