Release record

macOS 26.4

Full article

Public release

Recorded milestones: 6
Beta cycle: 36d
Average interval: 7d
Public release: Mar 24, 2026

Release notes

Overview

Editorial synthesis with inline references and a source ledger when citations are available.

macOS Tahoe 26.4 mixed everyday app and accessory additions with charging controls, Network MIDI work, storage fixes, and an early compatibility warning about the eventual end of Rosetta.^[1]^[2]

Apple’s live developer notes contained approximately 18 topic areas and 24 listed items when reviewed on July 29, 2026; those counts may change.^[3]

Source ledger

References

Sources are linked to the claims they support. Publication and access dates are shown when available.

What's new in the updates for macOS Tahoe 26
Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-29 · macOS Tahoe 26.4
Back to text ↑
macOS Tahoe 26.4 Release Notes
Apple Developer · 2026-07-29 · Overview
Back to text ↑
macOS Tahoe 26.4 Release Notes
Apple Developer · 2026-07-29
Back to text ↑
macOS 26.4 (25E246)
Apple Developer · 2026-07-29 · Release title and build
About the Security Content of macOS Tahoe 26.4
Apple Support · 2026-07-29

Documented & observed

Changes in this version

Source-linked features, fixes, known issues, removals, and community-observed behavior recorded across this version’s appearances and verified builds.

Release changes

Changed in this release

Features, fixes, removals, and regressions first observed in this release record.

bugFix · fixed

PAC configuration run-loop source leak fix

documentedconfirmed

The beta note documents corrected ownership behavior around proxy auto-configuration callbacks and their returned Core Foundation objects.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · Networking — Resolved Issues; issues 166839810 and FB21376045

bugFix · fixed

SwiftUI current user-activity fix

documentedconfirmed

The archived beta note marks SwiftUI's stale current-user-activity behavior as resolved.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · SwiftUI — Resolved Issues; issue 163136831

knownIssue · knownIssue

Standard-user Touch ID unlock known issue

documentedconfirmed

The initial beta note says an administrator should sign in first to avoid the documented standard-account unlock state.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · Login — Known Issues; issue 169743642

developerApi · introduced

Network MIDI 2.0 support

documentedconfirmed

The initial beta note introduces Network MIDI 2.0 sessions, local-network discovery, and UDP transport for Universal MIDI Packets.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · CoreMIDI — New Features; issue 118728162

compatibility · changed

Rosetta retirement compatibility notice

documentedconfirmed

The beta began accelerated compatibility notices for applications that depend on Rosetta, ahead of the previously announced support transition.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · Rosetta — Deprecations; issue 169228455

knownIssue · knownIssue

Background Assets download-crash known issue

documentedconfirmed

The beta note warns that an asset-pack download could crash the application and provides relaunch guidance.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · Background Assets — Known Issues; issue 169648111

bugFix · fixed

AppKit window-resize pointer fix

documentedconfirmed

The initial macOS beta note marks the mismatch between the resize pointer and the window-corner shape as resolved.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · AppKit — Resolved Issues; issue 149726089

knownIssue · knownIssue

M1 external-boot panic known issue

documentedconfirmed

Apple documents an external-disk boot panic on some M1 configurations and recommends a secondary APFS volume for testing.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · External Boot — Known Issues; issue 170263142

knownIssue · knownIssue

Background Assets URL-override known issue

documentedconfirmed

Apple's beta note warns developers to remove an existing URL override before installing or using affected App Store applications.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · Background Assets — Known Issues; issue 169558509

developerApi · introduced

Offline Background Assets inspection and refresh APIs

documentedconfirmed

The initial macOS beta note documents offline status queries and an API for ensuring that the latest asset-pack version is available locally.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · Background Assets — New Features; issues 164498466 and 166237389

knownIssue · knownIssue

SwiftUI RealityKit animation-grouping limitation

documentedconfirmed

Apple documents that overlapping implicit animations can remain independent and overwrite a property when their targeted component-property sets differ.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · SwiftUI — Known Issues; issue 169723142

developerApi · introduced

StoreKit transaction revocation fields

documentedconfirmed

The initial beta note adds two revocation-related properties to StoreKit transaction data.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · StoreKit — New Features; issue 148858551

knownIssue · knownIssue

Recovery Activation Lock erase known issue

documentedconfirmed

Apple directs testers to use Erase All Content and Settings from the running system instead of the affected Recovery workflow.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · macOS Recovery — Known Issues; issue 170280070

compatibility · changed

Resource-fork partial-write restriction

documentedconfirmed

The initial beta note describes the supported replacement or beyond-offset write patterns for the com.apple.ResourceFork attribute.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · Resource fork — Resolved Issues; issue 156896699

knownIssue · knownIssue

External HFS automount known issue

documentedconfirmed

The macOS beta note records an automatic-mount failure and gives diskutil mount as a temporary workaround.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · External Media — Known Issues; issue 168672160

knownIssue · knownIssue

Exchange account synchronization known issue

documentedconfirmed

Apple documents failed Exchange synchronization and suggests disabling Notes sync to keep Calendar and Reminders updating.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · Internet Accounts — Known Issues; issue 168082477

bugFix · fixed

Inactive-window glass backdrop fix

documentedconfirmed

The beta note marks backdrop updates behind glass content in inactive non-opaque windows as corrected.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · SwiftUI — Resolved Issues; issues 166828089 and FB21375029

bugFix · fixed

Virtual-machine installation display fix

documentedconfirmed

The initial beta note marks a black screen during new macOS Tahoe virtual-machine installation as resolved on affected hardware.

Recorded at Beta 1

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · Virtualization — Resolved Issues; issue 169654019

bugFix · fixed

Background-launch StoreKit purchase-intent fix

documentedconfirmed

The Beta 2 snapshot adds a resolved issue for missing StoreKit purchase intents when an application launches from the background.

Recorded at Beta 2

[1] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta 2 Release Notes — February 25 snapshot · StoreKit — Resolved Issues; issues 168958783 and FB21767675
[2] Archived macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta Release Notes — February 16 snapshot · StoreKit section before Beta 2

feature · introduced

Configurable Mac charge limit

documentedconfirmed

A configurable 80-to-100-percent charge limit became available on supported Apple silicon Macs.

Recorded at Public

[1] Set a Charge Limit on Mac · Charge limit requirements and controls

enhancement · changed

Accessory, emoji, Safari, Freeform, and Reminders additions

documentedconfirmed

macOS 26.4 added AirPods Max 2 support, eight emoji, and documented changes across Safari, Freeform, and Reminders.

Recorded at Public

[1] What's new in the updates for macOS Tahoe 26 · macOS Tahoe 26.4

developerApi · introduced

Network MIDI 2.0 support

documentedconfirmed

Network MIDI 2.0 support expanded modern MIDI communication between compatible systems and devices.

Recorded at Public

[1] macOS Tahoe 26.4 Release Notes · MIDI

compatibility · changed

Rosetta retirement compatibility notice

documentedconfirmed

The system added a compatibility notice to prepare users and developers for Rosetta’s future retirement.

Recorded at Public

[1] macOS Tahoe 26.4 Release Notes · Rosetta

bugFix · fixed

External HFS volume automount fix

documentedconfirmed

External HFS volumes that could fail to mount automatically were corrected in macOS 26.4.

Recorded at Public

[1] macOS Tahoe 26.4 Release Notes · File systems and storage

bugFix · fixed

Virtual-machine installation display fix

documentedconfirmed

The release corrected a black screen that could interrupt installation inside virtual machines.

Recorded at Public

[1] macOS Tahoe 26.4 Release Notes · Virtualization

Milestones

Release history

Every recorded channel appearance in chronological order. Open an appearance for any available build, scope, notes, and sources.

Feb 16, 2026
Developer beta
Beta 1
Full articleEditorially verified
The first retained raw Apple DocC state after macOS Tahoe 26.4 Beta 1 and before Beta 2 documents 18 distinct API, compatibility, resolved-issue, and known-issue entries.
Availability
available
Sources
20 linked
Open this appearance
Feb 23, 2026+7 days
Developer beta
Beta 2
Full articleEditorially verified
A sequential diff of CDX-confirmed Apple DocC payloads adds one macOS 26.4 Beta 2 note: a StoreKit purchase-intent fix for background app launches.
Availability
available
Sources
5 linked
Open this appearance
Mar 3, 2026+8 days
Developer beta
Beta 3
Source-linked recordSources linked
Availability
available
Sources
1 linked
Open this appearance
Mar 9, 2026+6 days
Developer beta
Beta 4
Source-linked recordSources linked
Availability
available
Sources
1 linked
Open this appearance
Mar 18, 2026+9 days
Release candidate
RC
Source-linked recordSources linked
Availability
available
Sources
1 linked
Open this appearance
Mar 24, 2026+6 days
Public release
Public
Source-linked recordEditorially verified
The public macOS Tahoe 26.4 release mixed app and accessory additions with charging, MIDI, compatibility, storage, and virtualization changes.
Build
25E246
Availability
available
Sources
8 linked
Open this appearance

Historical context

Cycle comparison

Pace, intervals, and duration compared with earlier releases on the same platform.

Historical avg for .4 releases

38 days, 7.0 milestones

Based on 1 previous macOS .4 releases

Cycle vs. platform average

36d (avg: 106d)

70 days shorter than the macOS average

Duration ranking

#27 of 27

One of the shortest macOS beta cycles

Longest gap in this cycle

9 days

Between Beta 4 and RC

Previous .4 releases (macOS)

Previous comparable macOS releases
Version	Year	Cycle	Milestones	Avg. Interval
macOS 15.4	2025	38d	7	6d

Scroll horizontally to compare every historical field.

Official release notes