macOS 26, iPadOS 26 and watchOS 26 Public Betas Released With Liquid Glass Design and New Features

Apple rolled out the first macOS 26 public beta on Thursday, alongside the first public beta versions of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and watchOS 26. These are the first beta versions of Apple's upcoming operating systems for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac computers, and they feature the firm's new Liquid Glass design language. Public beta versions allow users to try out the upcoming versions before they are released. The company also released a fresh developer build of iOS 26 Beta 4, which was initially rolled out on Tuesday.

macOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26 Public Betas: What's New

Users with compatible Mac computers can now download the macOS 26 public beta, which brings the Liquid Glass design to the menu bar, dock, and even widgets that are placed on the desktop. The Control Centre also resembles the one on iPadOS 26 and iOS 26 (via 9to5Mac), and you can see Live Activities from apps on your iPhone, which will be mirrored to the menu bar.

Liquid Glass on macOS 26
Photo Credit: Apple

Apple's changes to the Spotlight app, showcased at WWDC 2025, are also part of the first macOS 26 public beta. It can now display results with filters for apps, files, shortcuts, and clipboard items. Speaking of Shortcuts, the company's built-in app lets you use cloud-based or on-device machine learning models in your shortcuts.

Built-in apps like Safari, Messages, Files, and FaceTime have all received a fresh coat of paint with the macOS 26 public beta, and if you're coming from macOS 15, you will certainly notice the addition of translucent glass-like effects across these apps. Messages now supports image backgrounds for chats, and you can also take advantage of a new real-time translation feature while using both FaceTime and Messages.

Window tiling on iPadOS 26
Photo Credit: Apple

All the new features and design changes that were part of the recent iPadOS 26 developer beta releases have made their way to the first public beta. After updating to these beta versions, you will get access to the same menu bar that is available on macOS, with various controls from the active app. You can also add file folders to the dock, and stop it from disappearing when it's not in use.

iPadOS 26 also brings a new window management system, which isn't the same as Stage Manager. It allows you to open multiple windows, resize them and remembers these configurations whenever you open the same app. Like macOS 26, you also get support for Live Activities on iPad.

Finally, the first watchOS 26 public beta for eligible Apple Watch models allows you to access the new Workout Buddy feature that offers "motivation" during your workouts, by referring to your past activity and statistics. You can also access a new wrist flick gesture, and the Notes app is finally accessible on the Apple Watch.

The Notes app is finally available on watchOS 26

watchOS 26 also introduces Liquid Glass on some parts of the operating system, but it's not as evident as iOS 26 and macOS 26. These include the Control Centre and the keypad displayed when you enter your passcode on the smartwatch.

You can download macOS 26, iPadOS 26, and watchOS 26 to eligible Mac, iPad and Apple Watch model, respectively. However, it's worth keeping in mind that these are pre-release versions of Apple's software and are likely to contain unknown bugs and other glitches, so it's best to install them on a secondary device that you don't use for importanr work.