The Liquid Glass redesign, and a version number that matches every other Apple OS.

• Liquid Glass design language across the whole system
• Version numbering moved to the year — 26 follows 15, matching iOS 26
• Spotlight rebuilt with actions, clipboard history and quick keys
• The Phone app came to the Mac, with Live Activities from iPhone
• Games app, and a much more capable Shortcuts with Apple Intelligence actions
• Final release to support Intel Macs

iPhone Mirroring, real window tiling, and the start of Apple Intelligence.

• iPhone Mirroring — the phone's screen, live, in a Mac window
• Window tiling by dragging to a screen edge or with a keyboard shortcut
• Apple Intelligence: Writing Tools, notification summaries, Image Playground (staged through 15.1–15.4, Apple silicon only)
• Passwords app split out of Keychain
• Safari Highlights and distraction control
• iPhone notifications in the Mac's Notification Center

Widgets left Notification Center, and games got their own mode.

• Interactive widgets on the desktop, including iPhone widgets over Continuity
• Game Mode — CPU/GPU priority and lower Bluetooth latency for controllers
• Video conferencing presenter overlay and reactions
• Web apps saved to the Dock from Safari, and profiles in Safari
• Aerial screen savers that become the desktop wallpaper
• Private browsing locking, and password sharing with a group

System Preferences finally became System Settings, and windows got a manager.

• Stage Manager window management
• Continuity Camera — the iPhone as a Mac webcam, with Desk View
• System Settings replaced System Preferences, laid out like iOS
• Passkeys in Safari and iCloud Keychain
• Mail scheduling, undo send and much better search
• Freeform, Weather and Clock apps (Freeform in 13.1)

Continuity went further than mirroring — one keyboard for every device.

• Universal Control — one mouse and keyboard across Mac and iPad
• AirPlay to Mac
• Shortcuts came to the Mac
• Focus modes synced across devices
• Safari tab groups; Live Text and Visual Look Up
• SharePlay, and Low Power Mode on notebooks

The Apple silicon release — and the first version number change in 19 years.

• Runs on Apple silicon, with Rosetta 2 translating Intel apps
• Version number jumped from 10.15 to 11
• Full interface redesign: new icons, Control Center, redesigned Notification Center
• Safari 14 — far faster, with tab previews and privacy reporting
• Messages rebuilt on Catalyst with pinned conversations
• Signed system volume, cryptographically verified at boot

iTunes was split up, 32-bit apps stopped launching, iPads became displays.

• iTunes replaced by Music, TV and Podcasts
• Sidecar — use an iPad as a second display or graphics tablet
• Catalyst, bringing iPad apps to the Mac
• 32-bit applications no longer run at all
• zsh replaced bash as the default shell
• Read-only system volume, Screen Time and Find My

Dark Mode, and the last release that could run 32-bit apps.

• System-wide Dark Mode and Dynamic Desktop
• Desktop Stacks, and Finder gallery view with Quick Actions
• Redesigned Mac App Store
• News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home ported from iOS
• Screenshot utility with built-in screen recording
• Final release supporting 32-bit applications

A foundations release: new file system, new graphics, new codecs.

• APFS replaced HFS+ on SSDs — snapshots, cloning, native encryption
• Metal 2, with external GPU and VR support
• HEVC (H.265) video and HEIF images
• Safari intelligent tracking prevention and autoplay blocking
• Photos editing tools rebuilt; Notes tables

OS X became macOS, and Siri arrived on the desktop.

• Renamed macOS, aligning with iOS, watchOS and tvOS
• Siri on the Mac, with results you can pin to Notification Center
• Auto Unlock with an Apple Watch
• Universal Clipboard — copy on iPhone, paste on Mac
• Optimised Storage and iCloud Desktop & Documents sync
• Apple Pay on the web, and Picture in Picture

A Snow-Leopard-style tidy-up of Yosemite, plus Metal.

• Metal graphics API on the Mac
• Split View — two apps snapped side by side in full screen
• Natural-language Spotlight queries and Mission Control rework
• System Integrity Protection locking down system files even from root
• San Francisco system font; Notes and Maps transit rebuilt

The flat redesign, and the first release where the Mac and the iPhone worked as one.

• Flat, translucent redesign matching iOS 7/8; Helvetica Neue system font
• Continuity — Handoff, Instant Hotspot, SMS relay and phone calls on the Mac
• iCloud Drive as a real folder
• Spotlight moved to the centre of the screen and searched the web
• Dark menu bar and Dock — the first hint of Dark Mode
• Photos replaced iPhoto in the 10.10.3 update

The first free upgrade, and the end of the big-cat naming scheme.

• Free for everyone — the paid OS upgrade ended here
• Named after a California surf spot; codenames moved to California landmarks
• Finder tabs and file tags
• App Nap, compressed memory and timer coalescing for battery life
• Maps and iBooks came to the Mac
• Proper multi-display support, each screen with its own menu bar and Dock

iCloud moved to the centre of the system. "Mac" left the name.

• Notification Center and system-wide sharing sheets
• Messages replaced iChat, with iMessage across devices
• Gatekeeper code-signing checks on downloaded apps
• Documents in the Cloud, Reminders and Notes as their own apps
• AirPlay Mirroring to an Apple TV
• Dictation, and Power Nap on supported hardware

iOS ideas came back to the Mac, and the OS started being sold as a download.

• Launchpad and full-screen apps
• Mission Control, merging Exposé and Spaces
• Auto Save, Versions and Resume
• AirDrop, and natural (reversed) scrolling by default
• Sold only through the Mac App Store — no more install discs
• Rosetta removed, ending PowerPC application support

Almost no new features by design — a rewrite for speed, size and 64-bit.

• Intel-only: PowerPC support dropped, the install shrank by about 7 GB
• Grand Central Dispatch for multicore scheduling
• OpenCL, putting the GPU to work on general computation
• 64-bit kernel and applications throughout
• Microsoft Exchange support in Mail, Contacts and Calendar
• The Mac App Store arrived in the 10.6.6 update

The last PowerPC release, and the one that introduced Time Machine.

• Time Machine — automatic versioned backups to an external disk
• Spaces virtual desktops
• Quick Look previews from the Finder, and Cover Flow browsing
• Boot Camp shipped as a supported feature for running Windows
• Certified Unix 03; 64-bit support throughout the system frameworks

Search, widgets and the release that carried the Mac through the Intel transition.

• Spotlight system-wide search, indexing content as well as names
• Dashboard widgets
• Automator and a much stronger AppleScript story
• Core Image, Core Video and Core Data
• First release to ship on Intel Macs (10.4.4) with Rosetta translating PowerPC apps

Window management and security caught up with the interface.

• Exposé — one key to fan out every open window
• Fast user switching with the rotating-cube animation
• FileVault home-folder encryption
• Brushed-metal Finder with a sidebar and Labels
• Built-in fax support, Font Book and Preview with fast PDF rendering

The first release Apple marketed under its codename, and the first that felt finished.

• Quartz Extreme — window compositing moved onto the GPU
• Rendezvous (later Bonjour) zero-configuration networking
• iChat instant messaging and a system-wide Address Book
• Handwriting recognition (Inkwell) and a much faster Finder
• Universal Access and Mail spam filtering

A free performance release that made 10.0 usable as a daily system.

• Much faster window resizing, menus and application launching
• DVD playback, CD burning in the Finder and better printing support
• OpenGL improvements and more third-party hardware drivers
• Free upgrade for every 10.0 user

The first shipping Mac OS X: a Unix core under a brand-new interface.

• Aqua interface, the Dock and a completely new Finder
• Darwin foundation — a BSD Unix userland on the Mach kernel
• Protected memory and pre-emptive multitasking, the two things classic Mac OS never had
• Classic environment to keep running Mac OS 9 applications
• Mail, TextEdit, Preview and QuickTime Player rewritten for Cocoa