macOS Tahoe 26, iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and the rest of the Apple operating system family have all moved on to the fifth developer beta. The changes are becoming increasingly subtle with most of the improvements tweaking the user interface, adding under-the-covers features or fixing issues.
macOS Tahoe 26 Developer Beta 5 changes
The release notes for macOS Tahoe 26 Developer Beta 5 show that Apple has added a few new features and improvements. The two big ones are:
Recovery Assistant is a new way to recover your device if it doesn’t start up normally. It can look for problems and attempt to resolve them if found.
A new Accessibility section has been added to the App Store product pages that highlights accessibility features within apps and games. These Accessibility Nutrition Labels give users a new way to learn if an app will be accessible to them before they download it, and give developers the opportunity to better inform and educate their users on features their app supports.
Developers should look at the release notes as there are lots of changes for them including the deprecation of AGL as well as changes to CloudKit and other developer tools and frameworks.
And, as Apple continues to refine the user interface, the old Hard Disk icon has been retired in favour of a new icon that better represents the fact that the spinning hard drive is dead and has been completely usurped by the solid state drive.
iOS and iPadOS 26 Developer Beta 5 changes
Apple’s release notes for iOS and iPadOS 26 Developer Beta 5 shows us that we’re getting close to the release candidate software as the changes and fixes are not major in-your-face tweaks.
The Recovery Assistant and App Store updates that macOS Tahoe 26 received in the latest developer beta also make their way to iOS 26 and iPadOS 26.
Some issues have been resolved in the Apple TV app as well as a slew of under the covers changes that developers need to be across.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.