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                      Tahoe's Terrible Icons, Another Take

   Adam Engst

   A few months ago, we pointed to an Apple icon comparison (see
   '[1]BasicAppleGuy's macOS Icon History,' 9 September 2025). Now Paul
   Kafasis of Rogue Amoeba has weighed in with another look at how Apple's
   app icons have changed in macOS 26 Tahoe. [2]Paul writes:

     On the new [3]MacOS 26 (Tahoe), Apple has mandated that all
     application icons fit into their prescribed [4]squircle. No longer
     can icons have distinct shapes, nor even any fun frame-breaking
     accessories. Should an icon be so foolish as to try to have a bit of
     personality, it will find itself stuffed into a dingy gray icon
     jail. '¦

     While Apple had previously urged developers to use squircle icons on
     our apps, they've now taken things much further to ensure
     compliance. It's a shame.

   The post is worth reading for Paul's trenchant commentary, but it also
   illustrates just how much of a step backward the Tahoe icons are in
   both concept and execution. I couldn't quite believe they were as
   blurry as they looked in his comparisons until I extracted Safari's
   icons and compared them by toggling between versions in Quick Look.

   The only thing I can say in Apple's defense is that the Tahoe icons
   aren't as objectionable when viewed in isolation'outside of comparisons
   like this, most of us don't scrutinize individual icons. But uniform
   shapes and softened details have real user impact: they increase visual
   search time in the Dock and make it harder to distinguish apps at small
   sizes'especially on high'density displays and for users with low
   vision. However, as I wrote in '[5]The Dark Side of Dark Mode' (31 May
   2019), [6]blur is a bad thing, regardless. Applied to icons, it reduces
   edge contrast and legibility with no offsetting usability benefit.

   [7]Read original article

References

   Visible links
   1. https://tidbits.com/2025/09/09/basicappleguys-macos-icon-history/
   2. https://onefoottsunami.com/2025/11/05/tahoes-terrible-icons/
   3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_Tahoe
   4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squircle
   5. https://tidbits.com/2019/05/31/the-dark-side-of-dark-mode/
   6. https://tidbits.com/2019/05/31/the-dark-side-of-dark-mode/#:~:text=front%20of%20it.-,blur%20is%20a%20bad%20thing,-because%20of%20how
   7. https://onefoottsunami.com/2025/11/05/tahoes-terrible-icons/

   Hidden links:
   8. https://tidbits.com/uploads/2025/11/Safari-comparison.png

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