Apple Releases macOS Tahoe 26.4 RC to Developers [Download]

Apple has seeded the Release Candidate build of macOS Tahoe 26.4 to developers, moving the Mac operating system one step closer to a general rollout.



The official release notes for the update are brief, highlighting the addition of eight new emoji characters to the keyboard alongside standard bug fixes and security patches. Apple notes that the installation will take about 20 minutes once downloaded and requires a system restart to complete.


While the final changelog is light on details, the 26.4 testing cycle brought a highly requested battery management tool to the Mac. Earlier beta builds introduced an adjustable Charge Limit feature within System Settings. The new slider gives MacBook users the ability to manually cap their battery charge anywhere between 80 and 100 percent to help preserve long-term battery health when the machine stays plugged into a desk setup.

The broader artificial intelligence enhancements originally anticipated for this spring are absent from this release. Apple reportedly pushed major Siri upgrades to a later update after encountering internal performance snags during the testing phase.

Registered developers can download the Release Candidate directly through the Software Update menu in System Settings or by grabbing the restore image from the Apple Developer Center.