Should i update to mac OS 26.0?

Regardless of how you feel about the latest version of any kind of software, it is never a good idea to straggle, because your personal stance will only delay the inevitable and may actually contribute negatively to a solution, since more people straggling means developers having to spread themselves more thinly to tackle legacy problems instead of focusing into bringing quality to their well behaved customers and clients. As a business owner I will never care about stragglers, and people's choices to stay behind will only hurt them in the long run, as they will be deprived of my own software updates.

Once you update, make sure to update to macOS 26.3.1, which is the latest stable version at the time of this comment, not 26.0, as that too is outdated and has known security problems.

There's a really annoying problem in Tahoe right now where VoiceOver sometimes won't show Safari web content until you turn it off and back on and/or reload the page, but aside from that, it's about the same as Sequoia as far as I can tell.
If your goal is to stay on relatively stable releases, wait for 26.5 to be released before upgrading and keep installing the security patches. Rinse and repeat when 27.5, 28.5, etc are released.

I've noticed VoiceOver performance improvements, at least on my MacBook pro (M1 Pro) system.

I think I read that the RC of 2026.4 has been released, which I suspect means that it will be public in the next week or so. Personally I think that's likely about the time I will upgrade even though I am quite scared.

The two bugs I have heard about that most worry me are:

1. Missing content in Safari - when VoiceOver just won't find content to read. Apparently Chrome does not have this issue. However I have found on Sequoia that Chrome will itself miss some content in Jira so it sounds like this will be worse. I have a feeling that the most recent Sequoia release has this but I haven't updated to that either.

2. More difficult to get into the actual web content in Safari. This has always been a bit problematic but I believe it has got worse. I've heard reports that jumping to headings from the Safari toolbar doesn't work which sounds incredibly annoying.

As far as fixes go I think, but am not entirely sure, that the problem with VoiceOver not being able to speak headings if you navigate to them and they have children, has been fixed. But don't take my word for it.

I don't really understand the comment re stragglers. As a software developer then yes it's a pain to have to support older versions. But as someone who just needs to get work done, if you update and fundamental things break then that's far worse. When I upgraded to Sonoma so many things broke and it wasn't until fairly late in the release cycle that they got fixed. I was having to suddenly figure out how to use my Windows laptop to do things that were no longer possible on the Mac. I think if you rely on your Mac for doing anything important then it is wise to be a little hesitant.

I don't really understand the comment re stragglers. As a software developer then yes it's a pain to have to support older versions. But as someone who just needs to get work done, if you update and fundamental things break then that's far worse. When I upgraded to Sonoma so many things broke and it wasn't until fairly late in the release cycle that they got fixed. I was having to suddenly figure out how to use my Windows laptop to do things that were no longer possible on the Mac. I think if you rely on your Mac for doing anything important then it is wise to be a little hesitant.

What is wise is to adopt workflows that depend as little as possible on screen-reader support, with one example that I've mentioned before being adopting Markdown as an open document format since it's easy to read in source form and easy to parse into formatted documents as well, coupled with other typesetting formats like LaTeX for more specific domains. Anything short of this means that you are growing an unhealthy dependence on a proprietary system.

As for the issues that you mentioned, and as someone who's used every macOS version since Snow Leopard, or since Mavericks without any sight, I have absolutely no idea of what kind of major problem you might have experienced upgrading to Sonoma, because I personally don't recall experiencing anything major compared to Ventura. Did you try reinstalling from scratch to ensure that your issues were not caused by corrupted settings?

If you are blind, and primarily use macOS for your workflow, then would you not be depending on a proprietary system just by requiring VoiceOver for said workflow?
Genuinely asking here.

If you are blind, and primarily use macOS for your workflow, then would you not be depending on a proprietary system just by requiring VoiceOver for said workflow?

Not necessarily, you can take advantage of something without depending on it. I, for example, could move to Linux in a blink of an eye without losing anything major other than the whole Apple experience, because everything I do can be done on any other platform. Do I take advantage of the hardware, software, and services that Apple has to offer? Absolutely, but I don't depend on them, and if I ever find myself in a situation in which I really have to jump ship, like for example VoiceOver suddenly not being available, or getting my developer license revoked, there will be nothing holding me back here. Unfortunately way too many people don't plan like this and grow dependent on someone else's platforms or services, making themselves an automated ban short of declaring bankruptcy,.

I never plan anything or force any specific reality assuming anything about others, because the truth is that I can only really control myself, so I just go with the flow without betting my future on anyone else's commitments.

Thank you for the explanation. It clarifies your previous statement regarding depending on proprietary systems, for me anyways. 😁

I don’t think anybody should be told when to update and why it’s the best thing for them, but we don’t know the individual use case of a person asking so I think people should update whenever they feel ready and not to feel like shamed when they haven’t done it yet because we all use our devices differently, regardless of whether it’s a phone, a Mac, iPod or iPad or whatever other devices it is have to update when they’re ready when they feel comfortable and not everybody can just jump to another operating system if they don’t like something that happens with voiceover so that’s not really fair to assume people can just do that. That’s great if it works for people here but don’t try to make somebody else mold that works for you but so I’m seeing it

The thread asks for opinions on whether someone should upgrade to macOS 26.0, so I gave mine completely on topic and even provided my own reasons that everyone is perfectly free to debate or completely discard, but I absolutely repudiate the idea of self-moderating just because others might not agree with what I say.

There is nothing more frustrating than someone telling you to reinstall your computer from scratch just because a new OS brought with it a shed ton of new bugs. With Sonoma it absolutely was not my fault as many of the biggest ones did get fixed over time, but it did not help in the short term and also has completely killed my faith in major new updates from Apple. Reinstalling the Mac from scratch would take a long time and I still have to be productive in the meantime.

I'm very pleased for you that you found Sonoma so great. You can hunt down the original Sonoma release thread on Applevis if you want to see the endless stream of problems I had as they were all documented on here.

If I had nothing else to do and had the energy then maybe I would learn countless alternative ways of doing the same thing on the off-chance Apple breaks something again. I absolutely should be more resilient to changes but also I have spent a lot of money on a Mac and expect at least the basics to work which isn't always the case.

You can learn markdown all you want but if text editing breaks in general and suddenly you are hearing symbols that don't exist or can no longer navigate around with the keyboard, then you are still not in a great position. It's basic stuff that breaks.

So given my own experience of Sonoma, I am very, very reluctant to upgrade to a new version of MacOs when I hear about serious bugs still persisting in it.

But let's be absolutely clear - one person's experience of the Mac is never the same as anyone else's. There are very wildly conflicting opinions abou about it. It all depends what you use it for, and maybe to some degree your own levels of patience and ability to work around all the rubbish that is expected of you. When I lost my sight a few years ago I also lost any enjoyment I had with using the computer. I just want to get a job done, that's it.

a line from the post above reminds me way back when during OSX Yosemite, when VO would read weird artifacts in my PDF formatted college textbooks.
Good times indeed. 😣

Thinking back to my previous comment I realise that maybe I've just taken some of the above comments too personally. I am just so tired and ground down by all this nonsense we have to put up with. Anyway, apologies if I've taken comments not in the spirit they were intended.

There is nothing more frustrating than someone telling you to reinstall your computer from scratch just because a new OS brought with it a shed ton of new bugs. With Sonoma it absolutely was not my fault as many of the biggest ones did get fixed over time, but it did not help in the short term and also has completely killed my faith in major new updates from Apple. Reinstalling the Mac from scratch would take a long time and I still have to be productive in the meantime.

I didn't tell you to reinstall the OS to fix bugs, I suggested reinstalling the OS because you might have been dealing with corrupted data.

I'm very pleased for you that you found Sonoma so great. You can hunt down the original Sonoma release thread on Applevis if you want to see the endless stream of problems I had as they were all documented on here.

I did not find Sonoma great, but I did not recall any insurmountable problems with it either, and I always upgrade as soon as I can.

If I had nothing else to do and had the energy then maybe I would learn countless alternative ways of doing the same thing on the off-chance Apple breaks something again. I absolutely should be more resilient to changes but also I have spent a lot of money on a Mac and expect at least the basics to work which isn't always the case.

Yeah that's part of the contract of being blind, things aren't designed for you so you always have to adapt. As a former sighted human, I can tell you that accepting this particular condition was my biggest psychological struggle, but once I cleared that mental barrier, my life took on an accelerated positive trajectory leading me to believe that blindness may actually be shaping up to be my beginning when I thought it was my end.

You can learn markdown all you want but if text editing breaks in general and suddenly you are hearing symbols that don't exist or can no longer navigate around with the keyboard, then you are still not in a great position. It's basic stuff that breaks.

We were definitely not using the same Sonoma then, because you can be pretty sure that I do a lot of typing as a developer, and as I said above, I recall absolutely nothing major or even minor about text editing degrading between Ventura and Sonoma. The only time I noticed a change was when Apple broke all US voices in a Catalina patch 4 years before Sonoma, which is a problem that remains unfixed up to this day, so imagine if instead of adapting to the situation, I decided to stay on Mojave for all these years.

But let's be absolutely clear - one person's experience of the Mac is never the same as anyone else's. There are very wildly conflicting opinions abou about it. It all depends what you use it for, and maybe to some degree your own levels of patience and ability to work around all the rubbish that is expected of you. When I lost my sight a few years ago I also lost any enjoyment I had with using the computer. I just want to get a job done, that's it.

I actually commented on this above before reaching this paragraph. You definitely need to embrace the disability, because reality will not change so you have nothing to lose from accepting things as they are. I've been on that position myself so I know how it feels, but then a tiny event allow me to see life from a completely different perspective, and that was all it took for me to wake up and decide that life is still worth living without sight, and that I still have the ability to stand out and make a difference.

both of you, too, expressed your experiences, opinions, and conclusions, with which I heartily agree! So far as I am concerned, I see no reason to fix anything that works better than any so-called upgrade. Therefore, every year I wait until august to upgrade, when the bug fixes are more or less finished and the newest version of the annual upgrade cycle is about to be released, if then. But the point was made, and it is true. We could use Lennox, or we could use
windows, or we could use some other operating system. Personally, I think the all time best was MS DOS. Fast, stable, and completely reliable, but then Windows came along, and problems started popping up, forcing us to buy more and more third party software to protect our computers from problems Apple never seems to have had. It got to the point where it was like buying a new car that forced you to stop every five miles to take out the motor and put it back in again before you could continue down the road. that's more or less when I switched to MacOS, but then even MacOS began accumulating problems, and is now heading down that same buggy road once taken by windows, leaving me to wonder if it's time to switch back to MicroSoft.

Opinions, anyone?

I will take my Windows 11 over the current state of VoiceOver for macOS, thank you very much.
Just to clarify, I do not think that macOS is the problem. I think that VoiceOver for macOS is the problem. 😇

The only problem with that is that you never get a say in anything. So if you find a bug you probably have zero chance of it being resolved if you are already effectively a version behind.

When I had sight I always used to be excited by the new and shiny, but these days it just seems problematic.

I agree with João Santos's last post in that if you want to truly win at this then you need to be more flexible than is really reasonable to ask of anyone. It is true but it's not something I am good at, particularly when I lost any enjoyment out of using a computer when my sight went.

Really the best thing to do is have 2 partitions - one with the new and one with the previous, then you have a fallback plan. Honestly I am way too scared to go messing with my hard disk. I tried installing Tahoe on a USB drive but I don't think that is supported sadly, or wasn't a couple of months ago anyway.

Quite right, or at least, we agree it appears so.

The bug where the speech lags after the sound for links has been fixed in 26.4.

I was genuinely traumatized by the unstability and bugs of voiceover, especially safari does not respond, on ventura. And the weird edge case bugs with the web on sonoma, the capslock hell, do you remember this? ... Sequoia was a breath of fresh air, and I knew it a couple hours before the update went live when I think Craig? Or Cook, said that macos 15 had a lot of deep architectural changes. And I am even more hopeful with 27 now.
I do agree with both sides here, mac is very usable for me daily as a cs student even if I do way too many microslop stuff to my liking, but it would be very very unfair to compare voiceover screen reader / accessibility bugs to other screen readers on the market and their shortcomings. This is intellectually dishonest imo.