macOS Tahoe 26 beta 2 includes toggle to restore menu bar background

Apple has added a new toggle to show the menu bar background in macOS Tahoe 26 beta 2. The option was added after beta 1 arrived with no menu bar background and no toggle to restore it.

The new option is available in Settings > Menu Bar > Show menu bar background. Currently off by default, the toggle works as advertised by simply restoring the frosted layer of menu bar background across the width of your Mac display. The toggle does not affect the placement of menu bar items or text.

Apple removing the menu bar background by default allows the desktop wallpaper to extend to the full height of your Mac display. However, the menu bar background is needed with backgrounds that interfere with text and icon legibility. With iPadOS 26, Apple brings the menu bar concept from the Mac to the iPad without a menu bar background. This could be inspiration for the change on the Mac.

The menu bar background toggle is just one example of a design change being tweaked between beta versions of the pre-release operating system. For the Mac, Finder has also received another facelift that reverts the color layout to the traditional dark-light choice after the light-dark decision in beta 1 was criticized.