After installing macOS Tahoe, two additions immediately stood out to me: proper battery charge limits and a much more useful Spotlight.

A real battery charge limit—even on my M1 Mac

macOS can now limit charging to 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, or 100% directly from the Battery settings.

I normally use my MacBook connected to power for long periods, so being able to choose an 80% limit should help reduce unnecessary battery aging. I especially appreciate that Apple has made this available even on my older M1 Mac.

When this is set, you can see that charging is paused if above 80%, and you have the option to explicitly charge it to full:

If it’s below 80%, it will charge only up to 80%:

Optimized Battery Charging is still available, so I can either let macOS learn my routine or set a fixed limit myself.

You can also set the “Low Power” mode:

See the battery icon turning yellow when set.

On a MacBook Pro, you also have more choices concerning the Energy Mode:

Spotlight finally has useful filtering shortcuts

Spotlight has also become much more practical. Searches can now be restricted immediately with keyboard shortcuts:

• ⌘ 1 for applications
• ⌘ 2 for files
• ⌘ 3 for actions
• ⌘ 4 for clipboard contents

The / key can be used to filter the current search, while the Up Arrow opens the search history.

This makes Spotlight feel less like a simple application launcher and more like a proper keyboard-driven command center.

Clipboard search is optional, which is sensible given that copied content may contain sensitive information.

These are not necessarily the flashiest changes in macOS Tahoe, but they are exactly the kind of small, practical improvements that make a difference in everyday use.