An ingenious MacBook update could improve all your video calls

Apple announced macOS 26 Tahoe at the same time as it revealed iOS 26 for iPhone, iPadOS 26 for iPad and watchOS 26 for Apple Watch. The software was all revealed in June at the company’s WWDC25 event, before the final builds landed on devices in September.

For macOS 26 Tahoe, there were a number of great features that came with the new software, from the Liquid Glass design to the ability to add colours to folders – a personal favourite of mine. Now another new feature is coming with a second major update, and it promises big things for video calls.

What is Edge Light on Mac and how does it work?

As spotted by 9to5Mac, macOS 26.2 Tahoe will add something called Edge Light, which is designed to improve your video call quality when you are in low light conditions. It does this by adding a virtual ring light around the edge of your Mac’s display, with the aim of replicating what you would get if you used a dedicated lighting system.

It should be better than a ring light, in fact, as Edge Light can detect your face, size and where you are thanks to the Neural Engine in your Mac. This should then give you more accurate lighting, while the Image Signal Processor will weigh in to adjust its brightness to match your environment.

The Edge Light feature can work alongside other capabilities, like Portrait mode and Backgrounds. And if you move your cursor to the side of your Mac’s screen when it is on, it will know to retract so you can see what's on your screen.

In terms of what Edge Light works with, you can use it with all video conferencing apps including FaceTime, Webex, Zoom, and others.

It also works on all Macs running Apple’s Silicon chips, but if you have a newer Mac, you can opt to have Edge Light turn on automatically when it detects you are in a low light environment.