Apple Reverses Menu Icon Strategy After Year With Golden Gate

macOS Tahoe introduced icons in every menu item by default, a design choice Apple now considers a mistake. The upcoming Golden Gate release removes this feature, and Apple’s updated Human Interface Guidelines explicitly discourage the practice.

The strongest argument against menu icons is no longer that Apple avoids them—it’s that Apple tried them, lived with the feature for a year, and publicly reversed course. This practical experience-based learning carries more weight than choosing never to attempt something in the first place. Reversing a decision made proves a point more persuasively than maintaining a path never taken.