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Apple has announced MacOS Sequoia, the next major version of the Mac operating system. Versioned as macOS Sequoia 15, the future software update includes some intriguing new features, including iPhone Mirroring, a host of new AI features called Apple Intelligence, the inclusion of a Passwords app, new features to tile windows easier, new summary and highlights features in Safari, and more.
MacOS Sequoia was announced at WWDC 2024 alongside iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, visionOS 2, and watchOS 11.
iPhone Mirroring on the Mac
MacOS Sequoia includes an all new iPhone Mirroring feature as part of the Continuity feature set. With iPhone Mirroring, you can wirelessly mirror your iPhone right on your Mac display and interact with it using your Mac cursor and keyboard.
This provides full access and usage of the iPhone from the Mac, meaning you can launch and use apps on iPhone from the Mac.
You can even get iPhone notifications directly on the Mac through Notification Center with this feature.
If you’ve ever used the QuickTime feature to record an iPhone screen on your Mac, this feature is kind of visually similar to that, except that you can interact with the iPhone using the Mac cursor/mouse/trackpad, and keyboard.
Apple Intelligence / AI
Apple has introduced a bunch of AI features into macOS Sequoia, which they call Apple Intelligence. A tentpole feature of Apple Intelligence are new writing tools, which offer capabilities that allow you to rewrite text, summarize, proofread, and more, from basically anywhere on the Mac, including in major apps like Safari, Notes, Pages, Mail, and anywhere else you’d enter text.
You can also summarize articles so you can get a gist of them without having to actually read the article, this is a dream tool for every opinionated internet commenter, pundit, and social media user who never reads the articles they comment on anyway.
These features should already be familiar to users who have spent time with ChatGPT and related LLM tools, and they let you do things like change the tone of an email to friendly, or make a letter sound more professional.
Additionally, there are new image generation capabilities thanks to a feature called Image Playground, which is kind of like DALL-E image generators available through ChatGPT, Bing, Microsoft Edge, and Google’s Gemini. You can type a description of an image or graphic and Image Playground will generate it.
Siri Gets ChatGPT
Siri is now integrated with ChatGPT (and ChatGPT is available through the Apple Intelligence tools), allowing for Siri to finally be able to answer basic questions without sending you to web searches. Siri with ChatGPT will instead generate a response to a query or question.
If you’re already familiar with ChatGPT and with Siri, then you likely know exactly what to expect from this change.
Window Tiling Gets Easier
MacOS Sequoia has introduced an even easier way to tile windows on the Mac.
Now, windows will automatically snap into position on the screen, detecting when you’re attempting to make a window grid, and making it easier than ever.
Passwords App
Passwords is a new app from Apple that breaks the Keychain and iCloud Keychain feature out of the Passwords preference panel and into an individual app, making it much easier to manage and access your saved login credentials, accounts, and passwords.
Passwords comes to MacOS Sequoia, but is also available for iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and iCloud for Windows.
More Sequoia Features
MacOS Sequoia also includes enhancements to gaming and Game Mode on Mac, a Presenter Preview feature for seeing whats on your screen before you start screen sharing, new inclusions to Messages app like the ability to tapback any Emoji to a message and new messaging effects, Apple Maps gains a bunch of curated hikes in national parks to help send a bunch of non-outdoorsy people into the wilderness, the Photos app can now automatically organize photo albums into themes, the Notes app gains transcription features for audio notes and access to the AI Apple Intelligence features, and much more.
When will MacOS Sequoia be available? When can I download MacOS Sequoia?
MacOS Sequoia is available as a developer beta now for registered developers to download.
Public beta versions of MacOS Seqouia will be available in July, this is when macOS Sequoia will be available to download by anyone participating in the beta programs.
The final version of MacOS Sequoia will be released this fall, according to Apple. This is the final release version that will be available to all users.
How do you Pronounce MacOS Sequoia?
MacOS Sequoia is the new name for the next version of MacOS, and while many Californians and Americans may know how to pronounce Sequoia, it’s also a peculiar looking word that some users may need help pronouncing if they’re unfamiliar with the word, the national park, or the tree species.
Sequoia is pronounced suh-koi-uh.
MacOS Sequoia is named after the largest tree species in the world that reside in California. There’s also a popular Toyota SUV named the Sequoia, but Apple is not naming their Mac operating system after that, they’re naming it after the natural features and Sequoia region of California, as is the common theme of modern MacOS versions.
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Are you excited about these new features in MacOS Sequoia? What do you think? Share your opinions in the comments.
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