At Apple’s WWDC 23 event, we saw many new things. The newest version of iOS 17, iPadOS 17, tvOS 17, and even watchOS 10. However, the most important and awaited announcement at the event was the reveal of the brand-new macOS 14 Sonoma. A good number of macOS devices are expected to get the update to macOS Sonoma. So, if you are someone that has a Mac or you plan to buy one, here is everything you need to know about macOS Sonoma.
Apart from the features, we will also be talking about the availability of macOS Sonoma as well as the list of supported devices. So, read on to know everything about macOS Sonoma.
When it comes to privacy and features, macOS 14 Sonoma has a good number of them. Here are the features that we have listed below for you to check out.
macOS 14 Sonoma Features
Slow Motion Screensavers
When you aren’t using your macOS device, a screensaver can be applied to always have something displayed on the screen. With macOS 14 Sonoma, users can now use animated screensavers that animate in slow motion. The best part of these screensavers is that they will automatically be applied as wallpaper for your device’s background.
Desktop Widgets
We’ve seen widgets on iOS 16 and are now available on iPad for iPad OS 17. Well, macOS 14 Sonoma now lets you easily add a good number of widgets to the desktop right away. Best of all you can easily control the widgets right from the desktop itself. When you are using an app, the wiggles will fade away so that you have more focus on the app rather than getting distracted by the widgets.
Also, the widgets will easily adapt to the color of your desktop’s background- this makes it easy to view those beautiful widgets. Apart From just making use of widgets that are on your Mac, you can also display whites from your iPhone right away, provided that your iPhone is nearby or is connected to the same wifi network as that of your macOS device.
New Video Conferencing Tools and Features
Video calls now get better on macOS Sonoma. To make your video call even more interesting, you can now easily display content that you are sharing as an overlay. This means even if you walk or move around, your content will always be static and visible for everyone to see. While sharing your screen, you can easily move around the screen next to anything that you are currently talking about or presenting to the other participants in the video call.
To make your video calls even more interesting you can now add interactive reactions by just using your hands. For example, when you raise both your thumbs up fireworks will now be displayed. You can also display hearts, confetti, and even other types of 3D effects based on different gestures you do with your hands. With macOS Sonoma, you can easily choose to share the screen of multiple apps within the active window itself.
Continue Camera with the macOS Sonoma now lets you control the camera composition. You can easily adjust the frame, zooming, and angles and automatically set it to recenter yourself in the frame.
Unique Profiles In Safari
Safari now lets you create different profiles for different use cases. Just like Google Chrome, you can now easily create a work profile as well as a personal profile. With separate profiles, you can easily separate your favorite web pages, browsing history as well as your extensions and passwords best of all, you can easily and quickly switch between modes with a single click. Safari also improved how its Search works. You now get simplified results as well as relevant suggestions for your search query.
The best feature of Safari is that you can now run and use any website that you like as an app on your macOS device. You can easily add the website shortcut to your desktop which launches via the Safari web browser. Sharing your passwords and PAsskeys with your family group has now become even easier. Anyone in the group can update or add new passwords. These updates are reflected to everyone who isn’t in the group. Safari now has a better private browsing mode. It ensures that you block all sorts of trackers from websites and URLs to ensure that none of your data is being used.
Improvements To Messages
The Messages app on macOS will finally let you add search filters which can help you search exactly for something that you want. The Messages app also now has a new arrow. Clicking on it will take you to the message that you haven’t seen in the particular conversation. A great way to catch up without having to scroll all the way to the op to read unread texts.
Location sharing via the Messages app has also improved. You can now directly view the live location of your friend within the messages app. This means you no longer have to click on the location which then opens up the app to display the location.
Stickers are a great way to express your feelings and emotions. You can now easily create new stickers and even create live stickers that you can use to share via the Messages app. All stickers that you have created on your iPhone will be synced to iCloud meaning that you get your stickers on every device that you login to.
Open and Edit PDFs
macOS Sonoma now will let you easily not only open up PDFs but also lets you edit them right away. Depending on the text fields on the PDF, macOS Sonoma can easily autofill the text fields for you. The new Notes app now lets you add more than one PDF so that you easily access the file as and when you need to. You can easily share links from one Note to another.
This is a great way to communicate easily with different people’s notes Anything you do in the Notes app can now be shared to the Pages app where you can easily add and customize different elements such as fonts, graphics and the option to resize videos.
Type Away With Accuracy
Autocorrect in macOS Sonoma will now be able to accurately correct the words with just a single click. The auto-complete feature has now been improved. It has better text prediction and all you need to do to complete the text is press the spacebar.
Game On
You will now be able to play a good number of games that are being ported to macOS by developers. There is a brand new Game Mode that you can enable. This mode ensures that the GPU and CPU are used completely for your game. It makes sure to limit or end background tasks. Game Mode also helps to improve latency between your macOS device, AirPods, and wireless controllers.
Even More Privacy
As we all know, Apple is always about different ways to improve and increase your privacy. The Messages app and other third-party apps can now detect and display a message that asks if you want to watch sensitive photos and videos or not. You can also choose what type of photos you wish to share with an app instead of letting the app get access to all your photos.
The best of all is the new Lockdown Mode. This mode, when enabled, ensures that in case of any cybersecurity threats or attacks, the device will secure itself in every possible manner to ensure that you don’t lose any private and personal data. This feature is available on your iPhone, iPad, and macOS devices as well as your Apple watch.
Improved Screen Sharing
Thanks to the Mac’s Apple Silicone chip, you can now share your screens with even better quality thanks to the Performance Mode. The new Remote Access feature has also been improved to work on huge bandwidth connections.
Grocery Lists In Reminders App
Shopping is now simple and easy. Thanks to the Grocery list feature you can now automatically add items to the list and will always remember the items from the list the next time you plan to add items for your next shopping trip.
Priority Emails on Top
The mail app on macOS Sonoma will now be able to display emails, for example, trip emails at the top depending on when the trip is due. Additionally, you can now send even bigger-sized emojis in the messages.
Additional Features
- Easily look for info online from a video that is paused thanks to VIsual Lookup
- The new Photos app can easily detect people and also show you photos of your favorite people.
- Easily switch between Apple devices using your Apple uPdos when either listening to music or answering a call.
- Easily add contributors to your maui c playlist in Apple Music. Users can soon react to music choices using emojis.
- You can invoke Siri by saying “Siri” instead of the older “Hey Siri” keyword.
macOS 14 Sonoma Supported Devices
Here is the official list of devices that will be able to update to macOS Sonoma
- iMac Pro: 2017 and newer
- iMac: 2019 and newer
- Mac Mini: 2018 and newer
- Mac Pro: 2019 and newer
- Mac Studio: 2022 and newer
- MacBook Air: 2018 and newer
- MacBook Pro: 2018 and newer
macOS 14 Sonoma Release Date
As of now, if you have a supported macOS device that can be updated to macOS Sonoma, you can easily install the developer beta preview of the OS. But again, that will require getting a developer account from Apple, which you will have to pair for. If you don’t want to pay, you can wait till July to get your hands on the public beta of macOS Sonoma. The global official release of macOS Sonoma will be available in the month of October, or around the time when the new iPhones and macOS devices are announced.
This concludes everything you need to know about the brand new macOS, Sonoma. Now that you know all the features, supported devices as well as availability, are you ready to test out the public beta for macOS Sonoma or, do you plan to wait until the OS has been officially launched later this year? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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