Apple on Monday announced the next version of its desktop operating system, macOS 12 Monterey which offers several new features, some of which are exclusive to macOS whilst others are borrowed from iOS and iPadOS 15.
One of the first new features to macOS Monterey is in relation to Universal Control. With the feature, users can control their iPad with the keyboard and mouse/trackpad of their Mac. This requires no additional setup and the users just have to place their iPad next to their Mac. Users can also move their mouse across all of their Mac and iPad.
macOS is also getting AirPlay for Mac. With this feature, users can AirPlay audio and video content from their iPhone, iPad to the user's Mac, just as the user would with an Apple TV. This will allow them to make use of the display of their Mac to show videos or presentations from their phone.
macOS Monterey also opts for a fully-redesigned Safari that offers a brand new tab bar that integrates the address and search box within the active tab, as well as tab groups to ensure frequently opened tabs are arranged in custom groups. Safari can also adjust its UI colours to match the design of the current webpage.
macOS Monterey is also receiving Shortcuts, a feature that debuted on the iPhone. Macs will now automatically open and run commonly performed tasks and they can be launched with a single click. The OS offers a set of pre-built actions and users can create their own via a simple interface.
macOS Monterey also gets many of the new features that include all the new improvements to FaceTime, such as spatial audio, which makes the sound of the people you are talking to appear from where the person is located on the screen.
What Else Does macOS Monterey Offer
Voice Isolation will also let you eliminate background noise, with Wide Spectrum allowing all of the ambient noise to come through. The new Portrait mode will be able to automatically blur the background. SharePlay is also coming to the new version of macOS.
Shared with You is another new feature that collects all of the content shared with the user via Messages, such as photos, videos, articles, and puts it in a Shared with You tab that is a part of the Photos, Safari, Apple Podcasts, Apple News, and the Apple TV app. The Focus feature will be able to filter out unwanted notifications based on current activity.
macOS Monterey will also be getting the updated Maps app complete with an interactive globe and detailed city experience and the new Notes app. Live Text will also offer machine-learning advancements to detect text in photos, such as phone numbers, websites, addresses, and tracking numbers, so a user can copy and paste, take a phone call, open a website, and find more information.
Apple also claims that macOS Monterey is going to support the broadest range of Macs in history, complete with both Intel and Apple Silicon models. Do note that Apple is dropping support for some of the older machines, some of which are the older iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro models.
In case you are wondering, macOS Monterey will be on offer to developers today, whilst a public beta is coming next month. A stable release is coming in the Fall of 2021.
