macOS Sequoia features: All the software updates coming to Mac

Apple took to the stage (or in Tim Cook’s case, the roof of Apple Park) during WWDC 2024 to announce macOS Sequoia, the next major update to its Mac operating system.

As with every big update, Apple is rolling out a range of new features – so, what’s new on macOS Sequoia?

We’ve rounded up all the big updates coming to macOS later this year.

iPhone Mirroring

Apple is expanding its Continuity feature to give you full access and control of your iPhone through macOS.

iPhone Mirroring will allow users to swipe through their home screen, launch and browse apps, and play audio using the keyboard, trackpad, and mouse on their Mac.

The feature will also make it easier to drag and drop files between your iPhone and Mac and respond to notifications with your keyboard – all while the iPhone itself remains locked or even in its StandBy view.

Highlights

Highlights is a new feature coming to Safari designed to make it easier to discover relevant information on the web. For example, by pulling up a map with the location of a hotel when you visit that hotel’s website.

Along with directions, Highlights can offer quick summaries and links to learn more about specific people, music, movies, and TV shows.

Passwords app

Apple is officially moving passwords to their own app, along with passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords, and other credentials.

iCloud syncing is protected with end-to-end encryption and passwords can be synced between other Apple devices and even your Windows PC with the iCloud for Windows app.

Gaming

Apple announced the list of games coming to macOS in the future, including Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil 2, World of Warcraft‘s The War Within expansion, Frostpunk 2, Palworld, Sniper Elite 4, RoboCop: Rogue City, Control Ultimate Edition, and Wuthering Waves.

Apple also announced Personalized Spatial Audio, reduced audio latency for the AirPods Pro (2nd gen), and improvements to Game Mode, including smoother frame rates and advanced power management features to boost performance.

The new presenter preview feature in FaceTime and Zoom will allow you to see what you’re about to share before you share your screen. You’ll also be able to apply custom backgrounds, including gradients, system wallpapers, and your own photos.

Apple Intelligence

Of course, we can’t finish this roundup without mentioning Apple Intelligence, Apple’s collection of AI-powered features and capabilities.

These include system-wide Writing Tools designed to brush up your words in Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps, by proofreading, summarising, and rewriting text.

Apple is also introducing its own built-in generative art tool called Image Playground, allowing you to create custom images from written prompts in several different styles.

Memories in Photos is a feature that lets you create a story by typing out a description. Apple Intelligence chooses the best photos and videos based on that description and creates a movie with a storyline that combines the two.

Siri is becoming more natural and contextually relevant with the added ability to switch between voice and text. She’ll also be able to call upon ChatGPT for help with requests OpenAI’s chatbot is better suited to responding to.

Lastly, Private Cloud Compute allows Apple to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and server-based models when needed. When your requests are routed to Private Cloud Compute, Apple doesn’t store your data and the company cannot access it either.

macOS Sequoia release date

macOS Sequoia will enter its beta stage for developers today, with a public beta coming in July. The update will launch officially this fall.