It’s that time of the year again when Apple takes away all the spotlight from other players in the market with its highly anticipated announcements and innovations.
This year’s Apple WWDC was no different! From Apple Intelligence to new Continuity features, there is much to discuss what went down on the first night of Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference 2024.
However, for the sake of this post, let us focus on one of the top announcements made during the event: the launch of the much-awaited macOS 15 Sequoia. Apple has started rolling out developer previews for it and will release the official version by the fall of 2024.
In this post, we will examine some of the crucial upgrades Apple has made available for users in the latest macOS 15. Without further ado, let’s jump straight to it!
MacOS 15 Sequoia: Apple’s First AI Integrated OS for Macbook & iMacs
AI was the biggest highlight of WWDC 24. Apple is calling its integration with AI Apple Intelligence, and rightly so, considering it has introduced enough new use cases. It has been a while since other players like Microsoft, Google, and Samsung have had their versions available to users.
Apple, being Apple, has once again shown how taking time and not rushing to introduce new features can be beneficial in the long run.
The top feature upgrades announced by Apple for the macOS 15 Sequoia include –
1. Apple Intelligence
One of the most talked about features is the Apple Intelligence. It is a calculated take on how other operating systems have integrated AI into their devices. Apple introduced AI as a dedicated ecosystem of features and services that will be compatible with both iPhone and Mac.
Partnering with OpenAI for proper implementation, Apple has announced its AI model as a unique set of services that a user can opt for instead of completely integrating with the OS’s internal features.
This looks like a good move, considering several users have had privacy issues while using AI-integrated applications.
2. Apple Continuity
The Continuity app is a prime highlight of the upgrade from Sonoma to Sequoia. The application allows an Apple ecosystem user to integrate other devices with Mac more conveniently.
With the Continuity application, users can easily mirror their iPhones on their macOS devices, reducing the hassle of using a few apps on the smartphone while using a Mac.
All the applications on your iPhone can be accessed using a mouse and keyboard from your Mac. The exact screen can be mirrored, streamlining the entire process.
The best part is that all the notifications from across the apps on your iPhone can be routed to your Mac in real-time using the application.
The name Continuity justifies the objective, as you can feel the continuation of your app experience even after switching from one device to another.
3. AI Enhanced Productivity Apps
Productivity applications on Mac such as your Mail, Calendar, Photos, Notes, and Keynote are all getting a substantial boost of AI in the macOS 15. Each of these applications is set to add new features that are more focused on user convenience with the implementation of AI.
The set of key features each of these applications is getting include –
Maps
– Features topographic maps.
– Custom routes that you can create and save for later hikes.
– Email summarizing & instant replies using AI
– AI-based Email sorting for finding, deleting, & organizing the mailbox.
Calendar
– Event suggestions using AI
– Integration with the Reminders app for better functionality.
Photos
– AI-based Editing features such as background removal, instant touch-ups, and more.
– Improved Natural Language enabled search for photos faster.
Notes
– Audio transcription and recording are used to take dictations and audio notes.
– AI-generated summary for long notes on your Mac.
Keynote
– Auto-generated slides for your next presentation
– Text generation via AI using simple prompts in the Pages app.
4. Secure Passwords App
Another interesting feature added to the latest macOS is a protected password application that saves all the passwords on your Mac. While it is a standalone application, it will work as an extension to iCloud Keychain.
The app will protect the passwords, allowing a user to access them using a touch ID, Face ID, and a string password.
Creating a standalone application to protect passwords across Apple devices simplifies one of the major UX concerns related to iCloud Keychain not responding or opening at desired times.
It can be seen as an attention-to-detail feature from Apple, considering it is a small but impactful upgrade highlighting one of the users’ pain points.
5. Unified Gaming Experience
If there’s one thing that Mac users have missed on their devices, it is high-quality gaming. With macOS 15 Sequoia, Apple has decided to take things up by introducing the Game Porting Toolkit 2, allowing highly intense games like Assassin’s Creed to run smoothly on a Mac.
They have also included Ray Tracing to support Control, Ubisoft, Frostpunk 2, etc. Overall, this year’s upgrade is worth it for the gaming enthusiasts using Macbooks.
Apple also plans to create a unified gaming platform, integrating experiences across its devices such as a Mac, iPhone, or iPad. One of the key things to notice during this address was the emphasis on currently available gaming titles on Apple Silicon Chips.
It appears that Apple has realized that they have an untapped group of users they can now cater to, thanks to AI, or as Apple likes to call it, Apple Intelligence!
6. Improved Windows Alignments
Another interesting feature announced during WWDC 2024 was arranging Windows on your screen. Opening multiple windows on a Mac can be quite confusing for a new user, as one has to keep track of which one is minimized and which is not.
Not to mention, the current OS does not allow you to manage multiple opened windows on your screen efficiently.
Well, things are about to change with macOS 15. All you have to do is select the window and drag it to the side to find multiple ways to arrange it. If you use multiple applications simultaneously on your screen, this window-tiling feature can be very handy.
7. Advanced Browsing in Safari
The user’s experience with Safari on a Mac has been decent over the years. However, it is going to improve drastically with the latest feature upgrades that Apple has introduced. Safari is all set to get its AI engine, allowing it to summarize every page you open.
Not only that, the advanced features will ensure that Safari reads crucial information and highlights it to you instantaneously, such as Quick Links, Contact Details, etc.
The reader mode on Safari is also getting an upgrade thanks to AI, as it will now have a table of contents, a summary of what you are about to read, and a gist of the overall content on the page. The features don’t stop there, as you can now access pages with videos better.
How? Well, you can start playing the video on a webpage in the background so that when you want to watch it, you can pull it in front, and when it is unnecessary, it can stay in the background. How cool is that?
As mentioned earlier, Apple has only rolled out the developer preview, which means you have to be registered as a developer to get your hands on it. As far as user beta versions are concerned, they are expected to be available around July 2024.
The excitement has reached its peak as a lot unfolded on the first day of this year’s WWDC. Stay tuned for a complete summary of what happened at the conference. That will be all for this post. macOS 15 is certainly the most anticipated upgrade, considering the massive recent processor upgrades.
I’m looking forward to how Apple rolls out these new features and how game-changing Apple Intelligence will be.
In the comments, let us know which feature you are excited about the most. Thanks for reading, and good luck!
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