In addition to iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, Apple also unveiled macOS Sequoia at its Worldwide Developers Conference today. It comes with Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring, big updates to Safari, and new games. Let’s dive right in.
Apple Intelligence is the company’s big AI push and it has the same initials as “AI” – pretty neat, right? This will be supported on all Macs with Apple M series chips, and it’s deeply integrated into Sequoia, enabling the creation of images, operating apps, and drawing from personal context in order to simplify everyday tasks.
AI-based Writing Tools are baked into the system to let you rewrite, proofread, and summarize text everywhere you write, including in Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps. Image Playground lets you create images in three styles (animation, illustration, sketch), and it’s built into apps like Messages as well as being accessible as a dedicated app. Like in iOS, Memories in Photos creates a video for you using your best photos and videos based on your prompt, and the Clean Up tool removes unwanted people or objects from photos.
Of course Siri hasn’t been forgotten either, becoming more natural, more contextually relevant, and personal. Like in iOS 18, you can now type to it, and alternate between typing and speaking if you want. ChatGPT is integrated into Siri and the aforementioned Writing Tools.
In Sequoia, the Continuity feature becomes “even more magical” with iPhone Mirroring. Your iPhone magically appears on your Mac, custom wallpaper and icons and all, and you can swipe between home screens, or launch and use any of your iPhone’s apps.
You can interact with your iPhone through your Mac’s keyboard, trackpad, and mouse, and even audio comes through. Drag and drop is seamless between the iPhone and the Mac, and all this happens while the iPhone remains locked. On the iPhone, the StandBy function remains visible, so you still get information at a glance if you want to. And of course you can view and respond to iPhone notifications on your Mac too.
Safari gains Highlights, a new way to discover information like directions, summaries, or quick links to learn more about people, music, movies, and TV shows. A new Reader has more ways to enjoy articles distraction-free, with a streamlined view, a summary, and even a table of contents for longer articles.
When Safari detects a video on the page you’re looking at, it will put it front and center while still giving you access to system playback controls, including Picture in Picture.
New games are coming to macOS, including Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, Resident Evil 2, Frostpunk 2, Palworld, Sniper Elite 4, and RoboCop: Rogue City. Improvements to Game Mode will give you smoother frame rates, while “advanced power management features” are expected to boost performance across the Mac lineup.
Window tiling has been improved too. Now when you drag a window to the edge of the screen, the OS automatically suggests a tiled position on your desktop, and you can release the window right into place, quickly arrange tiles side by side, or place them in corners. Tiles can be organized even faster with new keyboard and menu shortcuts.
For video conferencing, there’s a new presenter preview that makes it easier to present since you can see what you’re about to share before you actually do it. You can also apply built-in backgrounds, including color gradients and system wallpapers, or upload your own photos.
Finally, the Passwords app that was announced for iOS 18 is making it to macOS too, serving as a central repository of your passwords, passkeys, and other credentials, using end-to-end encryption.
The first public beta of macOS Sequoia will be available next month. The first developer beta is out today.