Apple today announced the next version of macOS, called macOS Ventura, with several new features, including Stage Manager, Continuity Camera, new security updates, and more.
Stage Manager helps you focus on the app you're using without any distractions by arranging all unused apps on the side, with the main and active app in the middle.
Continuity Camera gives macOS users the ability to use their iPhone as a webcam. Using the Continuity feature, Mac can automatically recognize and use the camera on iPhone when it's nearby.
When connected, Continuity Camera offers existing features like Center Stage, Portrait mode, and more. It'll also use the iPhone's Ultra Wide camera to enable Desk View, showing the user's face and an overhead of their desk.
For FaceTime, you can now start a FaceTime call on one Apple device and transfer it to another using Handoff.
In Safari, Tab Groups will let friends and family share their favorite sites and see what tabs others are looking at live. The group can build a list of bookmarks on a shared Start Page, and even start Messages conversations or FaceTime calls right from Safari.
Similar to the updates coming to iOS 16, Messages on the Mac will let users edit or undo a recently sent message, mark a message as unread, or recover accidentally deleted messages.
macOS Ventura also improves Spotlight with Rich Results, coming to iOS and iPadOS, letting users take actions right from within Spotlight. Spotlight also now indexes more apps, including Photos and Live Text, and more.
As part of macOS Ventura, Apple is also adding big improvements to the Mail app on Mac. Undo Send will let users undo a sent email a few moments after it's sent. Users will now also be able to schedule emails and add reminders to follow-up.
iCloud Shared Photo Library will let family members create and share a photo library among up to six people. Everyone in the library can add, delete, or edit photos, and they can select which photos from their library they want to add into the shared library.
In a bid to enhance security, Apple has introduced "Passkeys" in Safari. Described as next-generation credentials that are more secure than passwords, Passkeys are unique digital keys that stay on device and are never stored on a web server.
Users can easily create Passkeys using Touch ID or Face ID, and iCloud Keychain saves all Passkeys to sync across devices with end-to-end encryption.
Apple also highlighted Metal 3, the latest version of the software that powers gaming experiences across Apple devices. Combined with Apple silicon, the company noted that "even greater gaming experiences" will be arriving on Macs.
Other macOS Ventura updates:
- Live Text now supports paused video frames and can detect Japanese and Korean text.
- Visual Look Up can recognize animals, birds, insects, statues, and more landmarks.
- Weather and Clock apps have been optimized for Mac.
- New accessibility tools include Live Captions for all audio content, Type to Speak on calls, Text Checker, and more.
- System Preferences has been renamed to System Settings, and features a streamlined design similar to iPhone and iPad Settings app.
macOS Ventura will be available to all supported Macs later this year, with a developer beta available later today and public beta testers in July.
