The most important thing is iPhone mirroring

macOS Sequoia launches on September 16. Without Apple Intelligence, this upcoming update to the Mac operating system is feature-light, with one exception: iPhone Mirroring. Here’s everything you need to know about macOS Sequoia.

iPhone Mirroring Changes Everything

Photo credit: José Adorno for BGR

After the unexciting macOS Sonoma update, macOS Sequoia shines with one feature: iPhone Mirroring. This Continuity feature lets users fully access and interact with their iPhones right from their Mac. They can swipe through pages on the Home screen, launch and browse any of their favorite apps, and more.

This makes it easier than ever to access Instagram from a Mac, using an app that will apparently never come to macOS or iPadOS. Additionally, the Mac’s keyboard, trackpad, and mouse let users interact with their iPhones, and audio even plays when the phone is locked, so no one else can access or see what the user is doing.

What impresses me the most is that while big macOS features are usually delayed, Apple is delivering iPhone Mirroring on day one. That’s a huge win for users, even though the ability to drag and drop between iPhone and Mac is scheduled for later this year.

Safari has major updates, but I have given up on the browser

Image Source: Apple Inc.

Here are the three main features available in Safari on macOS Sequoia:

• Overview of the most important events: An easier way to discover information on the web, such as directions, summaries, or quick links to learn more about people, music, movies, and TV shows;
• Reader: The revamped Reader offers even more ways to read articles without distraction, offering a simplified view of the article the user is reading, a summary, and a table of contents for longer articles;
• Video detection: When Safari detects a video on a page, Viewer helps users bring it to the foreground while providing full access to the system’s playback features, including Picture-in-Picture.

As a longtime Apple user, I’ve always used Safari as my primary browser—and still do on my iPhone and iPad. But you can’t use it on your Mac. I’m a journalist; I cover tech news. Sometimes I have to write longer pieces, like a guide to iOS 18. If I try to open that page and quickly scroll down, Safari stops loading words and images, and the page goes blank. If I do the same thing in Microsoft Edge, the experience is fluid.

It’s odd that the Mac Studio M2 Max with 32GB of RAM isn’t enough for browsing Safari. With that in mind, I don’t understand why Apple keeps adding features to its browser if it can’t load a page properly. Apple claims that Safari is amazing at managing RAM and is much more efficient than Chrome, but at what cost? And what? In this department, I’d like to see macOS Sequoia, while being lightweight on features, fix old bugs. Maybe next year.

After such a long time, old mistakes have not been eliminated

While I’m on the subject of Safari’s issues, I can’t help but mention other issues that macOS carries over from software update to software update. For example, it’s so frustrating that Messages still doesn’t sync properly. Even if I delete a few messages on my iPhone, when I go to start a conversation with someone on my Mac, all those messages are still there. What’s more interesting is that the lack of syncing sometimes causes those messages to come back to my iPhone. So frustrating.

In the same vein, forget about opening the Podcasts app on your Mac if you don’t do it regularly, because it will clash with your synced episodes on your iPhone and Apple Watch. Finally, I have another issue with macOS in the Notes app. If I start a numbered list and paste something in there, it turns into a bulleted list. It’s so annoying.

Okay, let’s move on.

Window tiling and other useful improvements

Image Source: Apple Inc.

macOS Sequoia helps you stay organized with new ways to arrange your windows in the layout that works best for you. When you drag a window to the edge of the screen, macOS Sequoia automatically suggests a tiled position on the desktop.

With new video conferencing tools, macOS Sequoia adds a new presenter preview that makes presenting easier. It lets users see what they’re about to share before they do it, and it works with apps like FaceTime and Zoom.

Apple also introduced the Passwords app for macOS. While it’s nice to have, at least for me, I find myself reaching for my passwords more often on iOS and iPadOS than on Mac.

What about Apple Intelligence?

Photo credit: José Adorno for BGR

Apple Intelligence will be a major part of macOS Sequoia when it arrives with macOS 15.1 in October. However, it is not part of the first release of the operating system update. Beyond that, the most interesting features won’t appear until later this year.

Here are some of the most anticipated Apple Intelligence features in macOS Sequoia. But I wouldn’t call them groundbreaking experiences that will change the way people interact with their Macs:

• Writing tools: Check your text, rewrite different versions until you get the tone and vocabulary right, then summarize your selected text with one tap.
• Priority notifications: They appear at the top of the stack, letting you know at a glance what to look for. Notifications are summarized so you can review them faster.
• Priority Mail in Mail: Move messages that require urgent action to the top of your inbox, like an invitation with a deadline soon or a reminder to check in for an afternoon flight.
• Email Summary: Click to see a summary of a long email in the Mail app and get to the point.
• Record and transcribe conversations in the Notes app: Tap the record button in the Notes or Phone apps to capture audio recordings and transcripts. Apple Intelligence generates summaries of your transcripts so you can see the most important information at a glance.
• Reduce interruptions: The all-new Focus Mode analyzes the content of notifications and shows you those that may require your immediate attention, such as a text message asking you to pick up your child from daycare later than usual.
• Smart reply in mail: Quickly write an email response with all the right details. Apple Intelligence can identify the question being asked of you in the email and suggest appropriate choices to include in your response.

Other macOS Sequoia improvements

• The news received big updates like all-new text effects, emojis, and Tapback stickers, as well as the ability to schedule messages to be sent at a later time.
• Apple Maps introduces even more ways to explore the world, including curated hikes and custom walking routes. Starting this fall, users can browse thousands of hikes in all 63 national parks in the United States, filtered by length, elevation, and trail type, and save them for offline use.
• Updated Calculator The app allows users to review previous calculations in the history view and see their expressions as they type.
• Calendar shows events and tasks from Remindersmaking it easier to view, edit, or complete tasks throughout the day. The updated month view makes it easier to see your entire month’s events and reminders at a glance.

Device Compatibility

Since Apple is focusing on models with its own chip, here is a list of Macs that are compatible with macOS Sequoia:

• iMac 2019 and newer
• iMac Pro 2017
• MacBook Air 2020 and newer
• MacBook Pro 2018 and newer
• Mac Pro 2019 and newer
• Mac mini 2018 and newer
• Mac Studio 2022 and later

macOS Sequoia Review Summary

Image Source: Christian de Looper for BGR

As you can see, macOS Sequoia is another update with very few features. iPhone Mirroring is awesome. Other than that, there’s not much to see here. Apple hasn’t improved the stability and battery life of the MacBooks like it has with previous software updates (even though the MacBook batteries are great!).

For me, Apple missed an opportunity to make a macOS High Sierra-style update, focusing on fixing bugs, improving performance, and simply making macOS a more enjoyable experience. It’s been four years since the transition to Apple Silicon began, and nearly all Macs Apple sells use its custom processor.

Time to let go of the Intel days and focus on a brighter, brighter future where macOS continues to integrate with iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS. Maybe next year.