It's that time of year again where details of the next major software iterations for Apple's iPhone, iPad, Watch and Mac have been announced. Apple revealed a number of features for Apple Watch and iPhone with watchOS 10 and iOS 17, iPad with iPadOS 17 and Mac with macOS Sonoma, or macOS 14. We've covered off the other software changes in various features, but here we are detailing everything you need to know about macOS Sonoma, including what new features are coming to your Mac, what Mac models are compatible and when macOS Sonoma is expected to be available to download.
Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022)
The 2022 MacBook is simply one of the finest laptops money can buy. Powerful, portable and pretty with very little to complain about.
macOS Sonoma release date
- 5 June: macOS 14 announced at WWDC
- July: Public betas of macOS 14 expected
- October: Possible final release date for macOS 14
Apple announced macOS Sonoma, also known as macOS 14 during its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on 5 June. The company also revealed a number of hardware announcements for Mac, including a 15-inch MacBook Air, an upgraded Mac Studio and an Apple Silicon version of the Mac Pro.
The developer and public beta of the software is available to download now, though be cautious as it will likely be quite buggy until the final build is released.
Unlike iOS 16 that saw its final build release in September alongside the iPhone 14 models, the macOS 13 Ventura final software build wasn't released until October 2022 and the same applied for Monterey in 2021. It is likely then that while the features for macOS Sonoma have been revealed at the same time as iOS 17 at WWDC, we could have to wait until October or November 2023 for the final build to arrive on Macs.
macOS Sonoma features
It's a quieter year for Mac in terms of software features than we've seen previously, but there are still plenty worth mentioning. These are the features coming to compatible Macs before the year is out.
Widgets on Desktop
MacOS Sonoma is bringing widgets to desktop by allowing you to add widgets from a widget gallery and get quick and easy access to various apps, like Home for turning lights on and off, or podcasts for starting or pausing your favourite. When you open an app or use Stage Manager, widgets will fade into the background. Continuity also means you don't have to install a specific app to add a widget if you have an iPhone with the app as those widgets will already be available on your Mac.
Video conferencing
There have been some great changes to Video Conferencing with macOS Sonoma, including a Presenter Overlay that lets you stay a part of the conversation when you share your screen. You can choose between large and small overlays, with large focusing on you in the front of the screen sharing, while the small option puts you in a small movable bubble hovering over the shared screen. There are also 3D animations for when you react with your hands, like a double thumbs up delivering fireworks behind your head, while a new Screen Sharing picker lets you easily share an app or multiple apps when on a video call from the window you're in.
You can also adjust the frame with zoom and pan controls or use Recentre to automatically place yourself in the center of the frame when using the Studio Display or iPhone as a camera for your video calls.
Safari
Several changes are coming to Safari across macOS, iPadOS and iOS, including profiles. You can create separate work and personal profiles for example, which will separate your history, extensions, Tab Groups, cookies, and favourites, and it will be nice and quick to switch between them. Search in Safari is also getting more responsive and more relevant with macOS Sonoma, and there's something called Web Apps that we are very excited about. Currently you can pin tabs in Safari to help you find them quickly, but Web Apps will allow you to use any website like an app by adding it to your Dock.
Messages
Several changes are coming to Messages with macOS Sonoma, including the ability to swipe to reply. There's also a new catch-up arrow that lets you jump to the first message you haven't seen in a conversation, and there's new search functionality too that adds filters to help you find messages quicker. A new Plus button allows you to quickly share your location or request a friend's location and that will then appear in the Messages chat too, making it nice and quick to see. There's also a new stickers drawer that gives you quick access to all your stickers, including Live Stickers which are coming to iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma.
Notes and PDFs
With macOS Somana, your Mac will be able to autofill fields on a PDF with the information from your Contact card. You will also be able to link Notes together, and view a full PDF - or several - in Notes and flick between their pages. Additionally, you will also be able to start a document in Notes and finish it in Pages by clicking the share button and then adding different fonts, resizing graphics, or adding video, for example.
Keyboard
Autocorrect is being improved for macOS Somona, delivering better support whilst also temporarily underlining autocorrected words so you can tap to go back to what you originally typed. You'll also be able to tap the space bar on your Mac to finish words or sentences.
Game Mode
A number of games are coming with macOS Somana, but there is also a Game Mode coming that automatically gives games top priority on the CPU and GPU, whilst lowering usage for background tasks. The mode is also said to improve latency with wireless accessories, like AirPods and your controllers.
Siri
A couple of features are coming to Siri with macOS Somana, including not having to say "Hey" in front of Siri. Instead, you can just say "Siri", ask your question and you can also ask a follow up question with macOS Somana without saying Siri in between.
Screen Savers
There are some new slow motion screen savers arriving with macOS Sonoma that move from being a screen saver to your desktop display as you login.
Which MacBooks and iMacs will be compatible with macOS Sonoma?
Apple is pretty good at supporting older devices with its new software and Mac is no different. A few Macs and MacBooks did lose support for macOS Somana compared to macOS Ventura, but the following Macs are all compatible with macOS Sonoma:
- iMac: 2019 and later
- iMac Pro: 2017 and later
- Mac Pro: 2019 and later
- Mac Studio: 2022 and later
- MacBook Air: 2018 and later
- MacBook Pro: 2018 and later
- Mac mini: 2018 and later
macOS 14 rumours: What happened?
This is everything we heard about macOS 14 before it was officially revealed.
5 June 2023: Apple officially announces macOS Sonoma, detailing the features coming to Mac later this year
Apple officially revealed macOS Sonoma during its WWDC conference, revealing number of key features coming to compatible Macs this year.
16 April 2023: New Mac software expected at WWDC
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported that Apple was planning to show off its macOS 14 software at WWDC, alongside the Mixed Reality headset and the xrOS, new MacBooks, iPadOS 17, iOS 17 and a "major watchOS 10 update".