macOS Sonoma has officially landed as a new version of the operating system for Mac. It contains many innovations and many improvements in the internal infrastructure that must be taken into account. Just as it is interesting to prepare your Mac to install macOS Sonoma, it is also important to know all the pros and cons of the operating system before downloading the software update.
With so many new features in the Apple product catalog, including the launch of the iPhone 15, you may not have had enough time to discover all the new features of macOS Sonoma. If that’s the case, don’t worry. Below we present the most interesting improvements of macOS Sonoma, the latest software update for Apple Mac computers.
The main new features of macOS Sonoma
The macOS Sonoma update brings interactive widgets, webapps, Safari enhancements, video conferencing features and much more. There are some very important news that will completely change the way you use your Mac.
Interactive widgets on the Mac desktop
With macOS Sonoma, widgets can now be placed on the desktop and are interactive like in iOS 17 or iPadOS 17. What does this really mean? Basically, you can interact with them from now on. If you add a widget to the Mac desktop and click on it, you can perform certain actions instead of redirecting to its application. Actions such as filling out to-do lists, activating home automation accessories, opening shortcuts…
Change the color of the widgets
Now, with the arrival of the new widgets on the desktop, when you open an application and they are placed in the background, they adapt and get a more translucent and grayish look, allowing you to focus on what is really important. You can always make them look like this by changing their color.
- Go to System Settings.
- Access the desktop and dock.
- Change the color in the Widgets section.
iPhone widgets on your Mac
Thanks to Apple’s continuity functionality, you can synchronize all the widgets you have on your iPhone with your Mac. You can choose which widgets to add to the desktop without installing apps from the macOS Sonoma App Store. Calm down, there are many more news that have nothing to do with macOS Sonoma Widgets…
- Add your iPhone widgets via System Preferences > Desktop and Dock.
New system settings Navigation system
After Apple completely revised the layout of the system settings in macOS Ventura by changing the name to System Settings, navigation arrows have now been added to go back and forth, which greatly simplifies navigation.
Reactions to FaceTime
FaceTime video conferencing has received some new features in macOS Sonoma. One of them is the reactions. The menu bar now contains configuration options for FaceTime, which can be used to manage new reactions.
There are reactions from the heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, fireworks, confetti, rain, balloons, lasers… In addition, they can be activated by gestures that automatically identify FaceTime based on the camera images.
Presentations on FaceTime
macOS Sonoma makes FaceTime presentations more dynamic, productive, and fun than ever before. In addition to the implementation of reactions with special effects, FaceTime now also integrates great novelties into presentations.
After pressing the green button in the corner of a window, you can share the screen for presentations and show yourself in overlay mode in front of the screenshot. That is, you can conduct a presentation while the participants are still watching it. You can even create a small circular bubble in which your face will be inserted and move it over the entire presentation area.
- Reactions and presentations will be available on FaceTime, Zoom, Teams and other apps.
New effects for FaceTime
Some effects for FaceTime video conferencing have also been implemented with macOS Sonoma. Studio light darkens the outline to illuminate the subject, while Portrait adds a bokeh effect to blur the background.
- Open FaceTime.
- Tap the FaceTime icon in the menu bar and select an effect.
- Click on the arrow of each option to increase or decrease the intensity of the effect with a scroll bar.
Safari Profiles
One of the great additions to macOS Sonoma will bring us profiles for Safari, which will allow Mac users to separate and customize their web browsing according to different categories: work, private and study. Safari profiles divide history, favorites, cookies and tab groups. One of the most anticipated new features of “macOS Sonoma”.
- Open Safari.
- Tap Safari in the menu bar.
- Select Settings.
- Create your personal profile.
Adding Web Applications to the Dock
Another of the most interesting novelties of macOS Sonoma is the ability to include webapps or web applications in the dock. Webapps are Safari web pages that have been converted into applications with their own icon. An ideal way to keep “iPadizate” a little more handy.
- Open Safari.
- Access any website…
- In the menu bar, tap File.
- Select the Add to Dock option.
Voice dictation
With macOS Sonoma it is now possible to use keyboard and voice dictation at the same time. That is, you can keep the voice dictation function active while typing. Therefore, if you need to type and view information, you can proceed to voice dictation by “typing”. Very useful.
- Available under System Settings > Keyboard.
Share passwords with your relatives
We continue with one of the novelties that went unnoticed during the presentation of macOS Sonoma at WWDC23, the option of exchanging passwords between family members. There are many occasions when, as a user, we share several Apple services with other family members, for example, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, iCloud… and even via streaming platforms like Disney+ or Netflix.
With macOS Sonoma it is now possible to share your passwords with family members. The new functionality of the operating system allows you to create a group of trusted contacts to share your passwords and access keys on other devices. For access keys, you can log in with your own Touch ID and Face ID.
- Configure the function under System Settings> Passwords> Share passwords and access keys.
Game mode
Apple has introduced a game mode in macOS Sonoma so that the system prioritizes the full potential of its CPU and GPU to reduce the use of background tasks and allow you to focus on enjoying your “favorite games”.
- macOS Sonoma game mode is automatically activated when you start a full-screen game.
Automatically delete confirmation codes
This novelty of macOS Sonoma, also available in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, offers the possibility that the operating system itself will automatically delete the verification codes that you receive in messages or emails once they have been used.
- Open Safari on your Mac.
- Select Safari from the menu bar.
- Tap Settings.
- Access the Passwords section.
- Go to Password Options.
- Check the Automatically delete checkbox in the Confirmation codes section.
What’s new in news
The news application has received great news in iOS 17 and in iPadOS 17. As it could not be otherwise, many of these new features are also available for macOS Sonoma. Such as improvements in audio messages or voice memos.
In addition to changing the design of the interface and integrating transcription into text, audio messages can now be played at different speeds.
- Press and hold your finger on the play button of an audio message or right-click to change the speed.
Avoid accidental capitalization
If you have ever had a small problem with the Caps Lock key on the keyboard, you will love this novelty from macOS Sonoma. Usually, MacBook laptops show a small green LED indicator when Caps Lock is enabled, but macOS Sonoma also has an indicator on the screen (see the picture) so that YOU DON’T ACCIDENTALLY WRITE LIKE THAT and scare the recipient of the message. A very interesting feature.
These are all the highlights of macOS Sonoma, the latest version of the operating system for Mac. Apple has taken great care to improve every single novelty of its software update, and the results, we must say, are absolutely phenomenal.