In the WWDC 2024 Keynote address, Apple announced the next version of the macOS will be called Sequioa and will come with a number of new features and Apple’s answer to AI - Apple Intelligence. This is what we know so far.

In Brief

Apple is planning major AI overhauls of all its operating systems including macOS 15 Sequoia with AI features coming to applications like Music, Photos, Notes, Messages, Mail, and more, along with new AI-powered intelligence for Siri and Spotlight.

Which Macs Will Support macOS Sequoia?

According to Apple, the list is as follows…

• MacBook Pro: 2018 and later

• MacBook Air: 2020 and later

• Mac mini: 2018 and later

• iMac: 2019 and later

• iMac Pro: 2017

• Mac Studio: 2022 and later

• Mac Pro: 2019 and later

In essence, it would appear if a Mac computer is supported to run macOS Sonoma, then it is expected to run macOS Sequoia.

But there are some caveats. For example, the ‘Apple Intelligence’ suite of AI features will require an Apple silicon Mac with an M1 chip or newer. The new AI features can help you write faster, categorize mail, prioritize notifications, and more. A smarter version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence will also be limited to Macs with an M1 chip or newer.

Interestingly, iPhone Mirroring will be available on both Apple silicon Macs and Intel-based Macs with the T2 security chip, letting you control your iPhone from your Mac's screen.

When Will macOS 15 Sequoia Be Available?

Registered developers can already access beta versions; public beta versions are expected in July, with the public release happening in September.

Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence is being presented as “the personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that’s incredibly useful and relevant.”

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO said…

“We’re thrilled to introduce a new chapter in Apple innovation. Apple Intelligence will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users. Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence. And it can access that information in a completely private and secure way to help users do the things that matter most to them. This is AI as only Apple can deliver it, and we can’t wait for users to experience what it can do.”

Apple Intelligence has been designed to enable users to rewrite, proofread, and summarise text nearly everywhere they write, including mail, notes, pages, and third-party apps. Apple says…

“Whether tidying up class notes, ensuring a blog post reads just right, or making sure an email is perfectly crafted, Writing Tools help users feel more confident in their writing. With Rewrite, Apple Intelligence allows users to choose from different versions of what they have written, adjusting the tone to suit the audience and task at hand. From finessing a cover letter, to adding humour and creativity to a party invitation, Rewrite helps deliver the right words to meet the occasion. Proofread checks grammar, word choice, and sentence structure while also suggesting edits — along with explanations of the edits — that users can review or quickly accept. With Summarise, users can select text and have it recapped in the form of a digestible paragraph, bulleted key points, a table, or a list.”

Apple Mail

Apple Mail in macOS Sequoia is being designed to make it easier for users to stay on top of emails. With Priority Messages, a new section at the top of the inbox shows the most urgent emails. Across your inbox, instead of previewing the first few lines of each email, you will now see summaries without needing to open a message. When viewing longer email threads, you will be able to see key details with just a tap. Smart Reply will provide suggestions to help produce a quick response, and will help you to identify questions in an email that you will need to answer.

Control Your Locked Phone From Your Mac Desktop

With macOS, Sequoia, Apple intends to make Continuity even more helpful with iPhone Mirroring, which allows you to fully access and engage with your iPhone from your Mac’s desktop. You will see your custom wallpaper and icons appear just like they are on your iPhone. You will be able to swipe between pages on your iPhone’s Home Screen, or launch and browse any of your phone’s apps.

The keyboard, trackpad, and mouse on your Mac will interact with your iPhone, and phone audio even come through your Mac speakers. You will be able to drag and drop between your iPhone and Mac, all whilst your iPhone remains locked, so nobody else can access or see what the user is doing. All of this will also work when you are in StandBy and you will be able to review and respond to iPhone notifications using your Mac.

Safari

With macOS Sequoia, Safari will offer Highlights, designed to be an even easier way to discover information on the web, such as directions, summaries, or quick links to help you to learn more about people, music, movies, and TV shows.

A redesigned Reader will include even more ways to help you to enjoy articles without distractions, including a streamlined view of the article you are reading, a summary, and a table of contents for longer articles.

When Safari detects a video on the page, Viewer is designed to help you put it front and centre while still giving you full access to system playback controls, including Picture in Picture.

New Passwords App

Built on the foundation of Keychain, introduced over 25 years ago, macOS Sequoia will introduce Passwords, a new app that is designed to make it easier to access passwords, passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords, and other credentials all in one place. iCloud syncing is backed by secure end-to-end encryption. Passwords will work with Apple apps like Safari and is designed to seamlessly sync between a user’s Apple devices and Windows with the iCloud for Windows app.

Privacy

With Private Cloud Compute, Apple aims to set a new standard for privacy in AI, with the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers as we covered in our article Apple's AI Strategy - Why Does It Matter For Professional Creatives? When requests are routed to Private Cloud Compute, Apple states that data is not stored or made accessible to Apple and is only used to fulfil the user’s requests. Apple says that independent experts can verify this privacy promise.

System Settings App Gets A Refresh

• Apple ID to Apple Account - In the System Settings app, while macOS Sonoma showed the user's name then the words "Apple ID," in macOS Sequoia it will show "Apple Account."

• Sidebar Shuffle - Apple has reordered the positioning of items in the sidebar. It will take some getting used to for those accustomed to find things in Sonoma, but everything's still there. For example, the network and connectivity group remain at the top, joined by Energy Saver and a broken-out VPN section.

• The Notifications, Sound, Focus, and Screen Time block is now further down the listings, but still grouped together. Whereas, General, Appearance, Accessibility, and Control Center shift up in place and are joined by Desktop & Dock, Displays, Screen Saver, and Wallpaper segments, with the Notifications block following on.

• Privacy & Security drop down to join other related items, including Lock Screen, Login Password, and Users & Groups. Siri & Spotlight join Internet Accounts, Game Center, and Wallet & Apple Pay in separate Siri and Spotlight sections.

• The peripherals section, which includes Keyboards, Mice, Trackpads, Game Controllers, and Printers and scanners, is now at the bottom.

You won’t find Passwords here now, as Apple has created a dedicated app (see above).

Other Features Coming In macOS Sequoia

• Messages will come with updates to the ways users express themselves and stay connected, including all-new text effects, emoji and sticker Tapbacks, and the ability to schedule a message to send later.

• Apple Maps is introducing even more ways to explore the world, including curated hikes and custom walking routes. Beginning this autumn, users can browse thousands of hikes across all 63 national parks in the United States, filtered by length, elevation, and route type, and save them to use while offline.

• Photos will come with Collections, which automatically organises a user’s library by helpful themes, includes a big update to search, so users can get results quickly and lets users create the stories they want to see just by typing a description. Apple Intelligence can pick out the best photos and videos based on the description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc. In addition, a new Clean Up tool can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo — without accidentally altering the subject.

• Note taking in Notes is getting smarter, making it easier than ever to take detailed and well-written notes. New audio transcription and summarisation features with Apple Intelligence enable a device to take notes for the user, letting them stay present in a situation where they need to capture details about what’s happening. And if they need to quickly crunch a number, they can just type in an equation to have it solved automatically in their note body.

• An updated Calculator app lets users see previous calculations with history, and gives them the ability to see their expressions as they type.

• Calendar shows events and tasks from Reminders, making it easy to see, edit, or complete tasks throughout the day. An updated Month View makes it easier to see events and reminders for an entire month at a glance.

• With Window Tiling, when a user drags a window to the edge of the screen, macOS Sequoia automatically suggests a tiled position on their desktop and new keyboard and menu shortcuts help users organise tiles even faster.

• When Gaming, Personalized Spatial Audio will put players in the middle of the action like never before, while significantly reduced audio latency with AirPods Pro (2nd generation) provides even better responsiveness.

• With Video Conferencing, the new presenter preview will make it easier to present, letting users see what they’re about to share before they share it, and works with apps like FaceTime and Zoom. Background replacements can be applied during a video call in FaceTime or in third-party apps like Webex.