MacOS 12, known officially as MacOS Monterey, will be available this fall. This update cycle brings many welcome changes both large and small. Read on to find out what’s new and how it will affect your Mac.

Small Changes

Following the largest MacOS Update since 2001 as well as the pandemic, Apple opted for a small update this year. There are no visual overhauls and a limited amount of new features. Instead, the Cupertino tech giant went for a more subtle update that intends to fix longstanding bugs and make your workflow easier.

To start, MacOS Monterey brings a redesigned Safari tab bar. While the previous bar was often too large, the new tab bar shifts up to the address bar and allows more space for the web content on your display. The new Safari also brings “Tab Groups” to the Mac. Using Tab Groups, you can build different workflows for different environments. You could create a “work” tab group that opens email, google calendar, and google docs, for example. You could also create a “home” group that opens FaceBook, NBC and Pogo for the things you only do at home. This new feature allows you to clean up your startup tabs to narrow them down to just the ones you need- all with one click!

Airplay Options

For years, Mac users have been able to broadcast their screen using Airplay. Now the popular mirroring feature allows you to mirror or project the content from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac. This works great for presentations, but can also be used for music and other audio that you want to hear on a larger set of speakers.

Live Text

Macs will soon include AI recognition of text. When you take a photo of a takeout menu, for example, the Mac knows it is for a restaurant and will turn the title into a clickable link to their website. This also works great for phone numbers, calendars, and much more. Another aspect of this feature is the ability to search for photos by word. For example, searching for the word “Maine” could bring up a photo of the “welcome to Maine” sign from your library.

Big Changes

There are two very big features being added this year. The most notable is universal control. This feature seamlessly integrates your iPad with your Mac. If you want to move files between them or use them simultaneously, all you need to do is place them together. Placing your iPad next to your Mac allows you to use the Mac’s mouse or trackpad to control the iPad and have one continuous workspace.

Privacy

Apple is known for their firm stance on privacy. If you are looking for the most secure and private experience online- the Mac is undoubtedly the best choice. This year, Apple takes it up a notch with iCloud+. If you are a paying subscriber of iCloud storage (which most users are)- your plan will automatically be upgraded to iCloud+ at no additional cost. With iCloud+, you gain access to a lot of neat privacy features that prevent tracking on the internet. You can now get free email masking and IP redirects to prevent trackers from building a profile about your. When no identifying elements are present, internet tracking becomes next to impossible as every search appears almost as if it is from a unique computer in a unique location. Before these features, your IP and email could easily serve as an identifying characteristic for targeted ads or other tracking.

Honorable Mentions

As usual, MacOS Monterey includes dozens of very small changes to the OS. On top of this, Apple is widely known for including hundreds of small tweaks that may never be specifically mentioned. You can read more about Monterey here, and you can try it out for yourself this fall.

For Mac sales and service, as well as this fall’s big update, head to:

Computer Doctor of Maine

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