Back at WWDC 2022 in June, Apple announced macOS 13 Ventura, its newest update to the Mac and the successor to macOS 12 Monterey.
Alongside the M2 chip becoming official, Apple confirmed a public beta that was available to anyone wanting to test out Ventura, and now it's available.
The weather app also moves over to macOS and iPadOS 16.1. There's also a redesigned System Preferences called Settings, a new way of multitasking thanks to Stage Manager, and more.
Fast forward to October, and we had iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16.1, and macOS 13 Ventura available to download from October 24.
macoS 13: Cut to the chase
- What is it? The latest big update for macOS
- When does it come out? October 24 2022
- How much does it cost? It's free
Supported Macs
More Macs are being restricted to older versions of macOS, with Ventura being able to be used on Macs that were released from 2017 onwards.
However, if you have a Mac that supported the new update and you want to try it out, the public beta was first released in July, so you can try it out. Beware though, that as it's not a final release, it will be prone to bugs.
macOS 13 Features
System Preferences finally sees a redesign for the first time on the Mac, renamed Settings and making it easier to find those settings when you need to.
Stage Manager is an evolution of Continuity and multitasking that's also on iPadOS 16, which allows you to sort apps into groups, which can be accessed on the left of the desktop.
You can drag and drop files in a much easier way here too, by going to this sidebar and the app will appear in the center, making it easier for you to drag it into a specific place in the app.
Photos see some improvements, with the ability to use Apple Music in Photo Memories, where you can add a track into one of these albums instead.
Weather and Clock comes to macOS
Apps that have been on iOS since the start, are arriving on macOS Ventura. However, the redesigned Weather app is the focus here, first arriving in iOS 15.
The same app has moved over to Ventura and iPadOS 16, with the same weather animations and useful information that can now be viewed on your Mac.
Alongside this, you can ask Siri to set alarms for the Clocks app, or set one yourself. There's also new widgets for both that you can add to the sidebar in macOS.
Accessibility
Alongside the previously announced features of door detection and live captions in a FaceTime call, Ventura brings some new accessibility features, such as 'buddy controller'. This will allow a user to use multiple controllers as one, making it easier to access the buttons for certain games.
Voice Control also sees improvements in teaching it new words by spelling them out loud. macOS Ventura will listen to this, and store it in its dictionary for future use.
There's also typing out live captions for a FaceTime call, or a third-party conferencing app on the Mac. This can make it easier to help communicate over a call in Ventura.
Inspired by Messages in iOS 16, you can choose to have some emails remind you again in an hour, to help with your workflow.
Scheduled send finally arrives, alongside follow-up replies, mirroring features found in Google's mail service.
Search is also seeing big improvements in Mail, with instant results from one letter being inputted.
Safari
Apple's web browser is seeing its tab groups improved, with Shared Tab Groups enabling your friends and family to view your tabs, or add and remove tabs. This could be useful if you're shopping for a holiday or a keyboard for example.
Passkeys is coming to individual websites and apps, where you can sign in to your password manager using your iPhone on a device that's not yours.
There's also website settings that can sync across your Apple devices, where page zooming and automatic Reader view settings will also show on your iPhone for that specific web page if you choose to.
Freeform
This is a new app that was teased by Apple as launching later this year, where you can brainstorm ideas with other invited users on a blank canvas, which will work across a Mac, an iPad and an iPhone.
You can insert images, PDF files, videos and also preview what you're going to send, to make sure that your content is relevant to the topic at hand.
Gaming
A surprise from Apple, where Metal, its graphics technology for Macs and Apple Silicon, arrives with its third version, with it seeing the arrival of a new feature called MetalFX Upscaling.
This means support for games, such as No Mans Sky, Resident Evil Village, and more that are coming to the Mac in late 2022.
Camera Continuity
Sherlocking an app we spoke of in May, you can use your iPhone as a camera for your Mac in Ventura.
Using an accessory, you can place your iPhone on the top of your Mac, and it will automatically detect the new camera, allowing you to use it with FaceTime.
