Apple has introduced the next version of macOS, called Sonoma, bringing Widgets to the desktop among other productivity features.
Apple has introduced macOS Sonoma at WWDC 2023, the next version of macOS that will come to existing Mac models. macOS Sonoma will add new features like animated screensavers and widgets on the desktop, along with gaming and productivity improvements.
Animated screensavers are fairly straightforward. Basically, your Mac will display animated screensavers when you’re not using it, including videos of real-life locations. When you login, the animated screensaver smoothly transitions into a static desktop background.
The bigger news starts with widgets on the desktop. Previously only available in the Activity Center, you can now pin widgets to the desktop and move them around wherever you like on the screen. Widgets can be added by right-clicking the desktop background. Apple is also making it so that widgets blend into the background when you need to focus on something else. Widgets become more transparent and the colors blend with your desktop background so they’re less distracting while you have an app open.
You can also use iPhone widgets on your desktop thanks to Continuity, and widgets are interactive, so you can check off items in a to-do list, for example.
Next up, Apple os focusing on gaming, an area where Macs typically struggle. The company is adding a new Game Mode, which prioritizes CPU and GPU usage to games to ensure no frames are dropped. Additionally, this mode reduces latency for Bluetooth audio and for console controllers, so you can react to the game more quickly.
Perhaps even more important, Apple is also introducing the Game Porting Toolkit, which will make it easier to bring games over from other platforms. Apple says you can reduce months of work down to just days, which could be just want macOS needs to gain a foothold in the gaming market. The company also brought Hideo Kojima to the show, announcing that Death Stranding: Director’s Cut is coming to macOS.
Moving on to productivity, Apple announced some improvements to video conferencing, mainly focused on video effects for the webcam, which can be used with any video calling app. A major addition is the Presenter Overlay, which can overlay your own video feed over your screen when you’re sharing it. There’s also a new Reactions video effect that displays reactions on your video feed based on certain gestures, like putting two thumbs up to trigger fireworks.
Finally, Safari is also receiving a few updates. First off, Safari is introducing the ability to lock a browser window, so pages are blocked from loading trackers and the browser removes URL trackers. Another big new feature is Passkeys, which make it easier to share passwords with other users, such as family members.
Safari is also introducing support for profiles, so you can separate search and browser history, as well as cookies, separate for each user on the computer. Finally, Safari is adding support for web apps, and making it possible to install apps for basically any website you visit in Safari.
Apple also mentioned a few smaller updates in macOS Sonoma, which include a new high-performance mode in Screen Sharing, reducing audio and video latency. There are a few accessibility features, too, including support for Made for iPhone hearing devices for users with hearing impairments, or Live Speech adds the ability to type and have your words spoken. Voice Control also now displays suggestions when dictating and editing text, and it’s possible to use Xcode with VoiceOver.
Other enhancements include improved PDF support, allowing you to fill in text fields in PDF files, including documents scanned with a camera, as well as adding PDFs inline inside Notes. Apple has also added a new autocorrect with more accurate corrections that are easier to fix if needed. Dictation has also been improved. Messages also now have a new stickers experience among other improvements.
macOS Sonoma is looking to be a pretty interesting update in more than one way, and it should be available this fall. It’ll be interesting how today’s announcements can change the perception of gaming on Mac.