macOS Sonoma, the 14th version, is the latest release of macOS. It is Apple’s operating system for Macintosh computers. This successor to macOS Ventura was released on September 26, 2023, whereas the announced date of it was June 5, 2023, & at WWDC 2023, it was announced. Its naming was done after the wine region located in Sonoma County of California.
MacOS Sonoma is the first version of macOS that needs Retina displays on portable AIO Macs. The reason is that it doesn’t support the 21.5-inch 2017 iMac & the 2017 MacBook Pro. MacOS Sonoma makes working and playing more powerful on the Mac. While it helps to make video calls better, it also helps you to access information in new methods. Besides, it helps to boost gaming performance. In order to personalize your Mac, it helps to find out more ways. June 5, 2023, was the time when the first developer beta was released. After a few days, on July 11, 2023, macOS Sonoma entered public beta.
Current Version Of macOS Sonoma:
Its current version is macOS 14.2.1, which was released on December 19. You should know that macOS 14.2.1 is basically a minor bug fix update without any major new features. This new version comes after macOS Sonoma 14.2, which was also one of the major updates. The macOS Sonoma 14.2 version was released in December. This version came with an improved Autofill for PDFs feature. Also, it offers a catch-up arrow for conversations you have missed in Messages. An option exists that lets you add stickers through the tapback interface.
Release Date Of macOS Sonoma:
All users can get macOS Sonoma after a public release on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.
macOS Sonoma Features:
Screensavers:
- Stunning New Screen Savers:
The slow motion screen saver of mind-blowing scenarios of different places around the world looks amazing on the large Mac display. After logging in, these will turn into your desktop wallpaper.
Widgets on Desktop:
- Add Widgets To Your Desktop:
It is now possible to place widgets from the new widget gallery on the desktop. Playing a podcast, turning off lights, and a lot of other things can be done from a widget.
- Access iPhone Widgets On Mac:
Continuity allows users to add iPhone widgets to the desktop. And the best thing is you don’t need to install the corresponding apps on your Mac.
- Widgets Fade For Better Focus:
If you open a window or an app or you use Stage Manager, widgets will fade into the background. It lets you concentrate on the task you have in hand. As soon as you switch your wallpaper, you will see the colors of the widgets are adapted immediately.
Video Conferencing:
- Put Yourself Front And Centre:
When you want to share your screen, the new Presenter Overlay helps to keep you part of the conversation. Hence, you need to select from two overlays— large and small. The task of keeping the spotlight on you is maintained by the large overlay, and it helps to keep the screen framed next to you on a separate layer. So, you will be capable of moving, walking & talking in front of your content.
- Float Over Your Shared Screen:
With the help of the small overlay, it is possible to appear in a movable bubble over the shared screen. Therefore, it is simple to be seen when you showcase your work. After moving yourself around the screen, you can point to the crucial details.
- React With Your Hands:
You can add a reaction in order to fill the camera frame with fun 3D augmented reality effects. For example, you can use effects such as hearts, confetti, fireworks, and so on. Sharing a reaction is possible with a hand gesture.
- New Screen Sharing Picker:
This feature ensures that you can share one or multiple apps easily, right from your current window, when you are on a video call.
- Stay In Frame:
If you use Studio Display or iPhone as your camera, you are able to control the video’s composition. With zoom and pan controls, you can easily adjust the frame. Or you can place yourself in the frame’s centre using Recentre.
Safari And Passwords:
- Create A Profile:
Now you are capable of keeping the browsing separate for Work and Personal. Therefore, in the Safari browser, you will have different profiles. The profiles are very helpful for separating your history, extensions, tab groups, cookies, and favorites. These let you switch between profiles when you browse.
- Faster And More Relevant Search:
Now, when you search for something in the Safari browser, you will get more responses. It will offer suggestions that are more relevant and simpler-to-read.
- Enhanced Private Browsing:
Private Browsing will lock the private browsing windows when they are not being used; it will completely block known trackers from loading on pages. Moreover, it is capable of removing tracking added to URLs when you browse.
Messages:
- Search Filters:
You only need to combine search filters to find the message you want. Thus, you can narrow your search quickly.
- Catch-up And Swipe To Reply:
With the help of a new catch-up arrow, you are able to jump to the first message that you did not see in the conversation. You can reply to someone by swiping to the right of any message.
- A New Way To Share And View Locations:
The plus button allows you to request the location of your friend or share your location. If one of your friends or someone tries to share their locations with you, you will get to see this directly within your conversation.
- All Your Stickers In One Place:
You can now access Live Stickers & Memoji in a place using the new sticker drawer. As the stickers sync with iCloud, you can get them available on iPhone, iPad & Mac devices.
PDFs and Notes:
- Fill Out Documents Faster With AutoFill:
You can use your saved information securely from Contacts using the Enhanced AutoFill feature. Thus, you can fill out a scanned document or PDF faster.
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- Flip Through A PDF In A Note:
In Notes, you can see a full-width PDF and click between the pages. If you wish, you can even keep more than a PDF in the same note in order to access related documents.
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- Start In Notes & Finish In Pages:
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In order to send work that you have previously started in a note to Pages, you have to click on the Share button. Moreover, you are capable of resizing graphics, customising fonts, including videos, etc, in order to create an excellent document.
Keyboard:
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- Even More Accurate Autocorrect:
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Now, when you type, you can get immense support from the Autocorrect feature. You can see the autocorrected words underlined temporarily. Therefore, you can identify what has been changed in your document. Reverting to the original word is possible with a single tap.
Gaming:
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- Game Mode:
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This mode provides games top priority on the CPU & GPU of your Mac. It decreases usage for background tasks. This mode helps to reduce latency. Also, it helps to improve responsiveness with wireless accessories like AirPods & external controllers, when it doubles the Bluetooth sampling rate. This mode is able to provide a more consistent frame rate. It supports any game that is compatible with macOS.
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- Porting Toolkit:
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Now, you can easily port games from other devices & platforms to MacOS using the porting toolkit with Metal. Developers can see how the games could run on Macs in some days. It helps to convert the game’s shaders and graphics code in order to benefit from Apple silicon. It reduces the total development time that is needed to bring a game over to MacOS from another platform.
Along with macOS Sonoma, the company announced developer tools to port Windows games to macOS. GPTK, or Game Porting Toolkit, is derived from Wine & released in beta. It helps to translate Windows API or application programming interface calls to equivalent macOS APIs. As a result, developers can run unmodified versions of the x86 Windows DirectX games on macOS. Mac users can use the Toolkit feature to run several DirectX 12 games. Apple released a Metal Shader Converter, which is capable of converting shaders to Apple’s Metal graphics API.
Privacy & Security:
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- Communication Safety:
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This feature adds protections for photos & sensitive videos. In order to add content that is sent & received in the system-wide photo picker & 3rd‑party apps, it has extended beyond Messages.
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- Sensitive Content Warning:
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An option exists to blur sensitive images & videos before selecting to see them. You can get this feature in Messages & third-party apps.
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- Lockdown Mode:
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With the help of the expanded Lockdown Mode, security can be increased to protect against cyber criminals. You need to turn it on across all the Apple devices like the Apple Watch.
Other Features:
Accessibility:
With the help of the Personal Voice feature, users with speech loss are able to produce a voice that sounds like them. They can use it thereafter in order to communicate in FaceTime calls with Live Speech and also in in-person conversations. Now, users can connect iPhone hearing devices directly with Mac. Therefore, if you have a hearing disability, then you can take calls easily. Thus, you are able to have conversations more conveniently. You can easily adjust the text size to read comfortably. This option enables you to automatically pause animated images and browse the web. Thus, you can get a new experience to learn how to use Voice Control.
Screen Sharing:
You need to tap into the full power of your Mac, when you work away from it. In the Screen Sharing app, there is a new high-performance mode that can be used to enable remote access over high-bandwidth connections. And to do so, this mode uses the advanced media engine in Apple silicon.
Reminders:
Grocery Lists help to sort items automatically, allowing you to shop more easily. You can change the way items are grouped. The list never forgets your preferences. With the help of the new Column View, sections can be organized into columns across the screen. Thus, it becomes simpler to visualize your tasks.
Mail:
When your trip date comes, you get to see the emails that are related to travel at the top section of your search results. Also, you are capable of adding big emoji to your messages.
Visual Look-Up:
You will be capable of finding recipes for similar dishes from a picture. Moreover, you can look up information on an object that you can see in a paused video frame.
Photos:
When it comes to recognizing your favorite people, the People album does an excellent job. It even includes dogs & cats, which we believe are our family members.
Find My:
You are able to share AirTag or Find My network accessories with a maximum of five people. Each person in the group can view the item on a map. They can also play a sound in order to pinpoint the location of a shared item when nearby.
Home:
Activity History allows you to see who locked or unlocked the door & when. It displays recent activity for contact sensors, garage doors, and your security system.
AirPods:
The available updates to Automatic Switching help you to move between Apple devices with AirPods more quickly. When you are on a call, you can mute or unmute yourself by pressing the stem of your AirPods.
Music:
You can now invite your friends and ask them to join your playlist. Each person is able to add, reorder, and remove songs. Emoji can be used in Now Playing in order to react to the song choices.
Dictation:
You are capable of using the keyboard and dictation together. You can move fluidly between Dictation & typing without stopping dictation.
macOS Sonoma compatibility:
Macs that can run macOS Sonoma are as follows:
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- iMac from 2019 & later
- Mac Pro from 2019 & later
- iMac Pro from 2017
- Mac Studio from 2022 & later
- MacBook Air from 2018 & later
- Mac Mini from 2018 & later
- MacBook Pro from 2018 & later
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When macOS Ventura was released by Apple, the Macs that could run it were:
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- MacBook models from 2017 or later
- MacBook Air models from 2018 or later
- MacBook Pro models from 2017 or later
- Mac mini models from 2018 or later
- iMac models from 2017 or later
- iMac Pro (all models)
- Mac Pro models from 2019 or later
- Mac Studio (all models)
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A Mac can support macOS 14, but can’t run all the new features. A few new features may need Apple chips & will not run on Intel-based Macs.
The Bottom Line:
In this article, we have discussed MacOS Sonoma in detail. Along with mentioning its release date, we have mentioned all the features it offers. Still, if you have any queries or doubts, feel free to ask us via comments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should you update Mac to Sonoma?
macOS Sonoma 14.1.1 is the update that is capable of offering important bug fixes & security updates. It is recommended for all users. However, there are a few features that will not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices.
What is the macOS Sonoma version?
The 14.2.1 version is the latest release of MacOS Sonoma.
Is macOS Sonoma available?
On September 26, 2023, it was released.
