MacOS Sequoia Brings AI, New Gaming Features, and So Much More

Apple's current Continuity features on a Mac computer make it easy to answer text messages without having to pick up your phone while you're working. With macOS Sequoia, you'll soon be able to do way more.

Of course, the headliner at the WWDC keynote on Monday wasn't that you could use your iPhone from your Mac screen but that Apple is going all in on AI with Apple Intelligence, and to that end, the newly announced macOS Sequoia will have all the AI capabilities, followed pretty closely by the fact that with this update, you'll be able to play even more games on your Mac. And we're not talking about App Store games; we're talking about titles from big names like Ubisoft.

The feature I'm most excited about, though, is iPhone Mirroring. This feature lets you use your iPhone from your Mac's screen without ever having to touch the phone. Using iPhone Mirroring—which is an extension of Apple's Continuity capabilities—you can use your keyboard and trackpad or mouse to navigate your iPhone, answer calls, send messages, and even drag and drop between your phone and your computer. You can perform gestures with your trackpad or mouse to swipe between pages or up or down, and it works with Standby. Bonus: while you're using iPhone Mirroring, your iPhone stays locked so others can't access it.

Apple Intelligence is probably a bigger deal for some folks. As with iOS 18, Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into the features of macOS Sequoia. The AI can use contextual clues to take actions across your macOS apps, so it should be able to do things like load information from an email string into a Pages document or generate Genmoji to send via the Messages app.

Of course, an update to macOS wouldn't be a good one without some updates to Safari, and it's getting some big ones. For example, Highlights is coming to Safari. Highlights will summarize information on websites that you visit, it can 'highlight' relevant information on a website to help you quickly find what you need, and it can even provide additional information about media that's streaming through the browser.

Gaming may be the most exciting update for some readers, though. With macOS Sequoia, Apple is diving deeper into gaming. Ubisoft has joined forces with Apple to bring Assassin's Creed Shadows to devices running macOS Sequoia. Other games you'll see include Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, and World of Warcraft: The War Within. These games are expected to use Apple's MetalFX Upscaling to provide great visuals, and some games that will only be available on M3 Macs (Control Ultimate Edition and Wuthering Waves) will also have ray tracing. Personalized Spatial Audio is also expected to improve the gaming experience if you're playing while wearing your iPod Pros (2nd generation).

Productivity updates include new window tiling capabilities, more features in the presenter's view when videoconferencing, and a new Passwords app that will also be available on iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.

Many other AI features will also be available when macOS Sequoia releases in the fall, including Siri updates, AI capabilities in Messages and Mail, and Photos improvementsApple Intelligence. Sequoia will be available on devices running an M1 chip or later.