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It’s a big day for Mac owners (or at least those with compatible Macs, but we’ll get to that later), as macOS 15 Sequoia will be available as a free upgrade later today.
Apple let us know the macOS 15 release date was September 16 during its iPhone 16 launch event (“Glowtime”), and here we are. So if you’re itching to get started, let’s take a quick look at Sequoia’s highlights before you install the shiny new operating system.
Mirror, mirror, on the desktop…
The biggest feature introduced with macOS Sequoia (at least outside of Apple Intelligence – and we’ll get to that later) is iPhone Mirroring. Obviously, this will only appeal to those invested enough in the Apple ecosystem to have both a Mac and an iPhone, but it’s a seriously cool feature for those folks.
iPhone Mirroring lets you use your smartphone on your Mac desktop, in a compact (resizeable) window. This means you can use iPhone apps on the macOS 15 desktop, respond to text messages, interact with iPhone notifications, and more. There’s even the ability to seamlessly drag and drop files directly between devices (although that’s untested yet, but it’s coming).
In fact, you have almost complete control over your iPhone on the macOS desktop, without ever having to pick up the smartphone itself.
On Safari, storage and more
Apple’s Safari browser is getting some very useful improvements, including a ‘Reader’ mode for a distraction-free experience, and a ‘Viewer’ mode that automatically detects a video playing on a website and places it front and center for easy viewing. Safari is also set to be friendlier to MacBook users by implementing battery-saving measures.
There are also some handy storage tweaks with macOS 15, so you no longer need to (temporarily) have double the space an app requires on your drive in order to install it – a change that has been long overdue. There’s also a new option for large apps, namely installing them to an external drive (albeit with caveats, but still – this is a very welcome addition).
Those who saw the snap layout feature in Windows 11 and were mildly jealous will be happy to hear that similar window positioning features are coming to macOS 15.
Apple is also releasing a new Password app to replace Keychains, and some nice new dynamic wallpapers (including a very clever-looking forest-themed background for Sequoia itself). There are also some major under-the-hood improvements to Game Mode to deliver faster frame rates, Apple tells us – Mac gamers, rejoice.
What we won’t get
As we’ve touched on, there’s one major feature that won’t be present when macOS Sequoia first launches – and that’s Apple Intelligence. As we’ve seen during testing, these AI features have been pushed to a separate branch, namely macOS 15.1 – and that version isn’t due out until October. These Apple Intelligence capabilities will undoubtedly launch alongside new M4-powered Macs, which are rumored to be revealed later in October.
While macOS 15 is a free upgrade, there are people who can’t get the operating system at all – those who don’t have a compatible Mac. We have a list of compatible Macs in our full roundup of everything we know about macOS 15, so head over there to learn more on that front (and more details about the features we’ve touched on here, too).
The good news is that the requirements aren’t all that different from Sonoma’s, but there are still some Macs currently running macOS 14 that won’t be able to upgrade to the latest version when it’s released soon. And one final note: only Macs with an Apple M-series CPU can use Apple Intelligence features in macOS 15.
