My favorite macOS Sequoia feature just got better and I’m super excited
macOS Sequoia is expected to be fully released later this year. While we wait, Apple has released the public beta to give us a taste of what to expect (and to test out all the new features, of course).
Ever since I downloaded the Sequoia public beta, I’ve been playing with iPhone Mirroring, which has quickly become one of my favorite Mac features. With the release of the fourth beta this week, it just got better with one small but important change: the ability to resize the app window.
If you missed WWDC 2024 and aren’t sure how this feature works, imagine a small window the size of your iPhone’s screen appearing on your Mac’s desktop, allowing you to use your phone without picking it up.
The iPhone Mirroring app lets you scroll through all of your phone’s apps, respond to text messages, take a sneaky peek at social media, and even play a quick game of Candy Crush — all without unlocking your smartphone. The feature is only active when your phone is near your Mac and your phone screen is locked. After using iPhone Mirroring for a while, I don’t know how I ever lived without it.
One more improvement to go, Apple!
As mentioned, the fourth beta of macOS Sequoia lets you resize the window. This was one of the first things I tried when I first started iPhone Mirroring. I was quite surprised that Apple didn’t give us the option to resize the window, but I was hoping that would change relatively soon.
Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long. Now you can make the window as big or small as you want, and thus control how much screen space it takes up on your Mac desktop.
There are three preset sizes to choose from, the first is the default size that reflects the size of your iPhone screen, and then there is a smaller and larger version. There is no option to drag the window to a custom size, so you will have to use the preset window sizes from the Views menu.
Although it’s a little disappointing that you can’t really Adjusting the size of the iPhone Mirroring window (to make it really tiny so your editors don’t catch you scrolling through Reddit, for example) is still better than no adjustment at all. As we get closer to macOS Sequoia’s official launch date, I suspect we’ll see more changes and improvements as Apple irons out the kinks.
I’m still waiting for the drag-and-drop feature that Apple showed off in its iPhone Mirroring demo at WWDC 2024, which lets you drag a file from your Mac and drop it directly onto your iPhone. But if we’re only just getting resizing options, this more powerful capability could be a while off.
Until then, I’ll continue using iPhone Mirroring in beta and eagerly await the official release of macOS Sequoia later in 2024.
