New features on your MacBook Air
macOS Monterey introduces tools to bring you closer with family, colleagues, and friends, and work more fluidly across all your devices.
The new communication and connection features of macOS Monterey include:
FaceTime: Create a link to set up a FaceTime call for later, share with a group, or add to a Calendar event. A new Grid View makes it easy to see who’s speaking. You can even use a link to invite people on non-Apple devices to join a call using FaceTime on the web. With new Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes, your mic captures only the sounds you want. Keep the focus on you and blur your background with Portrait mode (available on your Mac with Apple silicon). See FaceTime.
SharePlay: Start with a FaceTime session, then share experiences—like watching a movie, listening to music, or sharing your screen to collaborate on a Keynote presentation. You can use SharePlay with the Apple TV app, Music, and any other app whose screen you can share. See Share experiences with SharePlay and FaceTime.
Universal Control: Use a single keyboard, mouse, or trackpad to work between up to three devices (requires macOS version 12.3 or later). The pointer moves seamlessly between devices as you drag and drop content between your Mac and another Mac or your iPad. Universal Control requires macOS version 12.3 or later on your Mac and iPadOS version 15.4 or later on your iPad. See Universal Control.
Messages: View multiple photos in collages or stacks that you can flip through. Pin important content so it gets priority in searches, Shared with You, and conversation details. See Messages.
Shared with You: Content you receive in Messages automatically appears in a new Shared with You section in the corresponding app, so you can enjoy it whenever it’s convenient. Content only appears in Shared with You if the friend who sent it is in your Contacts. Shared with You is featured in the Photos, Safari, News, Podcasts, and TV apps.
AirPlay to Mac: Now you can watch videos, listen to music, and more on your Mac as they’re being played on your other devices. See Use AirPlay on your Mac.
Here are improvements to increase your productivity:
Safari: Safari reimagines the browser, providing a more immersive and personal experience across your devices. Get more space to browse websites, with the new unified tab bar. Easily switch between investigating your next big trip, exploring gift options, and doing essential research with Tab Groups. The new tab bar, extensions, and start page are now available across Mac, iPhone, and iPad, so you get the same Safari everywhere you browse. Other features include improved Intelligent Tracking Prevention and Hide My Email. See Safari.
Focus and Notification Center: When you’re working, having dinner, or just don’t want to be disturbed, Focus can automatically filter your notifications so you see only the ones you want. See Notification Center on your Mac.
Quick Note and Notes: Notes now supports tags (for example, #research)—to help you organize and search your notes—and mentions (@username), so that you can alert collaborators to changes in a shared note. A new Activity view displays a summary of updates since you last viewed a shared note. With Quick Note, you can create a note anywhere on your Mac—in an app or webpage, or even on the desktop. See Notes.
Check out these intelligence and automation features:
Photos, Visual Look Up, and Live Text: There’s newly improved people identification and naming, new features for editing and playing back Memories, and the ability to import photos from a second Photos library. Quickly see photos shared with you in Messages, and respond in Photos. Learn about objects in the photo in Visual Look Up and interact with text using Live Text. See Photos.
Shortcuts: Quickly perform tasks using one or more apps or actions. Create your own shortcuts, or choose from a curated list of shortcuts available in the Gallery and keep your shortcuts synced across all your devices. Run shortcuts with your voice, from the Dock, Menu Bar, Finder, and more. See Shortcuts.
macOS Monterey also provides these new features and enhancements to existing features to improve your productivity and creativity:
Maps: A new design helps you find what you’re looking for and get there sooner. Explore natural features with an interactive 3D globe and discover new city experiences with landmarks, elevation, and more, available on your Mac with Apple silicon. You can filter to see what’s open now and save your favorite places and transit lines for later. Nearby transit information and new driving maps will help you plan where you’re going and get there quicker. See Maps.
Apple ID: Add your Memoji to your Apple ID account. Set up a contact and PIN to help you recover your account if you get locked out, and designate someone to help manage your digital legacy after your death. See Apple ID on Mac.
iCloud : This premium subscription service gives you more iCloud storage for your photos and files, plus additional features such as Private Relay (beta), Hide My Email, and HomeKit Secure Video support. iCloud availability varies by country or region. See Access your iCloud content on your Mac.
Accessibility: Updates to VoiceOver include the ability to add image descriptions with Markup, PDF signature descriptions, improved keyboard access, custom mouse pointers, and new accessibility Memoji to better reflect your appearance. See Accessibility on your Mac.
App Store and Games: The new multiplayer friend selector makes it easy to invite your recent Messages friends and groups to play Game Center-enabled games. Games you download from the App Store now appear automatically in the new Games folder in Launchpad, so they’re always easy to access, even with a game controller See App Store.
Books: Explore new features like Reading Goals, Want to Read, and Reading Now, previously available only on iOS. Find books quicker with search results that come up as soon as you start typing. Enjoy personalized recommendations for books, audiobooks, and genre collections in your search results and buy directly from the Search tab. See Books.
Finder improvements: An enhanced “go to folder” window features a new look and improved autocompletion engine to help you get to the files or folder you’re looking for more quickly. Run shortcuts from the menu bar and the Quick Actions menu. A new collaboration folder in the sidebar contains all shared documents, and displays sharing-related metadata. As you move windows from your Mac to a secondary display, the windows resize to fit the new display. See The Finder on your Mac.
Find My: Share your location with family and friends. With Separation Alerts, get notified on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch if you leave your Mac with Apple silicon behind. See Find My.
Hello screen saver and desktop picture: The Hello screen saver writes “hello” on the screen in 34 languages using fresh animation and a font inspired by the original Mac. You can also use a Hello desktop picture available in several colors with light, dark, or dynamic options. Set these in the Desktop & Screen Saver pane of System Preferences
.Passwords: Look up and manage your saved passwords for apps and websites in the new Passwords pane in System Preferences. Import passwords from other password managers, then use AutoFill when signing in to apps and websites.
Reminders: Use tags and Custom Smart Lists to organize and filter reminders. Other improvements include reminder deletion, enhanced natural language, and expanded suggestions. See Reminders.
Split View/Window Management: Manage multiple open windows efficiently with new options for Split View and full-screen view. In Split View, click the green button in the top-left corner of a window to swap apps or go to full screen (both apps in Split View go to full screen). And in full-screen view, you can keep the menu bar visible if you prefer. See Window management on your Mac.
Translation: Translate text in Safari, Mail, Pages, Preview, and other apps. You can replace selected text with the translation, switch between languages, and more. With Live Text, you can even translate selected text in photos. Translation is available system-wide and in some third-party apps. Not all languages are available. See Translate on Mac in the macOS User Guide.