What’s new on macOS Sonoma: Features, compatibility, and more
macOS Sonoma is the latest version of the macOS operating system, released in September 2023. It is available as a free update for all eligible Macs.
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Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn commission from qualifying purchases or subscriptions through my links in this content.macOS Sonoma brings a number of new features and improvements, including:
- Game Mode: A new Game Mode that boosts performance and reduces latency for games.
- Communication Safety: New features to help protect children from inappropriate content and online predators.
- Privacy and Security: Enhanced privacy and security features, including a new photo picker that lets you share photos without sharing your entire library.
- Accessibility: New accessibility features, including Live Speech, which lets you type what you want to say and reads it aloud.
- Other new features: Other new features include the ability to collaborate on playlists in Music, new stickers for Memoji, and faster video encoding.
macOS Sonoma Compatibility
macOS Sonoma is compatible with all Macs that are running macOS Monterey or later. This includes the following devices:
- iMac (2019 and later)
- Mac Pro (2019 and later)
- iMac Pro (2017)
- Mac Studio (2022 and later)
- MacBook Air (2018 and later)
- Mac mini (2018 and later)
- MacBook Pro (2016 and later)
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macOS Sonoma Features
Here is a more detailed look at some of the new features in macOS Sonoma:
Game Mode
Game Mode is a new feature that boosts performance and reduces latency for games. It does this by prioritizing CPU and GPU resources for games, and by reducing the amount of background activity on your Mac.
To enable Game Mode, open System Preferences and go to Displays. Then, click the Game Mode tab and check the box next to Enable Game Mode.
Communication Safety
Communication Safety is a new set of features that help protect children from inappropriate content and online predators. These features include:
- Sensitive Content Warning: This feature blurs photos and videos that contain nudity, allowing you to choose whether you want to see them.
- Expanding protections for children: This feature uses machine learning to identify and filter out inappropriate messages in Messages.
To enable Communication Safety, open System Preferences and go to Screen Time. Then, click the Communication Safety tab and turn on the features you want to use.
Privacy and Security
macOS Sonoma includes a number of enhanced privacy and security features, including:
- Photos privacy prompt improvements: This feature makes it easier to control who can see your photos. When you share a photo from an app, you will now see a prompt that shows you who the app wants to share the photo with. You can then choose to allow the app to share the photo, or you can cancel the sharing process.
- An embedded photo picker for apps: This feature lets you pick photos to share within an app’s experience, without sharing your entire library.
Accessibility
macOS Sonoma includes a number of new accessibility features, including:
- Live Speech: This feature lets you type what you want to say and reads it aloud in FaceTime calls or in-person conversations.
- Personal Voice: This feature helps users at risk of speech loss create a voice that sounds like them in a private and secure way using on-device machine learning.
To enable Live Speech, open System Preferences and go to Accessibility. Then, click the Live Speech tab and turn on the feature.
To enable Personal Voice, open System Preferences and go to Accessibility. Then, click the Personal Voice tab and turn on the feature.
Other new features
Other new features in macOS Sonoma include:
- Collaborate on playlists in Music: You can now invite friends to join your playlists in Music, and everyone can add, reorder, and remove songs.
- Favorite Songs playlist: This new playlist automatically includes your favorite songs.
- New stickers for Memoji: Three new stickers are available for Memoji: Smirk, Angel Halo, and Peekaboo.
- Faster video encoding: Encode video faster in Final Cut Pro, Compressor, and third-party video applications on Mac computers using M1 Ultra or M2 Ultra.
How to get macOS Sonoma
To get macOS Sonoma, open System Preferences and go to Software Update. Then, click the Update Now button. If Software Update says that your Mac is up to date, then no new software is currently available for your Mac model. Software Update shows only software that is compatible with your Mac.
To conclude, macOS Sonoma is a significant update that brings a number of new features and improvements to the Mac. If you have a compatible Mac, I recommend updating to macOS Sonoma as soon as possible
