Your Apple MacBook is getting a free upgrade — here are the best features of MacOS 15

Apple previewed MacOS 15 Sequoia this week at WWDC, introduces an operating system enhancement for MacBook and iMac centered around AI integration. This year’s WWDC is definitely about artificial intelligence. It’s not surprising because Apple took the time to discuss its plans to integrate AI across its products. Now that it’s here, we have a better picture of its approach, which looks good.

Also: How to install MacOS 15 Sequoia developer beta to test the latest Mac features

New AI features coming to Siri, Safari, and the new Continuity app help streamline your iPhone and Mac usage. But that’s not all AI is. There are also quite a few quality-of-life design improvements and security updates launching with MacOS 15.

After this week’s preview, beta testing of MacOS 15 will begin immediately and will continue over the next few months, with a public launch in the fall of 2024. That test will be available soon than you might think, so let’s take a look at the biggest features just announced.

1. Apple Intelligence

The past few months have been filled with flashy announcements from OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, but Apple had the last word, reclaiming the acronym with a clever take on its new name. Apple is smart. So what is it? It refers to the overarching AI ecosystem that will come to MacOS 15, as well as the iPhone and iPad; The tool supports all new AI functionality across all its applications.

The Apple Intelligence ecosystem is driven by partnerships with OpenAIallowing Apple to leverage the massive LLM that has been developed thanks to OpenAI’s huge success with ChatGPT, along with the company’s goal of competing with Google by entering the search market.

Also: What is ‘Apple Intelligence’: How it works with on-device and cloud-based AI

However, Apple’s approach to AI is markedly different from its competitors. Instead of positioning new AI features as integral aspects of their products, Apple allows users to opt in, making the choice to adopt immediately. AI features are also clearly identified as being in beta, emphasizing their work-in-progress nature.

This allows Apple to escape the chaos race to some extent, positioning itself as a more careful, ethical actor when it comes to AI, especially in the context of Security concerns have weakened recently from Microsoft’s Recall feature, which is delaying the release of a range of new products Co-pilot + PC.

2. Continuity

The new Continuity app links your Mac to your iPhone in a completely comprehensive way, essentially allowing you to remotely control your iPhone directly through your laptop. The demo at WWDC showed off the iPhone mirroring feature to pull up the iPhone’s home screen, interacting with multiple apps using the laptop’s trackpad and keyboard.

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The app also streamlines your devices by bringing your iPhone’s notifications straight to your Mac, allowing you to pull the corresponding app onto your laptop. If you’re worried about privacy when using your phone on your laptop, your phone’s screen actually remains locked and turned off, even when you’re using your phone remotely.

Additionally, the new standby mode on iPhone shows a quick (but non-interactive) bunch of data like the clock and calendar while you’re using the Continuity app on your Mac.

3. Siri 2.0

Apple has been playing the long game when it comes to its virtual assistant Siri. One of the first apps to gain public adoption, Siri has been around for a long time – since 2011 – although over the past few years it has taken a backseat to flashier AI assistants. However, Apple’s technology in this area provides a solid foundation for expansion, and the new and improved Siri is full of new AI features.

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During the WWDC keynote, Apple introduced Siri’s new look as an ever-present AI assistant integrated into every thread of the user interface rather than a standalone app. Siri will have access to ChatGPT’s LLM, allowing the AI ​​to readily communicate in a more natural context, tracking previous conversations and messages rather than providing full context in each prompt.

The new Siri also comes with on-screen awareness, allowing the AI ​​to respond to what you’re viewing on the screen without requiring the user to provide specific context with each prompt. This also allows Siri to perform in-app actions in ways that were not possible before. In MacOS Sequoia, Siri’s integration with OpenAI’s LLM will propel virtual assistants to become leading players in the field along with ChatGPT-4o And Google’s Gemini.

4. AI-powered productivity apps

Apple Intelligence has been integrated across all major productivity apps in MacOS 15. Here’s a breakdown of some of the most notable features.

• Keynote, numbers and pages: Apple’s core suite of productivity apps is seeing a series of AI-integrated upgrades on both the creative and performance sides. Keynote will let users tap AI to automatically create slides, and Pages will come with new AI-powered text creation prompts.
• Letters: Apple Intelligence will take a more active role in finding specific emails, responding to them, deleting them, and organizing your inbox, from summarizing emails to suggesting replies and rewrites. One of the more useful features includes a summary feature, which harnesses AI to present summaries of emails in the inbox view, rather than just displaying the first few lines of the email. , which is generally not useful for summarizing email content. email is about.
• Calendar: Besides integration with the Reminders app, the new Calendar app will support AI.
• Image: AI-based photo editing features in the Photos app allow users to retouch, remove background, and retouch instantly. Additionally, natural language searches for specific photos and videos will turn up images of specific people or events.
• Note: Voice functionality is coming to the Notes app, with the ability to add embedded voice memos directly into your notes. AI will also assist in transcribing audio and transcribing audio recordings. You can record and transcribe audio, and when your recording is finished, the AI ​​will automatically create a summary.

5. New and improved Safari

Safari will see a series of improvements powered by AI functionality, including a “Smart Search” option that harnesses on-device AI to summarize search results in the browser in Mac OS Sequoia. In line with Apple’s emphasis on security, Safari updates include intelligent tracking prevention that limits what websites can track, while emphasizing the efficiency and speed of the app. Use Safari.

Also: ChatGPT Privacy Tip: Two important ways to limit the data you share with OpenAI

Apple introduced Safari’s machine learning capabilities to automatically detect relevant information on websites, including things like quick links, directions, and quick summaries along with logistical information like phone numbers and addresses. only.

6. Standalone Password App

Consistent with Apple’s positioning of its AI features as secure and trustworthy, the company is releasing an all-new and updated Passwords app in MacOS 15 that aims to unify and streamline your passwords. you on your Apple devices.

Also: Forget LastPass: Apple launches ‘Passwords’ management app at WWDC 2024

This standalone app is an extension of the existing iCloud Keychain and seeks to simplify password storage by using Face ID and Touch ID along with character string passwords. Much of it is designed to work automatically and seamlessly in an effort to solve a UX headache that everyone has experienced at one time or another.

7. Play games

Apple wants to create a “unified gaming platform” across iPhone, iPad and Mac, with high resolution and improved ray tracing. Apple highlights the large number of new titles available on Apple silicon chips, and they look better than ever. Frostpunk 2, Control and UbiSoft include ray tracing, and Assasin’s Creed, will be available on Apple devices later this year.