Apple Announces macOS 12 Monterey with Universal Control, Focus, SharePlay (and More)

Introducing Universal Control

Probably the coolest feature from macOS Monterey is Universal Control. This feature lets you use one mouse and keyboard seamlessly across two or more Apple devices. That way, you can connect your Mac and your iPad pretty much automatically – just place your iPad next to your Mac computer and they'll connect allowing you to drag and drop items across them, and more.

You can move your cursor from your Mac to your iPad and start controlling your iPad with your Mac's keyboard or mouse. Meaning, you can close apps, switch between apps, and even use keyboard commands.

Like we mentioned before, you can drag and drop files between devices automatically. It works with more than two devices, too, so you can move a file from your iPad to your MacBook and even drag it again to your iMac.

Focus, SharePlay, and Quick Notes Are Coming to Mac

Just like with the iPhone and iPad, Mac computers with macOS Monterey will now have the new features and changes found in FaceTime, Notes, and Focus.

Starting with FaceTime, you'll be able to use features like Spatial Audio to have a better, more realistic listening experience when talking with friends and family in a video call. You can also use SharePlay with FaceTime on Mac – you'll be able to share your app window or watch the same movie or TV show from a streaming service at the same time while FaceTiming.

Shared With You will also be available on Mac. That way, you can easily see what news, songs, and Podcasts your friends or family shared with you via the Messages app.

Quick Notes will be available in Monterey, too. You can open a note to write things quickly, and it'll be automatically stored in the Notes app.

Mac computers will also feature Focus. You'll be able to turn on Focus to customize and minimize notifications in different, specified scenarios. Plus, you'll be able to turn on Focus across all your devices from your Mac.

AirPlay to Your Mac

AirPlay will finally come to Mac, and it'll work just like regular AirPlay – you or a friend will be able to connect an iPhone or iPad to your Mac to share files, view videos, or use your Mac's high-quality speakers to play music from an iPhone.

Shortcuts Are Coming to Mac

In a surprising turn of events, Apple introduced Shortcuts for the Mac. They'll work just like regular Shortcuts on your iPhone or iPad, and you'll be able to design specific shortcuts for your work or personal life. If you're an Automator user, you'll be able to import your shortcuts to the Shortcuts app, too.

Big Changes to Safari

The Safari app for Mac, iPad, and iPhone will feature some new changes as well. First, on Mac and iPad, the Safari app will have a more minimal design with smaller tabs and no other buttons on top. Instead, it'll only feature a More button where you can find things like the Share button or for opening a new tab. On iPhone, the tab bar will appear only when you tap on it, so you'll see more of the web page, and you'll be able to use gestures to switch between your other tabs.

Apple also introduced Tab Groups, which is a new way to store and organize specific tabs on all your devices. That way, you can save the tabs you were using for a trip or for cooking a new recipe. Group tabs will be available across all your devices, and you'll be able to edit them in any device.

Finally, web extensions are coming to iPad and iPhone. Before, you could only have extensions on a Mac, but now developers will be able to move them to the mobile version of Safari. And users will be able to choose on which pages they want to use their extensions as they do on Mac.

macOS 12 Monterey is available in its beta version right now, and the public version will be available this fall.