Apple’s macOS 13 Ventura with New Stage Manager Tool Announced at WWDC

Apple unveiled a new version of macOS at its Worldwide Developers Conference. The new operating system, macOS Venturaincludes a new Stage Manager tool, updates to Spotlight, Mail, and Safari, and other continuity features that bring the operating system closer to iOS.

Enabled from Control Center, the utility automatically organizes your open windows on the left side of your screen, centering the window you’re working in. Users can also group windows to easily open more than one at a time.

Spotlight also comes with new updates: it can now find and search for images in your photo library by location, people, scenes, objects, or recorded text (via the Live Text feature). You can also take actions from Spotlight (start a timer, run a shortcut). Spotlight has also been added to the bottom of the iOS home screen.

Search in the Mail app has undergone changes, including more complete examples, direct suggestions, and typos. You can also now schedule and undo emails in the app, set reminders to return to messages in the future and receive follow-up suggestions, and Mail also intelligently detects if items like an attachment or cced recipient are missing from their message. ”

Safari has a new Tab Groups feature, which allows users to see in real time which tabs their friends are viewing – you can collaborate on bookmarked lists and initiate conversations or calls directly from the browser. It also supports biometric “Passkeys” as a replacement for traditional passwords on multiple supported platforms. (Apple, Google, and Microsoft all committed to supporting passwordless logins across all their mobile, desktop, and browser platforms earlier this month.)

Messages now includes the ability to edit and delete messages, mark them as unread, and recover them if they are accidentally deleted. There are other features in the new app that make it easier to collaborate on files in group chats and participate in SharePlay sessions.

The operating system also gives users the ability to “drop off” FaceTime calls between iPhones and Macs and allows users to effectively use the iPhone’s (probably much better) camera as a webcam rather than the one on their Apple computer. . Macs automatically recognize and use the iPhone camera when it’s nearby, without the user having to manually connect the two. Continuity Camera offers support for Apple’s Center Stage and Portrait Mode, as well as a new Studio Light feature that can illuminate a subject’s face and dim the background. The camera can also tap an iPhone’s ultra-wide camera for Desk View, which simultaneously shows a user’s face and a view of their desk.

iCloud users can now create and share a photo library with up to six family members, which can be organized by a selected date or photo topics. macOS offers “intelligent suggestions” for photos to share, and shared users can add, delete, edit, and favorite the included items.

Apple also announced Metal 3, which, according to the keynote, will “unleash the full potential of Apple Silicon for years to come.” It includes features such as MetalFX Upscaling, which allows “developers to quickly render complex scenes by using less compute-intensive frames”, and Fast Resource Loading API, which provides a “more direct path from storage to the GPU” for shorter latencies. New titles coming to Mac include: Resident Evil Village and GRID Legendswhile No Man’s Sky coming to both Mac and iPad later this year.

Other new features include new recognition capabilities for Visual Look Up, Weather, and Clock apps for Mac, accessibility tools including Live Captions for all audio content, and Type to Speak on calls, a redesigned System Preferences app (now known as System Settings) and new security tools, including Rapid Security Response.

Apple has long had a goal of bringing macOS closer to its mobile counterparts, a process that continues with this update. The past few macOS releases have brought key iOS features (including Focus and Shortcuts), as well as design elements of the icons, windows, and menus, to the Mac. This overhaul, presumably, will continue to universalize the Apple enthusiast’s experience across all devices, especially when combined with new continuity-focused features like Universal Control.