What's new in macOS 15, Sequoia?

macOS Sequoia brings many new featrues to your Mac, along with some changes to be aware of. Check out Apple's summary for an introduction to the new OS.

Apple Intelligence

One of the most interesting features of Sequoia won't actually be present at launch. Apple Intelligence is Apple's implementation of artificial intelligence tools built into the operating system. Apple has touted the capabilities of their system being deeply paired with user privacy in mind, handling computation locally or through Apple Private Cloud Compute. It will be available for iOS and iPadOS as well - for a deep dive into its capabilities, click here. Some features will become available with macOS Sequoia 15.1 while many others may not launch until 2025.

iPhone Mirroring

Once you upgrade your Mac to Sequoia and your iPhone to iOS 18, you can leverage the iPhone Mirroring app. This will allow you to view the screen of your iPhone on your Mac and interact with it. You can also set your iPhone's notifications to appear in-line with your macOS notifications or drag-and-drop files between devices.

Passwords App

Apple is introducing the Passwords app, a consumer password manager that can be tied to your iCloud Keychain. This will be valuable for individuals who aren't using a company-provided enterprise password manager. The app will be available for Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Windows.

Other Changes

Other features of Sequoia include window tiling, audio transcriptions in the Notes app, improvements to Maps, Messages, and many more apps.

Along with these features come several changes to macOS worth noting:

• There are many new permissions prompts in macOS Sequoia. These include:
  • Network traversal - apps now need your permission to scan for other devices on your local network:
    
  • Ringfencing - apps now need your permission to access data from other apps:
    
  • Screen sharing - Apple has launched updated APIs for screen recording and sharing and you may be prompted monthly to continue granting permission to apps using the legacy screen recording API:
    
    
    
• You can no longer right-click applications to permit unsigned applications to run (applications blocked by GateKeeper). You'll now need to visit System Settings > Privacy & Security and scroll down to the Security section to allow the app to launch:
  
• The Profiles page in System Settings has been renamed to "Device Management" and has moved from Privacy & Security > Profiles to General > Device Management
  
  
• Apple IDs are now being referred to as "Apple Accounts"
  
  
• Window tiling can be managed from System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Windows. This is adjacent to the same area where you can toggle the "Click wallpaper to reveal desktop" setting.
  
• Keychain Access has been moved to /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Keychain Access.app
  
  
• If your Mac can run macOS Sonoma, it can run Sequoia - except for MacBook Air 2018 and MacBook Air 2019 models.