Every year in June, Apple reveals details of the upcoming major update to its various operating systems. Apple shares tons of information with the developers of WWDC (its World Developers Conference) and the rest of us can find out what new software features will come to Macs, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and everything else.
So we won’t know exactly what new features will come to Macs until Apple unveils them at the WWDC presentation, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make some predictions based on the features that are still missing in macOS 12 Monterey. In this article, we will talk about the most plausible rumors and the most desired new features that could come to macOS 13.
macOS 13: Release Date
While Apple will discuss the features that will arrive in the next version of macOS during the WWDC 2022 master conference on June 6 at 10:00 PT. The software will not be released to the public until much later in the year.
Once Apple previews the new operating system, there will be a beta program in which developers and public beta testers can sign up (here’s how to participate in Apple’s beta program). The beta for developers is likely to be available shortly after launch, while the public beta is likely to arrive in July.
The final version of macOS 13 is likely to arrive in late October or early November. In 2021, macOS Monterey arrived on Monday, October 25th, so expect a similar time period for macOS 13.
macOS 13: Nom
Apple is likely to keep the tradition of giving each version of macOS a name in addition to a version number. This time, the version number will be 13 (bad luck for some, but that didn’t stop Apple from calling the iPhone 2021 the iPhone 13). As for the name, we assume it will be named after a California landmark or area, as has been the tradition since Mavericks was launched in 2013. Before that, big cats were used as names for Apple Mac Operating Systems
9to5Mac discovered that a company called Yosemite Research LLC had the rights to name computer systems to extend to the term “Mammoth”. You can assume that this means that Apple cannot use this name, but this company has already acquired other naming rights and transferred them to Apple. Yosemite Research LLC also acquired the rights to the “Monterey” and “Redwood” names for computer systems, but has no longer extended the rights to the latter. Maybe Yosemite Research LLC is really Apple …
The term “Mammoth” means “Mammoth Lakes,” a winter sports resort on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. So it could be that the next macOS will be named, which can be seen to mean that it is a big update. However, while Mammoth can mean huge, the name can also be joked about macOS as an extinct operating system, so we’re not convinced that Apple uses the name.
macOS 13: Compatibility
Apple had already done most of the work to adapt macOS to M1 chips before the release of the first Macs with Apple Silicon in 2020. However, chip development at Apple does not stop: Apple developers will continue to adapt and optimize the operating system and programming. interfaces for the next generation of processors.
But not only the M1 and M2 generations of Apple chips will need to support macOS 13. Apple will also need to continue to support Intel processors and make sure they can handle the next macOS.
Here’s an overview of Macs that can run Monterey:
- 2016 or later MacBook models
- 2015 or later MacBook Air models
- 2015 or later MacBook Pro models
- Mac mini models starting in the fall of 2014 or later
- IMac models starting in the fall of 2015 or later
- iMac Pro (all models)
- Mac Pro models from 2013 or later
- Mac Studio (all models)
There’s no reason to assume that these Macs won’t be compatible with the next macOS, especially since the 2014 Mac mini was sold until 2018 and the Mac Pro from 2013 to 2019. With that in mind, Apple can’t remove these Mac. from the list when people might have bought the model so recently. However, even if these Macs are supported, you can expect them not to support some of the new features, as was the case with macOS Monterey.
macOS 13: wish list and rumors
If you look at the innovations that macOS Monterey has brought, you’ll notice that the new features of FaceTime, Messages and the Shortcuts app have been borrowed from the iPad and iPhone. In recent years we could look for iOS and iPadOS clues about other features that could reach the Mac. However, there are not many more possibilities to align macOS applications with iPad and iOS: most of the work has already been done.
Any further application development that can be found on all three platforms will likely be done in parallel. For example, SharePlay is a new feature shared by macOS Monterey, iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. Live text and visual search were shared with all three OS. Changes to FaceTime and Safari reached all three operating systems in 2021.
However, we can make some predictions about the features that could come to macOS later in 2022, based on the best features of iOS and iPadOS that are not yet on the Mac, and inspired by our own wish list of software features that we would like. our Macs.
Interface and design
The look of macOS Big Sur was significantly different compared to previous versions, so it was not surprising that the visual differences in macOS Monterey were small. Nor do we believe that there will be more fundamental changes in the design of the user interface in 2022.
One of the reasons we believe that Apple can avoid making too big a change to the interface is that when Apple tried to make a fundamental change in the design of Safari on macOS Monterey (and iOS 15) there was a shout, the which meant that I had to re-make the old version as the default and the new one just an option. As a result, we don’t expect any major changes to other applications that will greatly change the usual operation, but there may also be new options for other Apple programs to tailor the interface to your wishes.
Launchpad is in the app library
One feature that Apple might borrow from iOS and iPadOS is the app library. Apple could replace Launchpad on the Mac with the App Library so that programs are sorted by category as they are on the iPad and iPhone.
Launchpad on Mac would be much more useful if you could group applications logically.
Control center
The introduction of the Control Center in Big Sur was great, but one thing we’d love to see in macOS 13 is the ability to remove items we don’t use. It’s a flashback to the stock issue in the older version of iOS, but it can be changed with very little effort from Apple.
We’d also like Control Center to support third-party applications so we can further tidy up our menu bar, and this would be especially helpful for MacBook Pro owners who have the notch to deal with.
System preferences
System preferences are key to managing settings on your Mac, so we’re wondering why Apple hasn’t renamed Settings yet.
Time machine
One thing we’ve wanted for years is the ability to back up Time Machine directly to iCloud. While we appreciate that the first backup can be awkwardly large, due to the way Time Machine backs up incrementally, it could be a great solution.
There are many benefits to having a cloud backup. For example, it would ensure that if your Mac gets lost in a fire or flood, the Time Machine backup will not be destroyed at the same time. The same cannot be said of a physical drive, which most of us keep very close to where our Macs live.
We believe that we should be able to restore a Mac from the cloud in the same way we can with our iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Sure, Apple will have good reasons not to offer it yet, but we really think it should!
If this idea appeals to you, here’s a selection of the best cloud storage services for Mac. We also have this guide on using iCloud to back up your Mac.
iCloud +
We’d like to see more data storage options in iCloud +. These could include more intermediate levels of data, because for some users 50 GB or 200 GB is too little, while 2 TB is too much and too expensive. How about a 1TB level Apple? And if our desire for Time Machine backups comes true, maybe an even bigger option.
Unlock with your iPhone
Although more and more Macs have a fingerprint scanner (like the 2021 Apple Magic Keyboard), you can now use your Apple Watch to automatically unlock your Mac, so why not use your iPhone to the same?
Android phones can unlock Chromebooks, so we think it’s time for Apple to introduce this feature, especially considering that many more people have iPhones than Apple Watch. There are some third-party apps that do, but we’d like an official version of Apple built into macOS.
Touch screen controls
Yes, we realize that this is more of a hardware upgrade than a software upgrade, but with Mac M1s now running on the same basic platform as iPhones and iPads (or at least a highly compatible one), we think that convergence between applications and services is discussed for so long it could be about to become a reality.
If Apple ever plans to upgrade its Mac line to include touch screens, then macOS should be able to accept these touch commands along with keyboards, mice, and trackpads.
We would like another way to interact with our Macs other than typing and using the mouse.
More control over font sizes
Big Sur was a very nice version of macOS, but in some cases the choice of font size can make it difficult to read for those who are not lucky enough to see 20/20. Unless you go into accessibility settings, there’s no easy way to adjust the scale and …