Today at WWDC, Apple unveiled macOS Ventura which will hit their Macs in the fall. According to recent macOS announcements, Ventura is a subtle upgrade that mostly keeps the visual style intact.
The biggest new feature is Stage Manager. This is a revision of Mission Control, which you enable from the Command Center (and which you can disable if you wish). While Mission Control displayed all running applications on the screen, Stage Manager keeps the focus of your currently open application and groups the other applications by category next to it.
Basically, you can “live” in this view and continue working with your current application without interruption. Clicking on an app from the side will show it focused so you can quickly switch back and forth.
Continuity Camera allows you to use your iPhone as a webcam. The Mac automatically recognizes the iPhone and uses its default cameras, instead of the built-in FaceTime camera. The Continuity Camera uses the iPhone’s ultra-wide camera to enable Desk View, which simultaneously shows a person’s face as well as a top view of the desktop. Central stage, portrait mode and studio light are also available.
Belkin will manufacture special mounting accessories that will go on sale later this year.
With FaceTime Handoff, you can start a call on your phone and stream it to your Mac as you go along.
Spotlight has been revamped and is smarter. It has a quick look at the file preview. You can find images in your photo library by location, people, scenes, or objects. Live Text allows Spotlight to search for text within a photo.
Speaking of Photos, like iOS 16, macOS Ventura gets iCloud’s shared photo library, which allows up to six users to create and collaborate on a separate photo library.
Keys are a new password replacement feature in Safari. These are unique digital keys that are stored on your device and allow you to sign in securely using Touch ID or Face ID. Passwords will be synced across Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV using the iCloud keychain and work with apps and websites.
Apple announced Metal 3 with MetalFX Upscaling, which allows developers to render difficult scenes at a lower resolution and then apply the increase in resolution with temporary anti-aliasing. Games like EA’s GRID Legends and Capcom’s Resident Evil Village are among those that support it.
Apple developer members can get the beta for macOS Ventura developers right now, while the public beta will hit Mac users next month. The final software will arrive in the fall.