Apple has just released the macOS Sequoia public beta into the wild. Should you download it? We tested its new apps and features to see if it’s worth your time.
Apple today launched the macOS Sequoia public beta, opening the doors to app developers, bug hunters, and curious users alike. With the full release not expected until much later this year, it’s a good opportunity to get a sneak peek at what Apple has in store for us.
Or at least, a sneak peek at most of what’s planned. Despite being packed with features, macOS Sequoia is missing the headline-grabbing Apple Intelligence feature, at least for the time being. Without that, is it still worth downloading and installing the public beta?
That’s what I wanted to find out. Over the last couple weeks, I’ve been exploring the macOS Sequoia beta, poking and prodding it to see what works well out of the gate and what still needs some work.Lacking Intelligence
Before we move on, I have to mention that this is a beta, meaning we expect it to be a work in progress. However, it has to be stated upfront that my most anticipated feature (or set of features) in macOS Sequoia isn’t available — and won’t be for a while. I’m talking, of course, about Apple Intelligence. The brand-new AI platform is due to overhaul almost every aspect of macOS, bringing new tools that will help you rewrite text, generate images, sort through your mail, and get more out of Siri. There’s no doubt it’s the front-page feature of macOS Sequoia.
Unfortunately, it’s also totally absent from the beta I was able to test. Apple has officially stated that it is coming (in U.S. English only) “later this year,” but Apple CEO Tim Cook and friends haven’t been any more specific than that. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has indicated that Apple could gradually roll out Apple Intelligence in stages, with some features arriving when macOS Sequoia launches fully, others coming later in 2024, and still others not getting released until 2025.
So right now, we’ve got a fairly long wait ahead of us. Apple Intelligence is such a monumental feature for macOS Sequoia that it makes sense for Apple to take its time and get it right, and given how wide-ranging a feature it is, that could take a while. It’s mildly frustrating not to be able to play around with it yet, but I’m willing to be patient.
With that out of the way, let’s dig into all the features that are actually present in the public beta, starting with iPhone Mirroring.iPhone Mirroring and window tiling
Some of the most interesting features in macOS Sequoia involve app windows — or apps managed through windows. One of them is iPhone Mirroring, and it was one of the first things to really catch my eye aside from Apple Intelligence. This places a mock-up of your iPhone on your Mac’s desktop, with everything exactly mirrored from your phone to your computer.
You can use your mouse and keyboard to open apps, swipe through pages, enter text, and more. Your iPhone notifications appear on your Mac, which I found helpful for apps like X that I only really use on iOS, while sounds are played through your Mac’s speakers rather than those of your iPhone. You can also unlock your connected iPhone using your Mac’s password or, thanks to the kind of integrated greatness we’ve come to expect from Apple, your Apple Watch or the Touch ID button on your Magic Keyboard.
The best feature of iPhone Mirroring is the ability to drag and drop files between your Mac and your iPhone. This has the potential to replace apps like Dropbox and greatly smooth out the process of transferring things from one device to the other. Sadly, it isn’t yet working in this version of macOS Sequoia.
In general, iPhone Mirroring can seem a little buggy. For one thing, the resolution of your mirrored iPhone seems curiously low, with slightly blurry text being commonplace. For another, swiping seems hit-and=miss. I was able to swipe horizontally without issue, but swiping vertically only worked on a Magic Trackpad and a wired mouse — on a wireless mouse, I couldn’t swipe vertically at all. So, while iPhone Mirroring currently works, I expect to see some major improvements over the coming months in terms of not only quality and responsiveness, but also compatibility with mice.
Elsewhere, Apple has (finally) brought window snapping and tiling to macOS.
