macOS Sonoma’s is out now! Here’s everything you need to know about the new features and what’s coming in future updates.
The newest version of macOS–Sonoma–named after the Californian wine region, is now available. Among the new features arriving on Macs with Sonoma (aka macOS 14) are changes to widgets, a new Game Mode, the ability to easily turn web pages into web apps, and fun additions to video conferencing apps. Read on for the lowdown on all the new features and further improvements coming later in 2023.
Update December 11: Apple has released the macOS Sonoma 14.2 including an Enhanced AutoFill feature. macOS 14 Sonoma: Latest version
The final version of macOS 14 was released to the general public on Tuesday, September 26 (the earliest macOS release date since 2018).
The initial release of Sonoma was on September 26, 2023. That was version macOS 14.0.
The latest version is macOS Sonoma 14.2 which arrived on December 11 and brought Enhanced AutoFill, Contact Key Verification, and various app updates. More details about what’s new below.
macOS Sonoma 14.1.2 arrived on November 30 and fixed two exploited zero-day WebKit flaws that were also patched in iOS and iPadOS with 17.1.2. Apple also released Safari 17.1.2 for Ventura and older to address the same exploits.
Previously, macOS Sonoma 14.1.1 arrived on November 7. It includes bug fixes and security updates and is recommended for all users.
Before that macOS Sonoma 14.1, was released on October 25.
There will be a lot of updates over the coming months, both minor point releases for bug fixes and security updates and major releases that add some of the Sonoma features that weren’t available at launch.macOS 14 Sonoma beta: Latest version
Even though macOS Sonoma has arrived, Apple is continuing to test a developer version and a public version of the beta. This is how Apple will test new features that will come later in 2023 and throughout 2024.
Apple has just finished with the macOS 14.2 beta and will start work on macOS 14.3 now. macOS 14.3 Sonoma release date and new features
The macOS 14.2 beta was released to developers on October 26 and was available to download on compatible Macs on December 11. That’s a six-week turnaround. A similar development time could see macOS 14.3 arrive around January 22, but the holiday period may mean that we have a longer wait.
Collaborative Playlists for Apple Music is likely to be available in the next update. macOS 14.2: New features
New features in macOS 14.2 include:
iMessage Contact Key Verification: Improved security for contact key verification users.
StoreKit: Price, currency, and currencyCode are now available on Transaction.
PDFs: An Enhanced AutoFill feature uses Contacts data to fill out a PDF or scanned document.
The following features, which also arrived in iOS 17.2, will be available in the equivalent apps on macOS:
News app: The News app will support Live Activities.
Apple Music: You will also be able to disable the listening history in Apple Music so it doesn’t impact Apple Music suggestions.
TV app: There will no longer be separate Movies and TV Shows tabs. Just a Store tab.
Messages: You can react to iMessages with any emoji or sticker. Warning for stickers if you have enabled it for Messages.
Weather: You can now see wind and rain on a map.
Clock: You can run multiple timers. macOS 14.1: New features
The macOS 14.1 update included:
Apple Music: New Favorites playlist.
New Coverage section in the General System Settings that includes Apple Care information.
Fix for an issue with Remote Widgets.
Addressed issues with Wallet and WidgetKit.
There’s more detail about what’s in macOS Sonoma–and what’s coming–below. How to install macOS 14 Sonoma
We cover how to install macOS Sonoma in a separate article, we also cover some of the issues you might encounter installing Sonoma, so if you do have any difficulties check out that article. It should be simple enough to install macOS Sonoma though. macOS 14 Sonoma: How to install and remove the beta
If you are a beta tester you may want to stop receiving beta updates once the full version of Sonoma arrives.
