The next version of the macOS operating system, number 14, was called Sonoma – a historic city and moon valley (in poetic translation) in the eponymous district in California. The annual Mac platform update includes many innovations in the field of communication and especially video conferencing through third-party services, overhauls the outdated splash screen design and introduces interactive widgets right on the desktop. In addition, Hideo Kojima himself participated in the presentation of macOS 14 Sonoma, who spoke about the benefits of the new game mode as part of the OS.
For the first time in history, macOS now offers dynamic screensavers when the computer is idle. The screensavers are animated and showcase beautiful bird’s-eye views, similar to the tvOS implementation for the Apple TV set-top box. Also, widgets are no longer hidden in the side menu, instead they can be installed anywhere on the desktop and monitor information in real time.
For gamers, macOS 14 Sonoma has a dedicated game mode. According to Apple, it takes full advantage of the proprietary processor hardware for high-performance and smooth gaming sessions, reduces AirPods audio latency, and doubles the Bluetooth sample rate when using controllers from Xbox and PlayStation consoles. All current games developed for Mac are supported. In addition, improvements to the Metal and Game API will allow developers to port games from Windows to Mac. As a debut, macOS 14 Sonoma users will get Death Stranding, an open-world action-adventure game from a Japanese game designer.
Other improvements in macOS 14 Sonoma:
- pinning web applications to the dock;
- personalized content profiles in Safari that share browsing history, extensions, tab groups, cookies, and favorites;
- presenter overlay on top of the screen with augmented reality effects in videoconferencing;
- calling a voice assistant on a Siri command;
- the ability to share passwords and iCloud access keys with family members, friends and colleagues from a common group of bookmarks;
- private tabs are now automatically blocked when not in use;
- predictive text input technology.
The macOS 14 Sonoma Preview for Registered Developers will be available for download today, June 5th. Public beta testing for everyone will start in mid-summer. The stable release of the update will take place before the end of autumn.