Apple has officially released macOS 12 Monterey to the general public.
The main innovation highlighted at the WWDC presentation was Universal Control, which allows users to control multiple Apple devices, including a desktop Mac, MacBook laptop and iPad, with a single mouse (or trackpad) and keyboard.
Another exciting new feature is the Live Text feature, which allows users to interact with text in photos, such as copying and pasting, lookup, and translating.
During the beta testing phase, this feature was only available for M1 Macs, but then Apple brought this feature to Intel Macs. It is very handy when trying to copy text from an image.
macOS Monterey, AirPlay allows the Mac to serve as an AirPlay destination so that the user can play content from the iPhone directly on the Mac display.
Another important feature, Share Play, was also introduced with macOS 12 Monterey and version 15.1 of all the other operating systems. Share Play allows users to:
- Watch together: Bring TV shows and movies to your FaceTime call
- Listen together: Share music with friends
- Shared music queue: When listening together, anyone can add songs to the shared queue during the call
- Share your screen: Bring web pages, apps, and more into your conversation
- Connect via audio, video and text: Access the group’s Message thread right from the FaceTime controls and choose the mode of communication that matches the moment
For the first time, the Mac can be used as a speaker for multiform audio, just like the HomePod. AirPlay works both wirelessly and wired using USB.
The highlight of all the key features of Monterey is the improved handling of tabs in the Safari web browser and its ability to create tab groups that can seamlessly display or hide a collection of tabs, and the address bar now matches the background color of the current website.
All in all, Monterey manages to return the Mac to its central role as a primary work tool while integrating mobile devices as helpful collaborators.
For more information, read the original stories in ZDNet and 9to5Mac.