The Best New Features in MacOS Sonoma

macOS Sonoma hardly made the biggest splash at WWDC 2023 (that honor was reserved for Apple’s Vision Pro), but that doesn’t detract from what may be the most feature-packed Mac operating system update in years. With Sonoma, Apple is making significant changes to the way you use your Mac, from waking up to video conferencing and web browsing.

(Before you read about all these new features, check out our compatible devices roundup to see if your machine will get an update in the fall.)

Websites are now apps

This is big news for the generation that lives on the Internet. With Safari, you can turn any complete website into an app. It will show up with its own dock icon, and thanks to the existing PWA standard, it can also support things like native notifications. When you open the web app, you’ll see a small toolbar at the top with navigation buttons and nothing else, making things easier overall.

Widgets appear directly on the desktop

Widgets have a long history in macOS dating back to the days of the Dashboard (RIP). In recent years, they have been hidden in the Notification Center, which is not the best way to view them. With Sonoma, widgets can be added anywhere on your Mac desktop. And, just like in iOS/iPadOS 17, they’re now interactive, so you can click to play music or mark a to-do item without even opening the app.

Apple seems to have thought of this new system: all of your iPhone’s widgets will be available to add to your Mac, and when you open the app, the widgets will disappear so you can focus on the task at hand.

Beautiful Apple TV screensavers now on Mac

I love the gorgeous Apple TV screensavers that include drone footage of some of the most beautiful places on earth (and beyond). Now Apple is bringing these screensavers to the Mac along with a newly redesigned iPad-like lock screen.

However, there is a Mac feature here: when you use this animated wallpaper, you will see a smooth moving video on your lock screen. But as soon as you unlock your Mac, the video will stop turning into a still desktop wallpaper. Sonoma will launch with a massive collection of these hybrid screensavers and wallpapers, ranging from cityscapes to space and ocean life. See the video above for the full list.

Is this the year of Mac gaming?

Apple is once again trying to make gaming happen on the Mac, and to do that, they’re making some practical changes. The new Game Mode reduces latency between Bluetooth game controllers and AirPods audio. Also, it gives games more CPU and GPU resources while they are running for better performance. With many new games coming to the Mac and the power of Apple Silicon, maybe this could finally be the year of Mac gaming?

Big upgrades for video calls

This is another big year in the world of video conferencing as Apple is adding quality-of-life improvements not only to FaceTime but to video calls in general. There’s a new Presenter Overlay feature that seamlessly blends live video into the presentation. You can appear as a small circle anywhere on the screen, or take up the entire screen sitting next to the digital version of your presentation (with Smart Videophone Removal). This feature will be available for FaceTime and all other video conferencing apps such as Zoom, Teams, WebEx, and more.

Apple is also adding animated video reactions based on your actions. You can give it a thumbs up to celebrate, make a heart to send lots of love to your screen, and more.

Safari gets profiles and more

Safari is finally adding profiles and they work just like they do in other browsers like Chrome. Each profile is a separate bin, and you can switch between them using the new drop-down menu on the toolbar. Profiles have separate tab groups, account logins, and private tabs that sync across all your devices.

Speaking of private tabs, Apple is waging an all-out war on trackers when you’re in private browsing mode. This feature now disables tracking of all websites and users on all pages and instantly locks tabs when you move away from the window. As long as no one knows your password (or steals your fingerprint), your personal tabs will remain private.

Many new iOS features are coming to Mac

Many of the new features covered in our iOS 17 roundup are also coming to the Mac, including all the new Messages features. The same goes for sticker support, autofill PDF forms, enhanced PDF support in the Notes app, and more.