Peter Müller
After almost five months of beta phase, MacOS 12 Monterey is available in final version.It's all new.
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Every year in June, Apple presented a new version of its operating system for the Mac at its WWDC developer conference, sometimes with less spectacular changes as this year, sometimes with several.Every year, however, some striking new features are added, integrated applications are given thorough revisions from time to time.The version of 2021 is called MacOS 12 MONTEREY, with regard to the nomenclature of its operating systems, Apple moves to Mojave, Catalina and Big Sur to the north again, gen silicon Valley.
Create space for update with CleanMymac X
The performance follows a beta phase for several months for developers and participants of the public beta test, the developer previews usually appear a day, the first preliminary version is even exclusively for registered developers.This year there were ten betas, gradually Apple had installed the features announced on the WWDC and fixed errors.The universal control (see there) is still in the beta stage and will probably only come with MacOS 12.1.Everything you need to know about MacOS 12 Monterey.
Which Macs Monterey can run
Apple does not exclude old Macs from the current update every year, but in 2021 not all computers that run with MacOS 11 Big Sur can also update on Monterey.It caught the 2013 MacBook Air from 2014, for which Big Sur is over.However, the system should still receive security updates by the end of 2023, the machines are not yet ripe for the recycling center.The oldest Mac, which still gets MacOS 12 Monterey, is the Mac Pro from 2013, the cylindrical miracle device that Apple has long since retired.All details of the compatible Macs can be found here.
How to install MacOS 12 MONTEREY
If your MAC is compatible, you have received a reference to the update in the system setting "Software update" since Monday.You also have access to MacOS 12 Monterey via the App Store.The MacOS 11 Big Sur Installer is now also available there, but can no longer be found on the internal search.In the event of the case, it does not hurt to have it on a storage medium like the internal Macintosh HD, so download it and keep it in a safe place-soon the big-sur installer in the Mac App Store could notmore to be found.From MacOS Monterey, Clean Install is also a little easier.Of course, you need a current backup and certain settings of the Mac.We described exactly how this works.
What you should definitely do before the update: Create a backup of all your data, preferably with the Time Machine integrated in the system, you will find more here.
New in Monterey: Safari with tab groups
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This year has received essential innovations this year Apple's browser Safari, also for iOS 15 and iPados 15. The updated version Safari 15 is also available for MacOS 11 Big Sur, so because of Safari alone you don't have to lift your Mac on the new system. During the beta phase, Apple revised some innovations presented in June, but significant innovations remain. Tabils, for example, in which you can group all open tabs and call up again at a later date, are still an integral part. However, Apple has said goodbye to the idea of integrating the address line into the tabs and thus offering its own for each tab, but it remains comprehensive. In Safari 15.1 Beta, the favorite strip also moves upwards, so far it is attached below the tabs. The sidebar is slightly revised, the appearance is clear. Because the tank bar automatically changes their color and adapts to the background of the accessed website. This is how Safari looks completely different from tab to tab. All details about Safari in MacOS 12 MONTEREY can be found here.
Missing in the final version: Universal Control
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It is, so to speak, the logical expansion of Sidecar that Apple introduced with MacOS 10.15 Catalina and Ipados 13.Since then, the iPad can be used as an external second monitor on the Mac, provided both devices are not too old.Universal Control or in Apple German called the "seamless control", the principle drives forward: you can seamlessly switch from Mac to iPad or iPhone with the mouse and vice versa and include the content of all kinds.Hook on the matter: The Mac has to be more recent, from iMac 5K (2015) and MacBook Pro (2016) and new.All devices involved must also be linked to the same Apple ID.In the first version of MacOS 12 MONTEREY, the function will still be missing, it was only added in later beta versions.MacOS 12.1 should appear towards the end of the year, MacOS 12.2 in spring, in one of the two updates the seamless control could be added.You can find more details about seamless control here.
Borrowed from the iPad and iPhone: quick notes
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Since last year, the operating systems for the Mac and the iPad have been even more similar, so they also get some innovations at the same time.For example, the quick notes: On the iPad you wipe your finger or the Apple Pencil from a corner and get access to the quick notes.Pencil and fingers are not (yet) input methods for the Mac, but the principle is the same: with the mouse you pull the quick notepad out of the corner and now write down your thoughts, take links to websites or images.The "Notes" app gets other innovations, such as tags with which you can better sort your notes.When editing a note together, you can now track the changes if all the MacOS Monterey macos involved use.More details about the notes here.
For all platforms: FaceTime and SharePlay
FaceTime is a nice way for Apple users to make video calls.Despite group facetime, the software was only partially suitable for the video conferences that are increasingly common during pandemic times.This changes in Ipados 15, iOS 15 and MacOS 12 Monterey.What is new, for example, is the grid display, the portrait mode, in which you can blend in the background and the sharing of screen contents - which zoom, teams and others can have been able to do for a long time.At least Facetime is now also limited to a limited platform, who invites you to a single or group discussion, you can also include Windows and Android users who use Facetime via the browser.
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But why FaceTime?Perhaps because of the new SharePlay function, which will only come in iOS 15.1 and Ipados 15.1 and probably only with a first update for Monterey.Because as long as all Apple Music or Apple TV+ have subscribed to, you can listen to music or watch films and series - and exchange ideas.More details about Facetime and SharePlay can be found here.
Inherited from the iPhone and iPad: short commands
Sure, you can program your MAC to automatically do tasks.So you like to sit hour after hour to put together small programs in Automator, do things that you would have just done quickly.For example, the writer and Mac fan Douglas Adams described it in "The Last of their kind" when he became apparent to the Wallnister.A small bird that takes great efforts to build a wall of branches and leaves under which his clutch "automatically" scored.The bird would have sat on the eggs from time to time and saved the effort, Adams said.
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At Adams' times there was only Apple script and no automator on the Mac, which is now provided with an alternative with the shortcuts known from iOS and iPados, with all known predefined shortcuts.Automator has got on the siding, but is still operated in parallel for a while.Read more about the short commands here.
Recognize texts in photos
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Live text is a new feature that Apple has introduced with iOS 15 and iPados 15.The cameras of the devices recognize texts in pictures, such as telephone numbers, which can then be called immediately.Thanks to Neural Engine, text recognition is also possible in the photo app afterwards.But this is only possible with Apple-Silcon-Mac from the end of 2020. You can find all the details of Live text here.
Configure calm
With iOS 15 and iPados 15, Apple introduced the "focus" in September.Idea behind it: There are opportunities where you do not want to be disturbed, except for very important things.For example in the concentrated work, on the go in traffic, during night sleep.The focus is now also on in MacOS 12 Monterey, in the revised system setting "Messages and Focus".Unlike the iPhone, there is no default settings for sleep or trip - logical.But you can be configured quite granularly when you don't want to be disturbed - or who can then disturb.
Streaming media
From MacOS 12 Monterey, the Mac also becomes a reception device for AirPlay.So you can stream any content from iPhone or iPad on your Mac.However, there are limits to compatibility here - see below.
More or less power
The system setting "Battery" now knows the power saving mode, which you can also switch on when the MacBook is hanging on the power supply.Exclusively for the new MacBooks Pro M1 Max with a 16-inch screen, is a new high-performance mode that takes little consideration of power consumption and also makes the fans louder because it gets everything out of the chip.Read more about the MacOS 12 MONTEREY system settings here.
Extinguish
What iPhone and iPad have had for a long time now also gets the Mac: Delete content and settings.In a way, you can put your Mac back without deleting the system on it, you can basically start the furnishings again.Is especially practical, you want to pass on or sell the Mac.Read more about this practical novelty of the system settings here.
Not everything goes on all machines
As usual, some of the innovations depend on the hardware equipment, not everything works on all Macs on which MacOS 12 MONTEREY can be installed.Further above we have already described that Universal Control Apple-Silicon-MACS is also reserved for the portrait mode in FaceTime-because this requires the neural engine of the M1 and Neuer.The same applies to live text in photos.The seamless control requires newer Macs, in principle everyone that has been published from autumn 2016 (MacBook Pro with touch bar), the exception is the iMac 5K from 2015. Read all details about the compatibibilities here.
