macOS Ventura | Release date | iMac | mission

At WWDC in early June, Apple announced a major Mac update: macOS Ventura (officially: macOS 13). What’s new in this big update? When can you download the update? And is it already working on your Mac? You can read it all in this file.

macOS Ventura support

These are Macs with mAquos Ventura support

• MacBook (2017 and newer)
• MacBook Air (2018 and newer)
• MacBook Pro (2017 and newer)
• Mac mini (2018 and newer)
• iMac (2017 and newer)
• iMac Pro (2017 and newer)
• Mac Pro (2019 and newer)
• Mac studio (2022)

macOS Ventura release date

We know that Apple will release macOS Ventura this fall. When exactly, this has not yet been said. Count on October or November. But what’s really new?

Mail

In Ventura, Mail now has the option to invalidate sent mail. This option will appear a few seconds after you press Submit. If you realize at the last minute that you didn’t send a copy to someone or made another mistake, you can hit the Undo Send button and retrieve the message.

Forgot to add attachments? If the mail notices this, it will warn you before sending the message. There is also a scheduling assistant. This allows you to send an email at a later date or time.

Finally, Mail in Ventura includes a much improved search function. Recent searches are saved, suggestions and results are more accurate, and items such as documents or links from emails appear faster in the search interface. We’ve often been annoyed with Mail’s search functionality in the past, so this is a welcome change.

Messages

Messages allows you to edit or delete iMessages after they have been sent. Unlike a similar feature in Mail, Messages always actually sends a message. You are already deleting or editing a message on the recipient’s device. Apple can do this because they have complete control over iMessages and the protocol behind them, which of course is not the case with email.

We’ve already found deleting and editing messages very practical, but our favorite new feature for Messages is the ability to mark conversations as unread. This way you won’t forget to deal with these messages later.

Spotlight

Spotlight – the macOS search engine – has received a major overhaul in Ventura, with expanded functionality and a redesign of your searches. Photos can now be found directly from Spotlight from Photos, Messages, Notes, Finder, or from the web. This also works for text within images (via Live Text). Did you take a picture of a document? From now on, you will also find the texts in Spotlight.

The new design also provides expanded previews for photos, music, movies, files, and more. Also new is support for Quick Look. Press the spacebar when you hover your mouse over an item to view it at a glance.

Finally, Spotlight now includes quick actions, for example, to set timers, switch focus modes, and run commands.

Safari

Safari now receives support for so-called “passkeys” technology. This makes it possible to log into websites without passwords. The passkeys remain on your own device and are never stored on a server, making it nearly impossible for hackers to intercept your login data. Websites, apps and services still need to be updated to support this “no password” form of login, so it will take some time before we can completely remove passwords from our lives.

Ventura also offers Shared Tab Groups, which allow you to collaborate with friends, family, or colleagues directly from Safari. The feature syncs open tabs to everyone’s device, and participants can see the tabs others are viewing at any time. You can even link this to FaceTime to see and chat with each other while browsing or working in shared tabs.

Pictures

The new shared iCloud Photo Library offers support for sharing your library with up to five other people, and you don’t even need Family Sharing to do so. You can easily choose which photos to share using search filters. This way, only photos from a certain date end up in the shared library, or you can make sure that only photos with specific people are saved (via facial recognition). Of course, it’s also very easy to dismiss photos that you never want to share.

Once the photos are in the shared library, edits and other changes to the photos are synced to all users on all devices. Also, Photos in Ventura now locks “Hidden” and “Recently Deleted” albums by default. You can unlock this with Touch ID or your Mac’s password.

Continuity Camera

With the new Continuity Camera feature in macOS Ventura, you can use your iPhone as a webcam for your Mac! Connect it to the top of your Mac’s screen and select it as a webcam in various video calling applications. This brings the vastly advanced iPhone camera system to your Mac for making video calls, filming yourself broadcasting, or any other activity that requires a webcam. The feature works primarily wirelessly, but requires a special stand to secure the phone to the back of the screen. Apple is working with Belkin to obtain the necessary accessories.

Another feature of the Continuity Camera: “Desktop View”. This option takes advantage of the ultra-wide angle lens of your iPhone. These films are so wide that they also stick to your desk when you use the iPhone as a webcam for your Mac. Useful software tricks make it seem like you have a top-down camera perched on top of your desk. This is very useful for people who need to explain things and show something in detail.

The Continuity Camera is a good solution to the problem that the built-in cameras in most Macs and studio monitors are not the best quality. It also provides a great option for Mac users with an external display without a camera.

theater manager

Stage Manager is a new window management mode in macOS Ventura (and for that matter iPadOS 16. You activate it from the Control Center, then apps and windows are grouped into a special view. A column of groups runs along the left side of the windows, while the rest of the screen shows the currently selected group. You can arrange and resize windows in the foreground as you like, and you can easily switch the selected group at any time.

confrontation time

FaceTime now also gets Handoff support, so you can easily transfer FaceTime calls from one device to another. This is useful if you start a conversation on your iPhone and then realize it makes sense to use your Mac or iPad, or vice versa if you have to leave and want to continue a FaceTime call on your mobile phone.

system configuration

System Preferences is now called System Settings in macOS Ventura. The name change comes with a major redesign to bring the app more in line with the Settings app for iPhone and iPad. The new look takes some getting used to, but the similarities with the iOS and iPadOS Settings app make switching easy.