Stage Manager offers a new way to manage open apps
(Picture: Apple)A shiny version of the macOS is here and Mac owners will be eager to know what features it brings.
Here’s why you should hit the Update button when you are offered the new Apple operating system.
End the misery of passwords with Passkeys
Ventura could kill off passwords once and for all. Instead of having to memorise passwords for every different site you visit (bad idea) or use a password manager (much better), Passkeys effectively creates a password for you. When you sign up for a new site, you may now be prompted to create a passkey – a cryptographic key that is synchronised across all your devices in the highly secure iCloud Keychain.
You don’t need to remember the key. When you next visit the site and need to log in, your Apple device will prompt you to use Face ID or fingerprint recognition, and will automatically enter the passkey on your behalf. No more trying to remember the name of your first pet combined with your mum’s date of birth with a $ thrown in for good measure.
Turn a phone into a webcam with Continuity Camera
If you own an iPhone you can now use this as the webcam for your Mac. This is great news because most built-in Mac webcams were mediocre at best until recently. If you’re fed up with a murky, grainy appearance in work Zoom calls or video chats with friends, Continuity Camera lets you use the far superior iPhone camera as your Mac webcam.
The feature works wirelessly and is easy to use. So long as both your iPhone and Mac are logged into the same Apple ID, you merely bring your iPhone close to your Mac and connection occurs automatically.
The new feature includes Desk View, which provides an ultra-wide view if you need to demonstrate something on the desk in front of you. It also offers Centre Stage, which automatically pans the camera to keep you in the middle of the frame and Studio Light, which brightens your face and darkens your messy home office background. Learn more about how to use your phone as a webcam here.
Focus on the task at hand with Stage Manager
This is Apple’s attempt to make it much simpler to navigate what’s on screen when working in multiple applications and is the most divisive new feature in macOS Ventura. The feature puts the app that you’re working on front and centre, while keeping thumbnail icons for up to six other open apps on the left-hand side of the screen. In theory, this makes it easy to switch between several pen apps, especially on laptops where you have limited screen space to play with.
For instance, if you are writing a report, you may need to create a Stage on which only writing, research and key communication applications appear. The feedback so far has been decidedly mixed, but Apple’s not forcing this on anyone. You can switch off Stage Manager in settings if you don’t like it.
Handoff FaceTime calls between gizmos
You’ve long been able to easily transfer phone calls from one Apple device to another with a feature called Handoff – and now this is coming to calls made with FaceTime.
Let’s say you start a video chat with a friend on your Mac, but have to leave the house unexpectedly. You no longer need to shut the call down and start again on your phone, you simply “Handoff” the call to your iPhone and carry on chatting. Brilliantly, if you’re using Bluetooth headphones on your Mac, they too will be transferred to the iPhone too.
Recall a message that you instantly regret
If you decide it was an error of judgement to email your boss to say what you really think, you now have an escape window. New features in Apple Mail on Ventura let you recall, schedule or set reminders about emails. While there are limitations – email recall provides a 10-second window after the message is first sent – these tweaks make it much easier to manage complex email in-boxes. You should also get a notification if you forget to include an attachment or recipient in a message. Messages gets similar improvements: you can edit sent messages, unsend recent messages, and flag them to check later on.
Find your stuff more easily with Spotlight
If you own two or more Apple devices, then Ventura makes search more powerful. Spotlight (Apple’s name for search on Macs) can now search across all your devices, which means you’ll find photos faster and you can even use your Mac to search for text inside images that were captured with the camera on your iPhone, thanks to LiveText.
Search results are far richer with much more information presented in the results. You can also start timers and Shortcuts, run calculations, find song names using Shazam, and search the web within Spotlight search (command + space).
Play soothing background sounds
This is a quirky feature straight out of San Francisco. If you’re having a stressful time working on your Mac or just need to block out the noise of the kids creating bedlam upstairs, Ventura now includes a selection of calming background sounds, including the sound of waves lapping against a beach or the pitter-patter of rainfall. Fetch yourself a cup of Earl Grey, stick the headphones on and relax.
When should I upgrade to macOS Ventura?
The Ventura software is available for free from October 24. As with any new operating system, you don’t need to upgrade immediately. Sometimes it is better to wait at least a week or two as it’s not unusual to experience annoying faults when a new operating system ships to millions of people. This is especially true for folks who rely on third-party software or plug-ins that need to be updated too.
To its credit, Apple is good at resolving such problems and fixing them in a subsequent software upgrade. Even so, it’s often wise to leave it a while and let others be the guinea pigs.
Is my Mac compatible with macOS Ventura?
Only the following systems are able to run Ventura. If your machine is borderline OK, then it’s often sensible to hold back until it’s clear whether this older machine will run everything smoothly.
- iMac (2017 or later).
- iMac Pro (2017).
- MacBook (2017 or later).
- MacBook Air (2018 or later).
- MacBook Pro (2017 or later).
- Mac mini (2018 or later).
- Mac Pro (2019 or later).
- Mac Studio (2022).
