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Apple announces macOS Sonoma with aerial screensavers, Game Mode, and more

Apple on Monday announced macOS Sonoma, or macOS 14, with new features and enhancements. This includes improvements to iMessage, desktop widgets, aerial screensavers, a new Game Mode, and more.

Here’s what’s new with macOS Sonoma

Just like iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, iMessage on macOS Sonoma comes with a bunch of new features. This includes emoji tapbacks and a new emoji stickers interface. The little-used iMessage apps have also been hidden away behind a sub-menu, for a cleaner and simpler overall design.

For the first time ever, macOS now has aerial screensavers, similar to tvOS. macOS Sonoma also allow users to add interactive widgets to the desktop. And widgets become interactive, allowing users to check off reminders, play or pause media, access home controls, and perform various tasks from their Mac, all directly from the desktop.

For gamers, macOS 14 introduces a new Game Mode that takes full advantage of the Mac’s hardware when the user is playing games. There are also enhancements to Metal and a new API to let developers port Windows games to the Mac.

macOS is the heart of the Mac, and with Sonoma, we’re making it even more delightful and productive to use,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “We think users are going to love macOS Sonoma and the new ways it enables them to personalize with widgets and stunning new screen savers, see new levels of gaming performance, and gain powerful productivity for video conferencing and browsing with Safari.

Beta version

The first beta of macOS Sonoma will be released today to developers. Apple says a public beta will be available this summer, while the official release is expected this fall. More details about the update can be found on the Apple Developer website.

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Avatar for Filipe Espósito Filipe Espósito

Filipe Espósito is a Brazilian tech Journalist who started covering Apple news on iHelp BR with some exclusive scoops — including the reveal of the new Apple Watch Series 5 models in titanium and ceramic. He joined 9to5Mac to share even more tech news around the world.

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