Apple has released the next big update for the Mac: macOS Sequoia 15.1. This brings the first wave of Apple Intelligence features to the Mac, plus some non-AI upgrades. Here’s everything that’s new.
New features available in macOS 15.1, including Apple Intelligence
macOS 15.1 includes a nice upgrade to iPhone Mirroring, which was first introduced in macOS Sequoia last month. Now you can drag and drop photos and files between your Mac and the mirrored iPhone. This makes for a convenient alternative to AirDrop for quickly moving files between devices.
Additionally, the Battery menu in the Mac’s Menu Bar gains a new Low Power Mode toggle in today’s update. This makes it easier than ever to turn the battery-saving feature on and off.
macOS Sequoia 15.1 provides access to the first Apple Intelligence features, though there are a few requirements you’ll need to meet first.
Here are the AI features available in this release:
- New Siri: Siri now has a new look, a typing mode, Apple product knowledge, more resilient request handling, and more. But the bigger upgrades will arrive in future updates.
- Notification summaries: Receive more actionable and helpful notifications thanks to AI summaries.
- Writing Tools: Use systemwide tools to proofread, rewrite, or reformat your text. Then later this year, ChatGPT will be baked into writing tools too.
- Clean Up in Photos: Remove unwanted objects from your photos with ease.
- Natural language search in Photos: Find just the right photos and videos with search that actually works.
- Memory movie creation: Give AI custom instructions, and it will create a special video for you.
- Priority messages in Mail: AI will put the most important email front and center.
- Smart Reply in Mail and Messages: Use suggested replies that are better than ever.
- Summaries in Mail and Messages: Get thread summaries that are more informative than a simple excerpt.
- Reduce Interruptions Focus: Stay undistracted, except when something’s actually important.
- Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing in Focus: Get the benefit of your existing Focus modes, but with AI that only allows important alerts through.
Compatibility and requirements
macOS 15.1 is available for all Macs that could run macOS Sequoia. It is available in System Settings from the Software Update section.
Key features including Apple Intelligence are only available for Macs running an M1 chip or later (e.g., M2, M3, M4). Intel models will experience a more feature-barren update.
It’s also important to note that Apple Intelligence features are marked as a beta release by Apple, and gaining access to them requires first joining a waitlist. To see the full list of AI requirements, including location restrictions, visit this article.
Have you installed macOS Sequoia 15.1? What are your favorite features? Let us know in the comments.
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