macOS Sonoma (version 14) is the 20th major release of macOS, Apple's operating system for Macintosh computers. The successor to macOS Ventura, it was announced at WWDC 2023 on June 5, 2023, and released on September 26, 2023. It is named after the wine region located in California's Sonoma County.
New features in macOS Sonoma include:
- Revamped Widgets: Widgets are no longer confined to the Notification Center; they can be placed anywhere on the screen, with a redesigned widget picker reminiscent of iPadOS.
- Redesigned Lock Screen: The lock screen now displays date and time similar to iOS and iPadOS, with power buttons becoming a context menu.
- Enhanced Video-Conferencing: Video-conferencing apps can overlay the presenter's webcam video on top of screen sharing for more engaging presentations.
- Streamlined App Icons: App icons have been given a more rounded look.
- Improved Spotlight Search: The Spotlight search bar has been refined for a more modern appearance.
- Safari Enhancements: Safari introduces browsing profiles for separate sets of bookmarks and extensions, password sharing, and "Web apps" for simplified web browsing experiences.
- Messages Improvements: Messages offer more precise search filters, a "Catch-up" feature, and an updated iMessage sticker selection interface.
- Apple TV Sidebar: Apple TV now features a sidebar for easier navigation.
- Game Mode: A new game mode optimizes gaming performance by prioritizing gaming tasks and allocating more GPU and CPU resources to games.
- Slow-Motion Screen Savers: New slow-motion screen savers featuring different global locations transform into desktop wallpapers when logged in.
- Smoother Animations: The update brings smoother animations to various areas, including the notification panel and lock screen.
- Gesture-Based Reactions: Animations respond to hand gestures for added interactivity.
- AV1 Hardware Decoding: AV1 hardware decoding is supported on devices with AV1 hardware decoding capabilities.
- Print Center: The Print Center utility application returns from Mac OS X Tiger, allowing users to manage print jobs and printer queues.
Additionally, Apple introduced developer tools for porting Windows games to macOS alongside macOS Sonoma. The Game Porting Toolkit, based on Wine, translates Windows API calls to macOS APIs, enabling developers to run unmodified Windows DirectX games on macOS.
macOS Sonoma is compatible with various Mac models, including Apple silicon-based Macs and Intel Macs with specific chipsets. It introduces numerous enhancements, making it a noteworthy update for Mac users.
