Today at WWDC21 Apple announced their next operating system for the Mac, macOS Monterey with options like FaceTime, Shareplay, Share with You all now in the new macOS. 

Universal Control

macOS Monterey has a new Universal Control feature, which is an expansion of Continuity. When you put your iPad next to your Mac you can move the cursor back and forth, and it recognises which device is being controlled. It works across all your devices, meaning you can have a single keyboard and mouse for all your devices.

You can move your mouse and cursor from macOS and iPad devices. For example, use the trackpad on your MacBook Pro and control an app on your iMac.  Seamlessly move an image from an iPad across to your macOS device.

macOS Monterey offers Airplay to Mac, which means you can use any Mac as an Airplay speaker.

Shareplay

SharePlay offers a new way for people to share your app. Stream movies and TV shows while on a FaceTime call with friends. With synced playback and controls, you’ll see everyone laugh, jump, and react to the same moments at the same time. And the volume automatically adjusts, so you can keep talking while you watch.

Keep your FaceTime calls going while simultaneously sharing your whole screen or just a specific app. Collaborate with coworkers, have a game night with friends, or plan your next vacation as a group.

Media streaming apps can let users share content through the new Group Activities API with full-fidelity video and all syncing handled by the system. And for shared experiences beyond media streaming, the GroupSessionMessenger API offers a secure data channel that syncs information between multiple instances of your apps across multiple users.

As this feature has only been announced today, the Shareplay API has numerous possibilities for use in the music and post production world, for example in collaborative working. As this is an API, some developers may choose to exploit the power of Shareplay to bring Mac users some powerful collaboration tools.

This is what Apple say about the API;

“Group Activities and AVFoundation APIs are now deeply integrated with the Core Media stack on device. When a user plays media, playback immediately starts for the whole group at the same time. Immersive features, like smart volume and shared playback controls, make them feel like they’re all in the same place. And since your app runs natively on each device with no retransmission, the quality of your app experience is never compromised.”

Imagine a situation where everyone is hearing the same audio at the same time in sync?

Shortcuts

In macOS Monterey, Shortcuts are coming to the Mac platform and when shipped there will be a rich library of pre-built shortcuts just for Mac.

You can find the perfect shortcut by browsing through prebuilt shortcuts in the Shortcuts Gallery to find anything from making your own GIFs on the fly to cleaning up your Downloads folder.

You can make your own shortcut Make your own with the Shortcut editor. Just click and drag actions into the order you want them, and the editor suggests what action you should add next.

Sharing shortcuts with friends or online communities has been designed to be as easy as sending a link. And after you receive one, simple prompts help you set permissions that keep you in control of which data is shared when you run it.

Apple is planning a multi-year transition from Automator to Shortcuts. If you rely on Automator the good news is that Apple will continue to support Automator and can import Automator actions to Shortcuts.

Safari With New Tabs Feature

Safari is being updated again, described as the world's fastest browser. Paying attention to battery life, Apple claim you can get up to 17 hours of browsing on M1 MacBooks in macOS Monterey.

There is a totally new Tab feature set. Apple knows Mac owners are using more and more tabs, to help, they have made Tabs even more compact and there are new tab groups designed to reduce clutter. 

AirPlay Coming To The Mac

With AirPlayfor macOS Monterey, you will be able to share, play, or present content from another Apple device to the big, screen of your Mac. You will also be able to mirror or extend your display to improve your productivity.

Spatial Audio Coming To macOS Monterey

More importantly on the audio front, Spatial audio is coming in macOS Monterey, with dynamic head tracking on M1-powered Macs.

During video calls you will be able to experience individual voices sounding like they’re coming from the direction in which each person is positioned on your screen, helping conversations flow more naturally.

The mic modes will offer Voice Isolation designed to minimize background noise and put your voice ‘front and centre’. Then when the music or sounds around you are as important as what you have to say, the Wide Spectrum mode leaves the ambient sound unfiltered.

AirPods Audio Updates

Spatial audio and dynamic head tracking help AirPods deliver theater-like sound to macOS. Spatial audio creates a surround sound experience when you connect AirPods Pro or AirPods Max to Mac models with the M1 chip. And with dynamic head tracking, sound stays fixed to the device even as you move your head. If you’re watching a movie, you’ll hear the engine roar right from the car, or hear dialogue straight from the actors’ mouths.

Support Dropped For Some Older Macs

Some older Macs will not be supported in macOS 12 Monterey. ‌These include older MacBook Air‌ and ‌iMac‌ models that were supported in ‌macOS Big Sur.

Mac Rumors are reporting the following Macs will be supported.

• ‌iMac‌ - Late 2015 and later

• ‌iMac‌ Pro - 2017 and later

• ‌MacBook Air‌ - Early 2015 and later

• MacBook Pro - Early 2015 and later

• Mac Pro - Late 2013 and later

• Mac mini - Late 2014 and later

• MacBook - Early 2016 and later

When Will macOS Monterey Be Available?

• From today the developer beta of macOS Monterey will be available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com.

• A public beta will be available to Mac users in July at beta.apple.com.

• macOS Monterey will be available this fall as a free software update.