X

MacOS Ventura: The Coolest Upgrades and New Features for Macs

Apple announced a new operating system for its computers at WWDC this week. Here are the details to get excited about.

Adam Benjamin Managing Editor
Adam Benjamin has helped people navigate complex problems for the past decade. The former digital services editor for Reviews.com, Adam now leads CNET's services and software team and contributes to its game coverage.
Expertise Operating systems, streaming services, mobile apps and first-person shooters Credentials
  • Adam has been covering streaming services since 2013 and wants to help people navigate the subscription creep in their lives.
Adam Benjamin
3 min read
Apple presenter next to giant MacOS Ventura logo of a stylized California poppy
Apple

Apple introduced MacOS Ventura, the next operating system for Mac computers, at Apple's WWDC 2022 keynote on Monday. As the successor to MacOS Monterey, Ventura will offer new features in addition to upgrading Mac staples like Spotlight and Safari. 

And that's not the only change coming to the Mac world. Apple also announced a 2022 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, both with a new M2 chip. (Here's a full list of the new tech Apple revealed at WWDC this week.)

Read on for all the updates and new tricks to expect when MacOS Ventura becomes publicly available this fall.

Stage Manager and other new features

Ventura adds a new feature called Stage Manager that helps you rearrange and group your open windows. Enabling the feature from Control Center will center your screen on one window, with other windows in a smaller thumbnail view on the side. Have multiple windows related to one project? You can group them together in Stage Manager, making it easier to jump around to what you need.

Stage Manager helps you organize your desktop in MacOS Ventura.

Apple

Ventura also brings updates to other apps and features. Upgrades to Spotlight will let you search the internet for images and also search within images. In Mail, you'll be able to undo and schedule sent messages, and Apple touted "more accurate and complete results" in Mail's search function. On Safari, you'll be able to share tab groups and create Passkeys -- unique login credentials for each individual site that requires a login. 

Plus, MacOS Ventura features Metal 3, an upgrade to the software that powers gaming on MacOS devices. These upgrades will allow the MacBook Air to run games at 1080p resolution, and Mac Studio devices will be able to play in up to 4K. 

MacOS Ventura brings new camera tricks

FaceTime gets an upgrade in the new MacOS, allowing you to seamlessly transition a call between iPhone, iPad and Mac. Ventura also lets you use your iPhone as your webcam in a new feature called Continuity Camera. A new Desk View feature uses the ultrawide camera on iPhones to create a portrait view and a desktop view side by side. Apple says Continuity Camera will work with every video chat app. 

MacOS Ventura will enter public beta in July, and Apple plans to release it in the fall.

Side by side image of a presenter and his desk with keyboard

Need to show what's on your desk? Use your iPhone as a camera to enable Desk View in your video apps.

Apple

Apple's MacOS has been around for more than 20 years, powering its Macs, MacBook Pros, MacBook Air and similar devices. However, Apple's Mac computers only represent less than 10% of the computers being used today. Apple's homegrown M-series chip is helping to change that, though. Apple said fans bought so many M1 Macs when they hit the market a year ago that they helped push the company's desktop and laptop revenues to an all-time high of $9.1 billion during the first three months of the year. Sales were up a whopping 70% from the same period a year earlier.

For more, check out everything else Apple debuted at WWDC, including WatchOS 9 and iOS 16, as well as Apple's new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air

CNET's Ian Sherr contributed to this report.

Watch this: Apple Introduces New MacOS Ventura