Anyone who works on a MacBook or an iMac should be pretty darn excited about the features coming to macOS Monterey, announced at WWDC 2021. Some of the most notable ones are Shortcuts, Universal Control and a new and improved Safari browser.

Shortcuts

Initially introduced on iOS, Shortcuts is essentially a way to cut down the time you spend to execute tasks you repeat regularly. There’s a rich gallery of pre-built actions designed just for Mac like being able to instantly share files, make animated GIFs, and more.

Shortcuts is integrated throughout macOS, including the menu bar, Finder, Spotlight, and even hands-free with Siri. What happens to automator now? Users can easily import existing Automator workflows into Shortcuts and be up and running right away.

Universal Control

For Apple users with multiple devices, Universal Control will be a godsend. This lets users work with a single mouse and keyboard and move between Mac and iPad for a seamless experience, with no setup required. Users can drag and drop content back and forth between devices like it’s nothing.

New Safari

Safari adds a new tab design, including a redesigned tab bar and Tab Groups, so users can browse the web in new ways.

A new tab bar takes on the color of the webpage and combines tabs, the tool bar, and the search field into a single compact design.

Tab Groups offer a new way to easily save and manage tabs. They also sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad, so users can continue their project from anywhere and easily share tabs with other Apple users.

Other improvements and features

SharePlay — Works similarly to the one on iOS where you can have a listening or watch party via Apple Music and Apple TV with people you’re in a FaceTime call with.

Shared with You — Makes it easy to locate and enjoy all the great content that’s shared through Messages, including photos, videos, articles, and more, right from a Shared with You tab within various Apple apps.

Live Text — Uses on-device machine learning to detect text in photos, including phone numbers, websites, addresses, and tracking numbers, so users can copy and paste, make a phone call, open a website, and easily find more information

Privacy — Mail Privacy Protection let users choose whether emails can collect information about their Mail activity, and the Mac recording indicator now shows which app is accessing the Mac’s microphone.

Accessibility — Lets anyone add alternative image descriptions right from Markup, and improved Full Keyboard Access and new cursor customization options provide more flexibility when navigating Mac.

macOS Monterey is coming this fall.