Not the sexiest of updates from WWDC 2023, but macOS Sonoma is bringing in features that serve form and function.

The updates include more interactive widgets, ‘stunning’ moving wallpapers, and much, much more.

Interactive Widgets

Users can place widgets right on the desktop and conveniently access the widget gallery. Widgets blend seamlessly with the wallpaper while users work in apps. iPhone widgets will also be useable on their Mac thanks to Continuity.

Smarter Video Conferencing

Presenter Overlay, a new video effect, elevates a user’s presence by displaying them on top of the content they are sharing. There’s also Reactions that lets users share how they feel by seamlessly adding balloons, confetti, hearts, and more into the video. It can be triggered by a hand gesture.

Safari Updates

Private Browsing provides even greater protection both from trackers and from people who might have access to the user’s device. It helps prevent websites from tracking or identifying the user.

Profiles help users stay organised by offering a way to separate browsing between topics, while also keeping cookies, history, extensions, Tab Groups, and Favourites separate.

Stunning Screen Savers

macOS Sonoma brings stunning screen savers featuring slow-motion videos of various locations worldwide. These include the sweeping skyline of Hong Kong, the sandstone buttes of Monument Valley in Arizona, and the rolling hills of Sonoma in Northern California.

Games on Mac

Macs with Apple silicon can run demanding games with great performance, long battery life, and breathtaking visuals. To emphasize this point, famed game director Hideo Kojima made a surprise appearance and announced that his game, Death Stranding Director’s Cut, is coming to Mac later in 2023.

Other big games coming to Mac are: Stray, Fort Solis, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, HUMANKIND, Resident Evil Village: Winters’ Expansion, The Medium, ELEX II, Firmament, SnowRunner, Disney Dreamlight Valley, No Man’s Sky, Dragonheir: Silent Gods, and Layers of Fear.

macOS Sonoma will have Game Mode. It delivers an optimized gaming experience with smoother and more consistent frame rates.It does so by ensuring games get the highest priority on the CPU and GPU.