Bento breakdown: What's new in macOS Sequoia

Apple's macOS bento graphic on an iMac.

Apple's presentation of operating system updates are usually summed up by a single graphic. The bento, named after the food container due to its compartments, is used to list all of the key features users will be able to try out when macOS Sequoia ships this fall.

While it doesn't list every new feature, it does act as a good guide for what to expect. At least, it covers the main beats of the release.

What follows is the list of features outlined in the macOS bento graphic during the WWDC 2024 keynote.

Easier window tiling

An improvement on existing window management features, the tiling of windows now handles similar to how some third-party management apps function.

You can drag a window to a spot on the screen, with it then automatically repositioning itself. For example, putting it to the far edge of a screen can make it expand to fill the left half of your display.

Text effects

Previously rumored before the event took place, this refers to iMessage. Users can now apply various effects to text that they send to other people.

This can include the standard bold, italics, and underlining of text, among other elements.

Send Later in Messages

Another iMessage feature, it allows users to schedule messages to be sent to contacts at specific times. This can be useful to send out important news, reminders, and other time-specific information.

Highlights in Safari

Highlights is one of Safari's new features for 2024, and one of AppleInsider's exclusive discoveries. It's basically summarizing articles, making it easier for users to work out what a page is about.

This can include details about locations when planning a trip, information about a TV show or movie, and even quick links to other resources.

Passwords

After incorporating passwords as part of the Keychain integrated into its operating systems, Apple has finally made an app for it. Passwords is used to manage authentication for users across Apple's ecosystem of devices.

The macOS version is the only one that can import password lists.

Presenter Preview

Presenter Preview offers users a glance of what screen information they will be showing on a video conference of call, before they share the screen. This gives users a chance to check they aren't going to share sensitive information with others.

It is a part of Apple's ongoing improvements helping remote workers.

Collections in Photos

The Photos app has been given a considerable rework, to take advantage of Apple Intelligence arriving this fall. In this case, Photos will offer up more smart collections for users based on various generated themes.

We'll be looking at Photos improvements very soon. Outside of Apple Intelligence, it is potentially the largest change year-over-year in the operating system.

Redesigned Reader

The Reader view of Safari already strips many elements from a webpage to make it easier to read.

The new version is redesigned with new elements, including a table of contents and a summary of the article.

Apple Pay on third-party browsers

Apple Pay on Mac has previously only worked with Safari for online purchases. This limitation will change, with users able to perform Apple Pay transactions in other browsers.

Hiking in Maps

As part of the Apple Maps changes, users will be able to browse thousands of hikes across national parks in the United States. They can be customized, saved for offline uses, notated, and shared with iPhone's Maps for the actual trek.

Scenes in Freeform

Freeform is Apple's productivity app, providing a vast digital canvas for idea generation. To help navigate sometimes difficult-to-traverse documents, Scenes will help users quickly move from one area to another.

Game Porting Toolkit 2

The second-generation version, Game Porting Toolkit 2 will help developers port their games from Windows to Mac.

This time around, there are improvements to Windows compatibility, shader debugging tools, and enhanced Xcode support.

Emoji Tapbacks

Part of the iMessage changes that's also happening in iOS 18, Tapbacks will gain the option to add emoji as reactions to a message.

iOS notifications on Mac

Just as the name describes, the integration of iOS and macOS notifications will mean notifications that appear on an iPhone can be made to appear on the user's Mac. This can allow users to respond to notifications without necessarily needing to pick up their iPhone.

iPhone Mirroring

In a similar vein, if there are apps you want to use on your iPhone but you're at your Mac and it's a little too far away, you can see your iPhone display on your Mac's screen.

For privacy, the iPhone will remain locked on its own screen while you access it remotely.

Math Notes

AppleInsider broke the news that Math Notes was coming in April. It's a change that allows users to write in expressions and the calculator immediately solves it for them.

This homework helper has largely been demonstrated on iPadOS, but it's also arriving on macOS.