macOS 15

Learn about macOS Sequoia. Everything below this point is rumors from before WWDC 2024.

Apple will name macOS 15 after another location in California during WWDC, but for now it will be referred to by its version number. The update will focus on Apple's efforts to prove its vertical integration of hardware and software allow for industry-leading artificial intelligence features.

With each iteration of macOS in recent years, Apple has altered some aspects of the operating system's design to bring it closer to iOS and iPadOS. The trend is expected to continue with macOS 15 along with other first-party app updates.

iOS 18 and iPhone may make up most of the discourse surrounding Apple's AI efforts, but the Mac may have one of the most important implementations of the technology. If Apple can upgrade developers' experience building apps by having an Xcode AI assistant, it could be a game changer for app ecosystem development.

Mac still represents the workhorse of Apple, and since the platform is so mature, it tends to get less significant updates year-over-year. However, the introduction of AI combined with the near ubiquity of Apple Silicon may represent a bigger leap in 2024.

Xcode Copilot

While the tech industry chases after chatbots and image generators, Apple will likely introduce a helper tool to Xcode. There are some examples of AI coding tools powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT, but Apple's tool will likely have a more focused approach by being used only in Xcode.

Coding can sometimes feel more like an earned skill than an exact science. Errors are often inscrutable and require the developer to dive through many troubleshooting steps to find an issue.

Xcode Copilot could observe the developer's actions while having access to Apple's entire database for how to build apps. When an error occurs, no matter how esoteric, the AI tool should be able to provide exactly what's wrong and offer potential fixes.

There are a lot of potential problems with generative AI in critical environments like an IDE, but rumors suggest Apple's models have more precise data sets and are less likely to hallucinate.

AI built with privacy in mind

Apple sees privacy as a fundamental human right. Expect a central theme for AI introduced in macOS 15 to be privacy, security, and control.

Existing tools that use large language models (LLM) or generative AI rely on mountains of user info obtained from around the web. These data sets and the prompts provided by users are used to continue training the models, which leads to privacy concerns.

Apple is expected to separate the user's data from the model's training to ensure maximum privacy. The company has even paid for data sets, like stock photos, to train models rather than rely on harvested user data.

There has been some discussion of Apple offering paid access to LLMs made by other companies, but these would come with a warning about data privacy. An AI-focused App Store could be introduced.

macOS 15 with AI Spotlight Search

macOS 15 could introduce the rumored "Ajax" generative AI. It is a smaller model that can run on-device and would be integrated with features like Safari, Messages, and Spotlight.

Ajax will be able to learn from user data found across macOS 15 to quickly find specific content buried deep across the system and provide summaries or direct links. The on-device model will be able to generate responses to queries about user data without sending it off to a server.

Apple isn't expected to release a chatbot, at least not a first-party one, so don't expect to have conversations with the AI tools. However, Siri will likely get much more conversational thanks to AI generated responses that include summaries from the internet.

Messages can become quite difficult to manage when inundated with information from multiple group chats or a particularly chatty friend. Ajax is expected to provide intelligent search options for Messages as well as the ability to summarize a conversation.

macOS 15 Safari Intelligent Browsing

Information shared by people familiar with macOS 15 has revealed a new tool in Safari called Intelligent Browsing. Not much is known about the tool besides its existence, but it is expected to provide information or summaries about websites.

The user will have to enable Intelligent Browsing in macOS 15 manually. It will then be able to provide information as the user is browsing, like webpage summaries or image search tools.

The Safari UI will continue to get more iPadOS-like with a consolidated settings menu related to extensions and AI tools. Like on iOS and iPadOS, these tools, along with features normally found in the Share Sheet, will be located in the Aa menu.

Another new tool is coming to Safari, but it isn't clear if it will have AI-focused capabilities. It is a tool called Web Eraser, and it can remove elements of a page by clicking them.

macOS 15 Photos Clean Up

The Photos app in macOS 15 will see its existing Retouch tool revamped into something called "Clean Up." It will work similarly to the old tool, but with generative AI powering the backend.

Repair tools like Retouch have conventionally relied on machine learning algorithms to determine what pixels should replace existing ones around a selected area. The new generative AI function will have more understanding of the photo beyond the selected pixels, like what the object is, the scenery behind it, and even location data.

Another potential upgrade to photo editing could be generative fill. Instead of generating an image from scratch, the Photos app would be able to extend the borders of an image using all available context.

macOS 15 Voice transcription and summary

Voice Memos and Apple Notes are being tied together with new integrations in macOS 15. Users will be able to record a Voice Memo in Notes, get a transcription, and use AI to generate a summary.

Third-party apps have been able to perform similar functions, but not to this degree. Tying notes and recorded audio is an obvious next step, but advanced search and summarization options will be killer features.

The idea is if you're at a lecture and missed a portion while taking notes, you can ask for a summary of that section to insert into your notes. Find the section by searching for key terms about the subject to quickly identify which part of the transcript is relevant.

Voice Memos is getting new features too. Since it isn't a note taking app, it will focus more on the transcription and summary portions of the AI features.

Improved first-party apps

Other app updates will occur alongside Apple's many AI-focused features. Calculator will get a ticker tape history sidebar, Notes will get new app integrations with Voice Memos and Calculator, and Reminders will appear in Calendar.

Many of Apple's first-party apps generally get some kind of update each year, but 2024 could prove to be a big one. The macOS Calculator app will get a new UI, which is expected to spread to the other operating systems — including a new dedicated iPadOS Calculator app.

Other new improvements will be system-wide functions like intermixing different app functionality. A so-called Math Notes feature will enable intelligent text-based calculations in the Notes app.

Calendar will have Reminders visible alongside events in various views. While it won't be a total replacement of the Reminders app, it is expected to act as a more simple view of everything due on a specific day.

macOS 15 release date

Apple will reveal macOS 15 during WWDC, which is being held June 10, 2024. It will be announced alongside iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, watchOS 11, and visionOS 2.

After a brief beta period over the summer, Apple will release macOS 15 to the public shortly after the iPhone 16 launch in September. It may launch alongside iOS as it did in 2023.