macOS Monterey: 5 features you could switch to

It took a beard to get there, features aren’t readily available, and people are complaining about Safari: macOS Monterey doesn’t have the best reputation on the face of it. Still, the operating system for your Mac is one that you can be quite excited about.

Why exactly? That’s a very good question!

macOS Monterey: 5 features

There are a number of macOS Monterey features that I think you could make the switch for. The choice is always yours, of course, but you can at least get to know them. That’s why I put five in a row.

#1 Quick Notes

Thanks to iPadOS 15, we’ve been able to play with the Quick Notes for a while. It’s a convenient way to quickly open the application so that you can write down important things right away. Something that’s damn useful on the iPad, but I think really comes into its own with macOS Monterey. Because if you want to quickly take notes, during a meeting for example, it’s on your Mac.

#2 macOS Monterey: AirPlay

With the introduction of macOS Monterey, AirPlay for Mac is finally a fact. Where it was already possible to use other devices as a second screen this way, it is now possible to share content from your iPhone or iPad. You can clone the screen to the Mac or watch content from your favorite streaming service on the impressive display of your iMac or MacBook.

It is also possible to stream content from Mac to Mac. So you can clone the display of one Apple computer to that of your other. How delicious is that?

#3 FaceTime also better on Mac

iOS 15 (and iPadOS 15) has brought many nice improvements to FaceTime. Those improvements are now also being carried over to macOS Monterey. New functionalities such as SharePlay, with which you can enjoy music, movies or series with friends, are also available.

In addition, I think that FaceTime will be used more because macOS Monterey also brings the improvements. I don’t see a lot of Android users using FaceTime, but I do see the switch for Windows users in the business area. Especially now that we will have to work from home again, probably in the coming months.

#4 macOS Monterey: Focus

Speaking of great iOS 15 features, Focus is also available for Mac. Thanks to macOS Monterey it is possible to use the extended ‘do not disturb’ functionality. This allows you to completely customize your Mac at the desired times.

I can of course give you a short summary of the functionality, but colleague Raymon explains it in detail in the article above.

#5 Commands on your Mac

The Apple Shortcuts app was introduced for iPhone and iPad, but is now also available for Mac thanks to macOS Monterey. Quite tasty, because in combination with Focus you can set your ideal work routine in this way. The preset commands have been adapted for Apple computers, but you can of course also get started in this variant yourself.

The integration goes very deep into macOS Monterey, by the way. From the Dock to the Finder, and from Spotlight to Siri, they’re all compatible with the Shortcuts app. And of course they work with other devices like your iPhone and your iPad.

Be careful with your Intel Mac

macOS Monterey is anything but a boring upgrade in my opinion. The above reasons should be enough to make the switch, but I’ll hold off with my personal laptop for a while. Where I currently use the 16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro as my Daily Driver, I have a 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2017 for my own use. A model with an Intel chip, that is.

Last week it became clear that for people with an Intel-Mac the switch to macOS Monterey is not yet very smooth. Knowing more? Be sure to read the article above!