Apple on Monday during its WWDC keynote talked about macOS 13 Ventura, the next major version of the Mac operating system. A beta test version of Ventura is available to developers now, with a public beta coming in the next few weeks. The official release to the general public will happen this fall.

There are a lot of new things coming to Ventura, but here we highlight the main features.

Producer

Mac users tend to work with multiple applications and files at the same time, resulting in dozens of open windows. You can use Mission Control to sort windows, but it’s still hard to find what you need. The new Scene Manager will help you take control of these windows.

The Scene Manager can be activated in the Control Center, and it places your active window in the center of the display, with the thumbnails of other windows arranged in a vertical row on the side. When you click on a thumbnail, the open window moves to the thumbnail row and the selected window takes center stage. If multiple windows are open in an application, you can switch between them on the thumbnail.

If you have a group of windows linked together for the task you’re working on, such as Safari windows for a store, notes with a shipping list, and maps for getting directions to a store, you drag the thumbnails to the center. screen and create a group. You can also drag and drop files from the desktop onto the app thumbnail to open those files in that app.

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Shared iCloud Photo Library

The iCloud Photo Sharing Library is one of several collaboration features Apple is introducing with macOS Ventura. Now you can create a photo library and share it with up to six family members to create a shared photo collection.

Members can choose which photos and videos to add to the collection, decide whether to share all the photos and videos they take, and edit and delete items. The Photos app will suggest which photos to add to the collection based on group members.

Continuity Camera: iPhone Webcam

Apple is very unhappy with the quality of the FaceTime camera that comes with Macs. The company’s solution is not to update the camera, but to introduce a new feature called Continuity Camera. But to use this feature, you need an iPhone 11 or later with iOS 16.

The Continuity camera is similar to Universal Control: you can connect your iPhone to your Mac, and macOS Ventura automatically recognizes the device and connects to it wirelessly. You can then use the iPhone’s camera in FaceTime and other apps.

The Continuity Camera has features like a center scene (which keeps you centered in the frame) and a portrait mode. The new Studio Light feature uses the iPhone’s flash to provide better lighting, and the new desktop view creates two shots, one of a person and one of the tabletop in front of the Mac. Studio Light requires an iPhone 12 or later with iOS 16.

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Passcodes in Safari

Passkeys is a Safari feature that allows you to use Touch ID instead of a password to access a website. A unique digital key is generated for the specific site you want to access, and when you want to log in, the key is sent to the site and you authenticate it with Touch ID on a Mac or Face ID on an iPhone or iPad.

Apple has stated that the passkey cannot be tampered with because you can’t inadvertently give the password to a hacker, and because the passkeys aren’t stored on the web server, they can’t be discovered if leaked. And passwords are synchronized between Apple devices.

Apple said it is working with the FIDO Alliance to make sure passkeys work on non-Apple devices. (Specifically, Apple’s Passkey implementation of the FIDO passwordless authentication standard). From the keynote, it appears that you need to scan a QR code displayed on a non-Apple device in order to access an account with a passcode.

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Improvements in the spotlight

Spotlight, the built-in search for macOS, has been redesigned so it’s more consistent across platforms. Other new features help make Spotlight a better way to interact with your Mac.

Quick Look, a feature that provides great image previews, finally works in Spotlight and can finally find media files in your photo library. Spotlight will also support Live Text (which was introduced with macOS Monterey), allowing users to search for text in an image. Actions can now be performed in Spotlight, so you can use Spotlight to start a timer, launch a shortcut, or create a document.

In a move that appears to compete directly with Google, Spotlight will offer more reliable results when used to search for information about things like movies, TV shows, personalities, businesses, and sports. Spotlight will populate the results window with additional information for you to view.

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