The best new Mac feature may arrive earlier than expected

When Apple announced macOS Sequoia back at WWDC, the feature to induce the most excitement was iPhone Mirroring.

The latest Continuity feature enables iPhone owners to see a representation of their smartphone’s display on their Mac. That means users will be able to access iOS apps, swipe between the pages of their home screens, and respond to notifications using the Mac keyboard and mouse; rather than having to pick up their phone and fiddle with the touchscreen.

More pertinently from a productivity perspective, you’ll be able to drag and drop files and photos, which means no more consistently AirDropping files between one device and t’other. Another benefit is the ability to send iPhone audio through the more powerful Mac speakers.

However, given the macOS release schedule has traditionally lagged about a month behind the iOS release schedule, the expectation was that Mac users would need to wait until around October to access iPhone Mirroring.

MacRumors reports Apple is planning to launch macOS Sequoia alongside iOS 18 for this very purpose – to enable iPhone Mirroring to be available as soon as possible for those deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem.

The report says macOS Sequoia will be available in mid-September, which is almost always when Apple launches its latest version of iOS to coincide with new iPhone release week. This would be great news considering Apple hasn’t always delivered features intended to make working between mobile and desktop devices on time.

For example, the Universal Control feature that enabled iPad and Mac owners to control both devices with a single keyboard and mouse/trackpad took until May 2022 to arrive, almost a full year after it was announced at WWDC in June 2021. If today’s report is correct, it appears Apple may have learned its lesson from that debacle.

The launch of macOS Sequoia won’t, however, deliver the Apple Intelligence AI features that’ll headline Apple’s software releases this year. That, according to recent betas, is scheduled to drop in iOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia‌ 15.1. For that release, we’re are probably looking at October at the earliest.