After several weeks of beta testing, macOS 12.3 is officially available for download. With this third update of macOS Monterey, Apple introduces many new features.
Among the most anticipated is the Universal Command function, which allows you to use an iPad and a Mac simultaneously with the same keyboard and mouse. macOS 12.3 also introduces a whole bunch of small welcome functions such as notes in the iCloud Keychain, the possibility (finally!) to update your AirPods from a Mac. Or the possibility of using visual search, a feature that was previously only available in the United States and which makes it possible to identify and display information about certain elements of an image.
Here is a quick overview of the new features of macOS 12.3 not to be missed.
Universal command
Introduced at WWDC, the Universal Command feature created a real “wow” effect. Currently available in beta in Monterey, it simply allows you to take control of an iPad present nearby (up to three at most) using the keyboard and mouse or the Mac’s trackpad.
No specific settings are required to use Universal Control. Simply push the mouse pointer to the edge of the Mac screen to seamlessly hover over the iPad. Universal Control does not stop there, however. It is indeed possible to drag and drop content from the Mac to the iPad (and vice versa) or to control the iPad with its touch gestures from the Mac’s trackpad.
On macOS, the Universal Control control panel is accessible from System Preferences in the Monitors menu where a dedicated button has been added.
To use this feature, both Mac and iPad must be signed into the same iCloud account and have two-factor authentication turned on. Universal Order is available on MacBook Pro (2016 and newer), MacBook (2016 and newer), MacBook Air (2018 and newer), iMac (2017 and newer), iMac (27-inch Retina 5K, Late 2015), iMac Pro, Mac mini (2018 and newer) and Mac Pro (2019); and iPad Pro, iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad (6th generation and later), and iPad mini (5th generation and later).
Visual search in images
Already activated for several months among American users, visual search in images has just been deployed in the rest of the world. Using artificial intelligence, this function is able to identify works of art, plants and flowers, animals, monuments, breeds of dogs and cats present in your images and display detailed information about them.
The feature can be used in both the Preview viewer and the Photos app. When additional information is available about an item in the image, the small “i” icon is marked with small stars.
A click on it allows, in principle, to display the information panel of the image (including the EXIF data) but also the data unearthed by the visual search. Another small icon is then displayed directly on the identified subject: on dogs, an animal paw, a leaf on plants or even a world map for monuments.
Notes in iCloud Keychain
Apple’s password manager gains a new function. You can now add a note to your passwords, right in iCloud Keychain. All added notes are of course synchronized on all your devices connected to the same account.
Dynamic head tracking in Music
If you are lucky enough to own a Mac with an M1 chip and you listen to music with a pair of AirPods, macOS 12.3 will allow you to enjoy spatial audio with dynamic head tracking. You can customize spatial audio settings right from your Mac’s Control Center.
new emojis
Each update has its share of new emojis. macOS 12.3 does not cut it, just like iOS 15.4, and welcomes new faces, new objects (mirror ball, slide, lifebuoy) and new hand gestures (heart with fingers, for example), the pregnant man or inclusive handshakes with several shades of skin color, from the dedicated keyboard.