macOS Sequoia 15.1 release notes: Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring drag and drop, hearing health & other new features

macOS Sequoia 15.1 release notes: Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring drag and drop, hearing health & other new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 1, 2024

Read Apple’s official release notes for macOS Sequoia 15.1 to learn about all the new features and changes in this Mac update, including Apple Intelligence and more.

Apple released macOS Sequoia 15.1 on October 28, 2024, alongside iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1, bringing the first wave of Apple Intelligence capabilities, FDA-approved hearing health features for AirPods Pro 2 owners and other noteworthy changes.

There are other changes you’ll like, such as drag and drop in iPhone Mirroring, a watchlist in the TV app, hiding the option to disable AirPods noise cancellation, Smart Reply in Mail and Messages, transcription summaries in Notes, etc.

To download and install macOS 15.1 over the air, venture into System Settings > General > Software Update and follow the onscreen instructions. You can find the version number of the macOS software currently running on your Mac underneath the macOS heading in System Settings > General > About.

Apple’s official release notes for macOS Sequoia 15.1

Here are the full release notes for macOS Sequoia 15.1 that appear in Software Update and will also be available for your perusal on Apple’s support page.

This update introduces the first set of features powered by Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that unlocks powerful new ways to communicate, work and express yourself, all while protecting your data with an extraordinary step forward for privacy in AI. This release also includes drag and drop support for iPhone Mirroring and other features, bug fixes and security updates for your Mac.

Apple Intelligence (Mac with M1 and later)

● Writing Tools

● Writing Tools are available nearly everywhere you type, allowing you to rewrite, proofread and summarize text right in the app you’re working in
● Rewrite suggests different versions of your text so you can choose which combination of flow and wording you like best
● Proofread lets you view suggested improvements to what you’re writing, like grammar fixes and language refinements
● Summarize allows you to select text wherever you’re writing and generate a high-quality summary

● Siri

● A new look and feel includes a glowing light that wraps around the edge of your screen, animates responsively to the sound of your voice and lets you keep scrolling or typing while you talk to Siri
● Type to Siri when you don’t want to speak a request out loud
● Richer language understanding enables Siri to follow along if you stumble over your words or change your mind mid-sentence
● Conversational context is maintained over the course of a session, so you can refer more naturally to something you said in a recent request or something Siri mentioned in a recent response
● Product knowledge helps you get answers to thousands of questions about the features and settings on your Apple products
● Voice enhancements make Siri sound more natural, expressive and clear

● Photos

● Memory movies can be created by describing the story you want to see
● Photos search lets you find photos and videos simply by describing what you’re looking for
● Clean Up removes distractions in your photos

● Notifications

● Notification summaries make it easy to catch up on your notifications with a glanceable summary of the most important information
● Reduce Interruptions is a new Focus that ensures the most urgent notifications get through to you while silencing potential distractions

Additional Features

● Smart Reply in Mail and Messages help you quickly respond to messages with suggested responses
● Transcription summaries in Notes give you an intelligently created summary of the transcript from your audio recording

iPhone Mirroring

● Drag and drop support lets you seamlessly move files, photos, videos, and more between your Mac and iPhone

AirPods

● Hearing Protection feature helps users minimize exposure to loud environmental noise across listening modes (available in the United States and Canada)
● Features require AirPods Pro 2 with firmware version 7B19 or later. All features may not be available for all countries or regions, for more information visit: https://apple.com/airpods-pro/feature-availability/

This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:

● Option to automatically download and install games and apps to an external disk drive
● Game Center friend invites can be sent directly from the Contacts app and Friend Suggestions and receivers can see the invites in the inbox in Settings

Relevant support documents

Not all features may be available for all countries or regions, as noted by Apple’s macOS Feature Availability and Hearing Health Feature Availability pages.

For details on the security patches and important bug fixes in macOS Sequoia 15.1, peruse this support page. Some of the fixes are available for older Macs with the macOS Sonoma 14.7.1, macOS Ventura 13.7.1 and Safari 18.1 updates.

Apple Intelligence requirements

Apple Intelligence on Mac and iPad requires Apple silicon. If your devices is powered  by the Apple M1 chip or newer, it’s compatible with Apple Intelligence.

You must opt into Apple Intelligence by selecting Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist in Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri. You’ll be notified when you can access Apple Intelligence, which shouldn’t take more than a few hours.

Apple Intelligence is available in beta in English only at launch; set both the Siri language in System Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Language and your device region in System Settings > General > Language & Region to US English.

Apple notes that Apple Intelligence requires at least 4GB of free storage to use all the features. Apple Intelligence doesn’t work for residents of China and the European Union (EU) and those whose Apple Account country is in the EU.

Tags Apple Apple Intelligence macOS macOS 15 Sequoia macOS Sequoia Release Notes Update
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