Software:macOS Monterey

Short description: 18th major version of the macOS operating system

macOS Monterey

A version of the macOS operating system
Screenshot of macOS Monterey in light appearance
Developer	Apple Inc.
OS family	Macintosh Unix, based on Darwin (BSD)
Source model	Closed, with open source components
General availability	October 25, 2021 (2021-10-25)
|Final release|Latest release}}	12.7.3 (January 22, 2024 (2024-01-22)) [±]
Update method	Software Update
Platforms	x86-64, ARM64
Kernel type	Hybrid (XNU)
License	Proprietary software with open-source components and content licensed with APSL
Preceded by	macOS Big Sur
Succeeded by	macOS Ventura
Support status
Receiving security updates. Drops support for most Macs released from mid 2013 to 2014, including all Macs with Nvidia GPUs.

macOS Monterey (version 12) is the eighteenth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. The successor to macOS Big Sur, it was announced at WWDC 2021 on June 7, 2021, and released on October 25, 2021. macOS Monterey was succeeded by macOS Ventura, which was released on October 24, 2022.

The operating system is named after Monterey Bay, continuing the trend of releases named after California locations since 2013's 10.9 Mavericks.

macOS Monterey is the final version of macOS that supports the 2015–2017 MacBook Air, Retina MacBook Pro, 2014 Mac Mini, 2015 iMac and cylindrical Mac Pro, as its successor, macOS Ventura, drops support for those models.

Changes

Monterey introduced several new features and changes, including the following:

• Shortcuts for the Mac
• TestFlight for the Mac
• Provisions to allow the planned introduction of Universal Control, which allows a single keyboard and mouse to control multiple Macs and iPads. It works on Macs with Apple silicon and some with an Intel processor, including MacBook Pro (2016 and later), MacBook (2016 and later), MacBook Air (2018 and later), iMac (2017 and later), iMac (5K Retina, 27-inch, Late 2015), iMac Pro, Mac Mini (2018 and later), and Mac Pro (2019). It works on these iPads: iPad Pro, iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad (6th generation and later), and iPad Mini (5th generation and later).
• Support for the Apple Music Voice Plan Subscription.
• Portrait Mode and Noise Cancellation features for FaceTime and some apps (in Control Center).
• New Toolbar features and designs for Finder and the Preview app.
• Have a Live Memoji and Animoji right on the lock screen.
• A yellow privacy indicator on the menu bar for indicating if the Mac's microphone or camera is active.
• Live Text, which allows a user to copy, paste, translate and look up text from images displayed by Photos, Screenshot, Quick Look, and Safari.
• New Passwords Manager for Mac
• New on-device machine-learning–activated keyboard dictation using Siri, and also now for almost unlimited duration.
• Low Power Mode for Mac that enables longer battery life for lightweight workflows such as reading PDFs, Web browsing, listening to music, etc. This works on MacBook Air (2018 and later) and MacBook Pro (2016 and later).
• A redesigned optional compact interface for the Safari browser.
• Support for playing AirPlay content streamed from recent iOS and iPadOS devices and Macs, including MacBook Pro (2018 and later), MacBook Air (2018 and later), iMac (2019 and later), iMac Pro (2017), Mac Mini (M1, 2020 and later), Mac Pro (2019), iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (2nd generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad (6th generation and later), and iPad Mini (5th generation and later). Older iPhone, iPad, and Mac models may share content at a lower resolution to supported Mac models when "Allow AirPlay for" is set to "Everyone" or "Anyone on the same network" in Sharing preferences.
• Improvements to FaceTime, including the ability to share a screen and the SharePlay function that enables multiple users to watch or listen simultaneously and in sync (e.g., to music or TV shows).
• The ability to factory reset the Mac from the System Preferences app.
• Visual Look Up makes it easy to identify objects (e.g. cat breeds, dog breeds, etc.) found within user's photos.
• Focus to set different modes to filter notifications across iPhones, iPads and Macs.
• The Time Machine backup functionality excludes more system files.
• Provisions to allow the planned introduction of "Expanded Protections for Children," which will apply cryptography to detect and help limit the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online by scanning the user's iCloud photos.
• Accessibility option to change the mouse pointer's colors.
• Tips notifications.
• The removal of a previously bundled PHP interpreter.
• The removal of a previously bundled Python 2.7 interpreter (from 12.3)
• The removal of the ability to use custom Quartz Composer filters and plugins in Photo Booth.
• networkQuality, a command-line tool for measuring upload/download capacity, upload/download flows, and upload/download responsiveness
• An automatically populated "Games" folder within launchpad
• Support for ProMotion in new 2021 MacBook Pro
• New Object Capture API for creating 3D models using images

Applications

Notes

In the Notes application, users can now apply arbitrary tags to a note (e.g., #cooking, #work); groups of notes with a given tag or tags can be viewed in Smart Folders or a Tag Browser in the sidebar. The new Quick Notes function enables a user to create a note from within any app via system-wide keyboard shortcut or hot corner.

Maps

Apple Maps adds a 3D globe, with increased mountain, desert, and forest detail.

Messages

Messages supports new features, also introduced in iOS 15, such as "Shared with You" which provides shortcut links to content shared via Messages in other Apple apps such as Safari, Photos, Music, and News.

When multiple photos are sent/received, they are now displayed as a collection instead of multiple messages. A download button is provided to download all photos simultaneously.

Known problems

Users and developers have reported the following:

• Laptops unable to boot (fixed with 12.0.1 update)
• Inability to charge sleeping laptops with MagSafe (fixed with 12.1 update)
• Mouse pointer memory leak issue (fixed with 12.1 update)
• Audio issue with speaker and audio output crackling and popping
• Problems connecting external displays to Mac using any version of Monterey
• Unicode Hex Input does not work if the code point number is 0xx0 (first and last digits are zero) (fixed in Ventura 13.3)

Supported hardware

See Apple's official list on their website

macOS Monterey drops support for various Macs released from 2013 to 2015, including all Macs with Nvidia GPUs. When Monterey was released, it supported the following Macs:

• iMac (Late 2015 or later)
• iMac Pro (2017)
• MacBook (Early 2016 or later)
• MacBook Air (Early 2015 or later)
• MacBook Pro (Early 2015 or later)
• Mac Mini (Late 2014 or later)
• Mac Pro (Late 2013 or later)
• Mac Studio (2022)

By using patch tools, macOS Monterey can be unofficially installed on earlier computers that are officially unsupported, such as the 2014 iMac and the 2013 MacBook Pro. Using these methods, it is possible to install macOS Monterey on computers as old as a 2008 MacBook Pro and iMac and 2009 Mac Mini.

Release history

Previous release

Current release

Version	Build	Release date	Darwin version	Release notes
12.0	21A344	October 25, 2021	21.0.1 xnu-8019.30.61~4 Tue Sep 14 20:56:24 PDT 2021	Release notes Security content
12.0.1	21A559		21.1.0 xnu-8019.41.5~1 Wed Oct 13 17:33:23 PDT 2021
12.1	21C52	December 13, 2021	21.2.0 xnu-8019.61.5~1 Sun Nov 28 20:28:54 PST 2021	Release notes Security content
12.2	21D49	January 26, 2022	21.3.0 xnu-8019.80.24~20 Wed Jan 5 21:37:58 PST 2022	Release notes Security content
12.2.1	21D62	February 10, 2022		Release notes Security content
12.3	21E230	March 14, 2022	21.4.0 xnu-8020.101.4~2 Mon Feb 21 20:34:37 PST 2022	Release notes Security content
12.3.1	21E258	March 31, 2022	21.4.0 xnu-8020.101.4~15 Fri Mar 18 00:45:05 PDT 2022	Release notes Security content
12.4	21F79	May 16, 2022	21.5.0 xnu-8020.121.3~4 Tue Apr 26 21:08:22 PDT 2022	Release notes Security content
	21F2081	June 14, 2022
	21F2092	June 16, 2022
12.5	21G72	July 20, 2022	21.6.0 xnu-8020.140.41~1 Sat Jun 18 17:07:22 PDT 2022	Release notes Security content
12.5.1	21G83	August 17, 2022	21.6.0 xnu-8020.141.5~2 Wed Aug 10 14:25:27 PDT 2022	Release notes Security content
12.6	21G115	September 12, 2022	21.6.0 xnu-8020.140.49~2 Mon Aug 22 20:17:10 PDT 2022	Release notes Security content
12.6.1	21G217	October 24, 2022	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.7~1 Thu Sep 29 20:12:57 PDT 2022	Release notes Security content
12.6.2	21G320	December 13, 2022	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.14~1 Sun Nov 6 23:31:16 PST 2022	Release notes Security content
12.6.3	21G419	January 23, 2023	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.18~2 Mon Dec 19 20:44:01 PST 2022	Release notes Security content
12.6.4	21G526	March 27, 2023	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.18.700.8~1 Thu Mar 9 20:08:59 PST 2023	Release notes Security content
12.6.5	21G531	April 10, 2023		Release notes Security content
12.6.6	21G646	May 18, 2023	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.18.701.5~1 Mon Apr 24 21:10:53 PDT 2023	Release notes Security content
12.6.7	21G651	June 21, 2023	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.18.701.6~1 Thu Jun 8 23:57:12 PDT 2023	Release notes Security content
12.6.8	21G725	July 24, 2023	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.18.702.13~1 Thu Jul 6 22:18:26 PDT 2023	Release notes Security content
12.6.9	21G726	September 11, 2023		Release notes Security content
12.7	21G816	September 21, 2023	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.18.703.5~1 Fri Sep 15 16:17:23 PDT 2023	Release notes Security content
12.7.1	21G920	October 25, 2023	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.18.704.15~1 Wed Oct 4 23:55:28 PDT 2023	Release notes Security content
12.7.2	21G1974	December 11, 2023	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.18.705.10~1 Thu Nov 9 00:38:19 PST 2023	Release notes Security content
12.7.3	21H1015	January 22, 2024	21.6.0 xnu-8020.240.18.706.2~1 Sun Dec 17 22:55:27 PST 2023	Release notes Security content

See Apple's main pages for Monterey release notes: for consumers and for enterprise, as well as their current security content page.

External links

• – official site

Preceded by macOS 11 (Big Sur)

macOS 12 (Monterey) 2021

Succeeded by macOS 13 (Ventura)