After about a month of beta testing—and just in time for Mac Studio—Apple has released macOS 12.3. In addition to the huge release of iOS 15.4, it has a ton of new features for your Mac.

macOS 12.3: New Features

Universal control

The main feature of macOS 12.3 is Universal Control, which was supposed to appear in the first iOS 12 release last fall. This feature allows you to wirelessly connect your Mac to an iPad or another Mac and control them both with the same keyboard and mouse. It’s similar to Sidecar, but you don’t extend your Mac’s screen with Universal Control; instead, you can use the same input devices on both machines and freely drag and drop files between the devices.

Spatial audio

Apple was slow to bring Spatial Audio to the Mac, but it’s improved a lot in macOS 12.3. Macs with the M1 chip can now activate dynamic head tracking in the Music app with supported AirPods, and you’ll also find new settings in the Control Center.

Emojis

Like in iOS 15.4, in macOS 12.3 you get several new emojis, including melting face, saluting face, biting lip, pot, beans, x-rays, and bubbles.

New Siri Voice

There is a new Siri voice to select in Settings, American Siri Voice 5, which is not explicitly male or female and was recorded by a member of the LBGTQ+ community.

Safari translation

When using Safari, it can now automatically translate Italian and Traditional Chinese (among other languages) by clicking the button in the address bar.

iCloud Keychain Notes

You can add notes to saved passwords in Keychain for things like security questions and codes.

Podcasts

The Podcasts app has a new episode filter for seasons, played, unplayed, saved and downloaded episodes.

macOS 12.3: Bug Fixes and Security Updates

MacOS 12.3 also includes several bug fixes, including opening articles in the Today view of the new widget, distorted sound when watching videos in the Apple TV app, and sorting issues when organizing albums in Photos. There are also likely to be several security updates, but Apple hasn’t posted them all yet.

macOS 12.3: How to Install

Any Mac that can run macOS Monterey will install macOS 12.3. Go to System Preferences in the Apple menu, click Software Update, and then click the Install Now button. Your Mac will start downloading the update and then reboot to install it.

This post Apple releases macOS 12.3 with Universal Control, Spatial Audio and more

was original published at “https://www.macworld.com/article/622883/macos-12-3-features-release-install.html”