Just updated to macOS Sequoia and eager to explore its exciting new features? Turns out, some of these features are turned off by default, and a few handy settings are tucked away in hidden menus. In this guide, I’ll walk you through all the macOS Sequoia settings you need to change to make the most of your Mac.
Table of Contents
1. Remove Gaps Between Windows While Tiling
Sequoia has introduced window tiling on macOS. You can use keyboard shortcuts or drag windows to the corners to snap them into place. However, by default, there’s a gap between the windows. To tile the windows without this annoying gap:
- Go to System Settings > Desktop & Dock.
- Disable the Tiled windows have margins option under the Windows section.
- While you’re there, you can also explore two new tiling settings – Tile by dragging windows to screen edges and Hold the Option key while dragging windows to tile.
2. Change Windows Tiling Keyboard shortcuts
The default keyboard shortcuts to snap or tile windows are not handy and, in my experience, don’t always work properly. However, you can customize these shortcuts to your liking. While changing them isn’t straightforward, it does work reliably once set up.
- Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts.
- Click on All Applications and add a new shortcut by clicking the plus icon.
- Here, manually type the position name. You can find the exact position name by clicking on Window > Move & Resize in the Mac Menubar.
For example, in the screenshot below, I typed ‘Left’ and then assigned a keyboard shortcut of my preference.
3. Double-Click to Maximize
By default, when you double-click on an app’s title bar, macOS enlarges the window to fit its content but does not maximize it to fill the entire screen like on Windows. With Sequoia, you can change this behavior to fill the entire screen.
- Go to System Settings > Display & Dock.
- Double-click a window’s title bar option and select Fill from the drop-down menu.
Now, when you double-click on the title bar, the app will maximize and fill the entire screen.
4. Show passwords in the Menubar
In Sequoia, Apple has moved passwords from Settings to a separate app. However, this doesn’t necessarily make things easier—you still need to open the Passwords app instead of the Settings app to check passwords. But, by enabling a simple setting, you can now add Passwords to the Mac’s menu bar at the top, allowing quick access to all your passwords and passkeys. You can also save a new password if you don’t get a prompt to save it.
To add it to the menu bar:
- Open the Passwords app.
- Go to Settings.
- Check the box next to Show Passwords in Menu Bar.
5. New Siri
Sequoia comes with AI or Apple Intelligence features like email summaries and a new, improved Siri. However, these features are not enabled by default. To enable them:
- Go to System Settings > Apple Intelligence and Siri.
- Turn on the new Apple Intelligence.
Here, you can also customize other Siri settings like the voice, keyboard shortcut, and more.
6. Set Keyboard Shortcuts for AI Writing Tools
One of the AI features is Writing Tools. Once enabled in the settings, you can access writing tools directly from the right-click menu anywhere where you are typing or editing text. However, there isn’t a default keyboard shortcut to access it. You can create one in the settings like we did for window tiling.
- Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts.
- Click on All Applications and add a new shortcut by clicking the plus icon.
- Enter the exact name of the tool, such as ‘Summarize’ or ‘Proofread,’ and then assign the keyboard shortcut you prefer.
7. Allow Which iPhone Apps to Show Notifications
Mac can finally mirror your iPhone without you even touching your phone. It also displays all your iPhone notifications and lets you open them on the Mac. While helpful, constant notifications can be distracting. Fortunately, you can choose which iPhone apps can push notifications to your Mac, allowing you to enjoy the feature without getting distracted by every alert.
- Open System Settings > Notifications > Allow notifications from iPhone.
- Disable apps to stop getting notifications from them.
8. Reduce Interruptions with AI
To minimize distractions from notifications, you can use the new AI-based focus mode called Reduce Interruptions. You will find this option in System Settings > Focus > Reduce Interruptions to enable Intelligent Breakthrough and silencing.
It uses AI to identify and display only the most important notifications. You can also manually add people or apps from whom you want to receive all notifications, ensuring you don’t miss anything important when Reduce Interruptions mode is enabled.
That’s it! These are new settings that you need to check and change on the new MacOS Sequoia.
