A week after seeding beta 3, Apple has released macOS Monterey beta 4 to developers today. Last time around we saw a major change to Safari’s default design moving away from the unified search/tab bar. With beta 4, Apple says the exciting Universal Control feature has been enabled and Live Text comes to Intel Macs.
Update 11:30 am PT: Apple has now pulled the mention of Universal Control being live in beta 4.
macOS Monterey beta 4 is showing up now via OTA for developers already enrolled. You can also download it from Apple’s Developer website if you’re not running the beta yet (full guide here).
New features and changes that come with macOS 12 Monterey include a totally redesigned Safari, Shortcuts app arriving on the Mac, FaceTime’s new SharePlay feature, Universal Control to seamlessly work across multiple Apple devices, a new Focus mode, Quick Notes, AirPlay to Mac, and more.
The biggest user-facing change in the third beta was an overhaul to the Safari tab design. The unified tab/search bar is no longer the default (although possible to revert to).
macOS Monterey beta 4
With the first three Monterey betas, the highly anticipated Universal Control feature hasn’t been available. But Apple’s release notes for macOS Monterey beta 4 say the feature is live (now pulled):
Another nice addition, Apple is no longer limiting Live Text to M1 Macs:
As always, it’s a bad idea to install early betas like this on your primary machine with bugs and performance issues being common, so use a secondary Mac if at all possible.
Notice anything new in today’s beta? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @9to5Mac.
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