7 macOS Ventura features that will take your new Mac to the next level

Got a new iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or Apple Studio Display? Brace yourself because here’s an unfortunate truth about these machines: The built-in FaceTime camera is a disappointment. However, if you have an iPhone 11 or later, you can skip that camera and use a new Ventura feature that lets you use your iPhone as a webcam with Continuity Camera.

While you may be familiar with the pass-through camera feature from previous versions of macOS, Apple has expanded the feature in Ventura to include iPhone webcam support. You can attach an iPhone to your Mac or place it on a stand and Ventura will automatically detect the device and connect wirelessly. You can then use your iPhone’s camera in FaceTime and other apps on your Mac.

With an iPhone as a webcam, you can also use Center Stage to keep yourself in the center of the frame, as well as Portrait mode. If you’re using an iPhone 12 or later, there’s a Studio Light feature that uses the iPhone flash to provide better lighting. Finally, a nifty Desk View feature creates a two-shot view, one of the person and another of the desktop in front of the Mac, which is handy for demos.

Learn more about using iPhone as a webcam in macOS Ventura.

If you’re having trouble understanding the person you’re having a FaceTime conversation with, you can use the Live Captions feature in macOS Ventura. When it’s on, the spoken words of the person you’re talking to are transcribed in a window on the right side of the FaceTime window.

To enable this feature, go to System Settings > Accessibility > Live Subtitles (Beta)and then turn on in the “In-App Live Captions” section Live captions in FaceTime.

Live captions also work outside of FaceTime. For example, you can use it while watching a video that doesn’t have subtitles. But as the name suggests, Live Captions is in beta, which means you might encounter bugs, inaccurate subtitles, and other quirks.

Okay, you might not need to use this feature right away, but it’s happened to all of us — we email or text the wrong person, make a stupid typo, or just wish we could instantly take back the note we just made cleverly. Finally, you can undo messages in macOS Ventura.

In announcementsright-click the message bubble, and then select from the pop-up that appears Undo Send. After you send the message, you have two minutes to undo the sending. Once unsent, the message will be deleted, but the recipient will see a note stating the message has been deleted. This feature is also available on iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 and only works if everyone involved is using iMessage. A text message sent from an iPhone to an Android phone or other non-Apple device cannot be undone.

In post Office, after sending an email you have 10 seconds to undo it. At the bottom of the sidebar will be a Undo Send The link will appear and you can click it to undo the sent email. Learn more about how this feature works. This feature is also available in iOS 16 for iPhone and iPadOS 16 for iPad.

If you’ve spent a lot of time in an image editing app to remove the background in a photo, you’ll be amazed at how much time this feature saves you. This feature automatically selects the theme you want, copies it, and then you can paste it anywhere.

This feature is available in both the Preview and Photos apps that come with macOS Ventura, and it also works in Quick Look when you select a file in Finder and press the spacebar to preview it. All you have to do is hover over the subject with your mouse cursor, right click on it and then click Copy subject in the pop-up mouse menu. Ventura recognizes the subject and shows you what is being selected with a glowing outline. Then actually click on the Copy selection command, and you can then paste it into a new image.

This feature is also available in iOS 16 for iPhone and iPadOS 16 for iPad.

If you use Photos to manage your images, the app lets you hide an image from your feed by right-clicking it and then selecting it Hide photo. It’s placed in a hidden photo album, but before macOS Ventura, anyone with access to your Mac account could open that album.

Finally, in Ventura, the hidden photo album – as well as the “Recently Deleted” folder – can be protected with a password. To enable this go to photos > settings > Generallyand in the Privacy section, check the box for use password. Now when you access these albums, you will need to enter your user password or use Touch ID. Just don’t forget.

White noise can help with your focus, especially when you’re in an area with a lot of distractions or when it’s absolutely still. With macOS Ventura, you can play white noise from your Mac and turn it on and off at will.

Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Audio. Scroll down to background noise section, and you can flip the switch to turn it on. You can also choose the type of sound you want to play and adjust the volume. After everything is set up, you can toggle it on and off in Control Center. Learn more about this feature.

The clock app that came with iOS and iPadOS is finally on the Mac. It works the same as it does on the iPhone and iPad, so everything is very familiar. You can set timers, alarms and track different times around the world in a beautiful interface that lets you see time zones in places around the world. And it also works with Siri on Mac, so you can use voice commands instead of opening the app.