Apple’s macOS is known for being extremely user-friendly right out of the box. But what if you want to turn macOS from something you work with to something that works for you? These lesser-known features and tricks will help you take advantage of all your desktop or laptop has to offer. (Got a PC instead? Check out our expert Windows 11 tips story for more.)
1. Mirror Your iPhone
We’ve all been there: You need a piece of information on your iPhone, but it’s in another room. iPhone Mirroring, a feature exclusive to macOS Sequoia, allows you to access your iPhone remotely via a new Mac app so you don’t have to get up from your comfy seat.
Screenshots of the iPhone being mirrored on Mac.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
First, make sure your iPhone has been updated to iOS 18 or later. Then open the iPhone Mirroring app on your Mac. You’ll have to input your passcode on your iPhone, but after that, your phone’s screen should appear on your Mac. You can operate your iPhone remotely this way, and by hovering over the mirroring window and clicking the App Switcher icon in the top right corner, you can even sift through your open iPhone apps.
2. Watch Picture-In-Picture Video
macOS Sequoia finally brought picture-in-picture video to MacBooks and desktops in September 2024. Next time you’re watching a video in Safari, click View at the top of your screen, then select Enter Video Viewer. The video viewer should separate your video from the rest of your desktop. Click the double-arrow in the video’s menu bar, and you’ll have the option to select Picture In Picture, which will put the video in the corner of your screen. You can move and resize the picture-in-picture video viewer however you like.
A MacBook desktop with Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video playing in the top-right corner.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
3. Type to Siri
Talking aloud to Siri isn’t always practical. Next time you’re in a public space and feel like asking Siri a question, try typing to the smart assistant instead. First, you’ll need to toggle on Type to Siri under Accessibility. (You’ll only be able to do this if you’ve updated to macOS Sequoia.) Then, in Siri settings, select which keyboard shortcut you’d like to use to open the Siri text prompt. When you use that shortcut, a text box will appear at the top right of your screen, where you can type in a question and hit Enter to receive a response.
A screenshot of the question “What time is it in Tokyo right now?” being typed into Type to Siri.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
4. Customize the Menu Bar
The bar at the top edge of your macOS desktop can be tweaked to include the settings you use most (and eliminate the ones you never touch). Start by opening System Preferences and then the Control Center menu. You can select and deselect several common setting modules, from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to Screen Mirroring and Display settings. If a module is checked on, it’ll be accessible via your menu bar at all times, making quick changes—like disconnecting from your AirPods or adjusting your keyboard brightness—super easy. You can also choose only to show a module when it’s active.
The MacOS Control Center menu.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
5. Turn on ‘Hot Corners’
Another option in System Preferences involves what Apple calls “hot corners.” You can access these shortcuts by tucking your cursor into the corner of your screen.
Open your Desktop & Dock settings, then scroll all the way down and click the Hot Corners button on the bottom right. A window will pop up that lets you select the shortcut associated with each corner of your screen. You can open a mini Notes widget by navigating to the top left corner of your screen, lock your computer by swinging to the bottom left, and more.
The Hot Corners window.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
6. Quickly Preview Files
Sometimes you want to steal a glance at an image or document without taking the time to open and shut its native application. With Quick Look, you can peek at your files with zero commitment. Locate a file in Finder, select it with a single click, then hit the spacebar. A window will pop up with a magnified view of your file. If you find the file you’re looking for and want to open its native app, the option to do so will be at the top right corner of the magnification window.
A file preview of a cat photo in Finder.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
7. Supercharge Your Screenshots
You might already know about the quick ⌘+Shift+4 screenshot tool, but what if you want to be a bit pickier about the image you’re capturing? ⌘+Shift+5 is just as easy to access, but it opens a toolbar at the bottom of your screen that helps you grab more precise screenshots and videos. This toolbar lets you capture your entire screen, window, or a selected area. You can also record your entire screen or a selected area. The built-in Options menu lets you choose whether you want a timer to count you in to your recording and where the video goes once you’re done.
The MacOS screenshot tool.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
8. Split the Screen
You may think you need dual monitors, but this might not be the case if you have a decent amount of screen real estate. You can split your screen between two windows and choose how much space you’d like to grant each window.
Begin by opening two windows, such as your web browser and the Messages app. Pick one window and hover your cursor over the tiny green dot at the top left. A menu will appear that lets you “tile” the window to the left or right (or, in macOS Sequoia, the top or the bottom). Once you’ve picked one of these options, you can choose which window to put on the opposite side of your screen. To un-split your screen, simply click that green Full Screen dot again. Sequoia also gives you the option to leave a small margin between windows; you can toggle this on or off in Desktop & Dock settings.
A split macOS screen with Notion on the left and Firefox on the right.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
This is incredibly useful for students and remote workers who might want to keep an eye on one window while actively using another. You can even drag tabs between the windows if you have two Firefox or Chrome browser windows open.
9. Organize Apps With Stage Manager
If you’d rather swap between multiple full-screen applications, you might enjoy using the Stage Manager function. Once you’ve toggled it on in System Preferences (under the Desktop & Dock menu), you can keep open apps on the side of your screen, where they can be easily accessed with just a click. The Customize button even allows you to choose where you’d like your open apps to sit and whether you’d like to see your desktop files when you’re using Stage Manager.
A demonstration of Stage Manager with a Scrivener window at center and several other apps on the left.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
10. See Real-Time Audio Captions
Whether you’re deaf, hard of hearing, or just sitting in a noisy area, you might appreciate macOS’s ability to generate real-time audio captions. You can turn this on by going to your computer’s Accessibility settings (found in System Preferences) and entering the Live Captions menu. Once you toggle on Live Captions, you can customize the font, size, and color in which those captions appear. You can apply these settings to FaceTime calls using an additional toggle at the bottom of the Accessibility window.
The Live Caption (Beta) menu in Accessibility.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
11. Create Text Shortcuts
If you repeatedly type the same lengthy phrases, you might want to create a text shortcut. This can be done by entering your Keyboard settings from the System Preferences application. Then click the Text Replacements button. You can create a new shortcut by clicking the Plus (+) icon. On the left (in the Replace column) will go whatever shortcut you’d like to use; on the right (in the With column) will go the phrase you want to appear when you type that shortcut. If you have an iPhone or iPad, these settings will also apply there.
The text replacement menu in MacOS Sonoma.
Sometimes you have to tell your friends you’re on your way to dinner in a silly way, okay? Credit: Adrianna Nine
12. Use Your iPhone As a Mac Camera
In 2022, macOS Ventura added the ability to use your iPhone as a bonus FaceTime camera via Continuity Camera. While many of Apple’s Continuity Camera ads show an iPhone propped up over a Mac screen, this isn’t all you can use it for. (Many Macs have a built-in camera, so this is a bit redundant.) Many users instead prefer to leverage Continuity Camera in a way that gives them a second camera angle, like when demonstrating something hands-on from their own point of view.
To set up Continuity Camera, you’ll need to make sure your iPhone “trusts” your Mac by connecting the two devices and tapping Trust. You’ll also want to double-check that both devices are signed into the same Apple ID. Once those two items are taken care of, you’re ready to roll.
An iPhone screenshot showing the iPhone’s camera is being used for Continuity Camera on iMac.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
Start by enabling Continuity Camera on your iPhone by navigating to Settings -> General -> Airplay -> Handoff. (This might already be enabled by default.) Then, launch FaceTime. In the menu bar, click Video, then select your iPhone camera. Your iPhone camera’s view should pop up on your Mac screen while the above confirmation appears on your iPhone.
13. Change the Folder Icons
If you’re sick of looking at the boring blue folders on your desktop, you can change their icons into anything you want! Once you’ve found an image (.JPG or .PNG) you’d like to use, right-click and hit Copy Image. Then right-click the folder you’d like to change and hit Get Info.
A grassy field desktop wallpaper with two customized folders configured to look like a cow and a horse.
Credit: Adrianna Nine
Click the folder icon at the top left of the folder’s information window, then click Edit in the menu bar. Hit Paste. Your copied image should replace the blue folder in the information and on your desktop (or wherever your folder is housed). You can use this to color-code your folders, make go-to folders easier to spot, or even transform your desktop into a silly little farm, as I did.
(Bonus tip: If you want to remove the background from an image for this purpose, just control-click the image and hit Copy Subject. This only works in Photos, Quick Look, or Safari, and only if you have macOS Ventura or Sonoma.)
