macOS Sequoia is due for its full release towards the end of the year, and while we wait, Apple has released the public beta to give us a look at what to expect (and test all the new features, of course).
Since downloading the public beta of Sequoia, I’ve been playing with iPhone Mirroring, which has quickly become one of my favorite Mac features. With the fourth beta’s release this week, it’s gotten even better with a small but important change: the ability to resize the app window.
If you missed WWDC 2024 and aren’t sure how this feature works, think of a little window the size of your iPhone’s screen that pops up on your Mac desktop, allowing you to use your phone without picking it up at all.
The iPhone Mirroring app allows you to scroll through all the apps on your phone, respond to texts, have a cheeky look through social media, and even play a quick game of Candy Crush - all without unlocking your smartphone. The feature is only active if your phone is near your Mac and your phone screen is locked. After using iPhone Mirroring for a while now, I don’t know how I managed without it before.
Just one more improvement to go Apple!
As mentioned, the fourth beta of macOS Sequoia allows you to change the size of the window. This was one of the first things I tried to do when I first fired up iPhone Mirroring. I was pretty surprised Apple hadn’t given us the option to resize the window, but I hoped that this would change relatively soon.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long, as now you can make the window bigger or smaller as you like, controlling the amount of screen space it’ll take up on your Mac desktop.
There are three preset sizes to pick from, the first being the default size that reflects the size of your iPhone screen, and then there’s a smaller and larger version. There’s no option to drag the window to a custom size, so you’ll have to use the preset window sizes from the View Menu.
While it is a little disappointing that you can’t truly customize the iPhone Mirroring window size (to, say, make it really tiny so as not to get caught scrolling Reddit by one's editors, for example), it’s still better than having no customization at all. As we get closer to the official launch date of macOS Sequoia, I suspect we’ll see more changes and improvements as Apple works out the kinks.
I’m still waiting for the drag-and-drop feature seen at Apple’s demo of iPhone Mirroring at WWDC 2024 to make an appearance, allowing you to drag a file from the Mac and drop it straight into your iPhone. However, if we’re only just getting resize options now, this more in-depth ability may take a while.
Until then, I’ll be using and loving iPhone Mirroring on the beta and eagerly awaiting macOS Sequoia’s official release later in 2024.
