After several weeks of traditional beta releases, Apple has finally released the macOS Monterey version 12.1 stable with many of the new features featured at WWDC21 that had yet to be released. The update is now available on all regular channels.
IMessage protection for minors arrives and a new design in Photo Memories
The main novelty of this version is SharePlay, which allows us to share content with other people through a FaceTime video call. Movies, series, songs or even the screen of the device itself, something that can be very useful in order to be able to give technical help to another distant person.
At the moment, SharePlay works with Apple TV (both rental or purchase as in Apple TV +) and in Apple Music. Gradually, third-party services will also be able to add their content to SharePlay, which Twitch has already done.
Another novelty of this version are the protective measures in iMessage for minors, something that has sparked some controversy for privacy concerns and has required Apple to clarify its terms publicly. We will also have the option of using the Apple Music voice plan, which gives us access to Apple’s music catalog for 4.99 dollars per month but only via voice commands. Finally, the Photos app launches a new design for the memories that it automatically generates in the section of the same name.
This update is free, and since it is stable, we recommend that everyone install it. You can let the Mac do this automatically, or you can do it manually by going to System Preferences and the “Software Update” section. If you haven’t installed macOS Monterey yet, this will directly install that version.
