macOS Sequoia is slated for a full release towards the end of the year, and while we wait, Apple has released a public beta to give us a taste of what to expect (and to try out all the new features, of course).
Ever since I downloaded the Sequoia public beta, I've been playing around with the iPhone's screen mirroring feature, which has quickly become one of my favorite Mac features. With the release of the fourth beta this week, it's gotten even better with one 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 it as a small window the size of your iPhone's screen that appears on your Mac's desktop, allowing you to use your phone without having to pick it up.
The iPhone Mirroring app lets you browse all of your phone's apps, reply to texts, check out 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's screen is locked. After using iPhone Mirroring for a while, I don't know how I ever got along without it before.
Just one more improvement for Apple!
As we've already mentioned, the fourth beta version of macOS Sequoia allows you to resize the window. This was one of the first things I tried to do when I first enabled the iPhone's Screen Mirroring feature. I was quite surprised that Apple hadn't given us the option to resize the window, but I was hoping that this would change relatively soon.
Luckily, I didn't have to wait long, as you can now make the window as large or small as you like, controlling how much screen space it will take up on your Mac desktop.
There are three default sizes to choose from. The first is the default size that reflects the size of your iPhone's screen, and then there's a smaller and a larger version. There's no option to drag the window to a custom size, so you'll have to use the default window sizes from the View menu.
While it is a little disappointing that you can't really Customizing the size of the iPhone mirroring window (say, making it really small to prevent editors from catching you browsing Reddit) is better than having no customization at all. As we get closer to the official release date of macOS Sequoia, I suspect we'll see more changes and improvements as Apple irons out the kinks.
I’m still waiting for the drag-and-drop feature we saw in Apple’s demo of iPhone Mirroring at WWDC 2024, which will let you drag a file from your Mac and drop it directly onto your iPhone. However, if we only just now have resizing options, this more granular capability may be a while away.
Until then, I will be using and enjoying iPhone screen mirroring in beta and looking forward to the official release of macOS Sequoia in late 2024.
