8 Settings You Need to Change on macOS Sequoia

Just updated to macOS Sequoia and eager to explore its exciting new features? Turns out, some of these features are turned off by default, and a few handy settings are tucked away in hidden menus. In this guide, I’ll walk you through all the macOS Sequoia settings you need to change to make the most of your Mac.

1. Remove Gaps Between Windows While Tiling

Sequoia has introduced window tiling on macOS. You can use keyboard shortcuts or drag windows to the corners to snap them into place. However, by default, there’s a gap between the windows. To tile the windows without this annoying gap:

2. Change Windows Tiling Keyboard shortcuts

The default keyboard shortcuts to snap or tile windows are not handy and, in my experience, don’t always work properly. However, you can customize these shortcuts to your liking. While changing them isn’t straightforward, it does work reliably once set up.

For example, in the screenshot below, I typed ‘Left’ and then assigned a keyboard shortcut of my preference.

3. Double-Click to Maximize

By default, when you double-click on an app’s title bar, macOS enlarges the window to fit its content but does not maximize it to fill the entire screen like on Windows. With Sequoia, you can change this behavior to fill the entire screen.

Now, when you double-click on the title bar, the app will maximize and fill the entire screen.

4. Show passwords in the Menubar

In Sequoia, Apple has moved passwords from Settings to a separate app. However, this doesn’t necessarily make things easier—you still need to open the Passwords app instead of the Settings app to check passwords. But, by enabling a simple setting, you can now add Passwords to the Mac’s menu bar at the top, allowing quick access to all your passwords and passkeys. You can also save a new password if you don’t get a prompt to save it.

5. New Siri

Sequoia comes with AI or Apple Intelligence features like email summaries and a new, improved Siri. However, these features are not enabled by default. To enable them:

Here, you can also customize other Siri settings like the voice, keyboard shortcut, and more.

6. Set Keyboard Shortcuts for AI Writing Tools

One of the AI features is Writing Tools. Once enabled in the settings, you can access writing tools directly from the right-click menu anywhere where you are typing or editing text. However, there isn’t a default keyboard shortcut to access it. You can create one in the settings like we did for window tiling.

7. Allow Which iPhone Apps to Show Notifications

Mac can finally mirror your iPhone without you even touching your phone. It also displays all your iPhone notifications and lets you open them on the Mac. While helpful, constant notifications can be distracting. Fortunately, you can choose which iPhone apps can push notifications to your Mac, allowing you to enjoy the feature without getting distracted by every alert.

8. Reduce Interruptions with AI

To minimize distractions from notifications, you can use the new AI-based focus mode called Reduce Interruptions. You will find this option inSystem Settings > Focus > Reduce Interruptionsto enableIntelligent Breakthrough and silencing.

It uses AI to identify and display only the most important notifications. You can also manually add people or apps from whom you want to receive all notifications, ensuring you don’t miss anything important when Reduce Interruptions mode is enabled.

That’s it! These are new settings that you need to check and change on the new MacOS Sequoia.

Ravi Teja KNTS

Tech writer with over 4 years of experience at TechWiser, where he has authored more than 700 articles on AI, Google apps, Chrome OS, Discord, and Android. His journey started with a passion for discussing technology and helping others in online forums, which naturally grew into a career in tech journalism. Ravi’s writing focuses on simplifying technology, making it accessible and jargon-free for readers. When he’s not breaking down the latest tech, he’s often immersed in a classic film – a true cinephile at heart.

8 Settings You Need to Change on macOS Sequoia