Apple has now released macOS Monterey beta 9 for developers. As we move closer to a fall release, the big feature we haven’t seen fully available to test is Universal Control and we’ll be looking to see if it has been finally enabled in the ninth beta.
Update 10/7 10:09 am PT: The latest Monterey beta is now available for public testers too.
Update 10:23 am PT: As it happens, there is no mention of Universal Control being available in the beta 9 release notes.
Meanwhile, a new RC is available today for macOS 11.6.1.
macOS Monterey beta 9 is appearing now via OTA for developers and public testers with build number 21A5543b. You can also download it from Apple’s Developer website our public beta website if you’re not running the beta yet (full guide here).
New features and changes that come with macOS 12 Monterey include a totally redesigned Safari, Shortcuts app arriving on the Mac, a new Focus mode, Quick Notes, AirPlay to Mac, Universal Control to seamlessly work across multiple Apple devices, and more.
In the third beta, Apple made some notable changes to the default Safari experience, and in the fourth beta, it enabled Live Text on Intel Macs along with a Universal Control fakeout.
- macOS Monterey beta 3 brings redesigned Safari tab interface to address complaints
- Apple brings Live Text to Intel Macs with macOS Monterey beta 4
macOS Monterey beta 9
With the 8 previous Monterey beta builds, the anticipated Universal Control feature hasn’t been fully available. We’ll be looking to see if it’s included in Monterey beta 9.
However, beta 5 did bring the ability to partially enable Universal Control, read more on how to do that here:
- You can partially enable Universal Control in macOS Monterey beta 5; here’s how
- Understanding how Universal Control works (and how it doesn’t)
It’s usually not ideal to install betas on your primary machine with bugs and performance issues being common, so use a secondary Mac if possible. However, with it now reaching beta 9, macOS Monterey is mostly stable.
