Oliver Haslam·

These macOS Sonoma Features Won’t Work On Your Intel Mac

Apple’s macOS Sonoma update was announced during the company’s WWDC 2023 event on June 5, and it’s already shaping up to be a controversial release.

That’s because while there are plenty of Macs that will be able to install this particular update, not all of them will get access to all of the new features.

As noted by 9to5Mac, a number of macOS Sonoma features won’t work on Intel Macs, meaning they’re only available to those who have machines running Apple silicon.

There are four particular features that won’t be available to Intel Mac owners. One of them, the ability to only say “Siri” to invoke the digital assistant isn’t a big deal, that’s for sure. But some of the other missing features might be more of a problem.

One of those is the Game Mode feature. Apple says it will give games priority in terms of GPU and CPU performance, reducing background tasks. But that feature won’t be available on Intel Macs, it seems. The same goes for two features designed for use with FaceTime, too.

One of those will put a present at the forefront of a meeting so that they can help drive the conversation even when sharing their screen.

Presenter Overlay: Keeps you part of the conversation when sharing your screen. Choose from two overlays, large and small. The large overlay keeps the spotlight on you, with your screen framed next to you on a separate layer. You can move, walk, and talk in front of your content.

The other feature allows people to react using hand gestures, generating 3D reality effects without touching a mouse or keyboard.

React with your hands: Add a reaction that fills the camera frame with fun 3D augmented reality effects like hearts, confetti, fireworks, and more. And you can share a reaction with just a hand gesture.

Both of those features will be sadly missing from Intel Macs.

At this point, it is surely only a matter of time before Intel Macs are not supported at all, but that’s unlikely to happen for a year or two yet. However, if you’re still using an Intel Mac today we’d suggest considering an upgrade sooner rather than later — not only are they blazingly fast, but they might be your only way to use updated macOS releases in the future.

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