Apple released macOS Monterey on 25 October 2021 and it is currently in version macOS 12.0.1. 

Apple is already at work on macOS Monterey 12.1, and released the second beta of macOS 12.1 operating system on 8 November, a week after the first beta of macOS 12.1 arrived.

macOS 12.1 release date

macOS Monterey 12.1 will probably be released simultaneously with iOS 15.2 which is also in develipment and will add some of the same new features.

We expect that both updates will arrive towards the end of 2021. 

What’s coming in macOS 12.1?

The macOS 12.1 update will allow Apple to bring some of the previously announced features that didn’t make it into Monterey to Mac users, of which there are a few.

One of the most eagerly awaited and as yet unavailable features is Universal Control, which will make it possible to use the same mouse or trackpad to select your Mac screen, type on your Mac with the keyboard, and then select your iPad screen with the same mouse and type there. We don’t expect that to arrive in macOS 12.1.

However, it does look like at least one of the new features promised when Apple announced its plans for macOS Monterey in June 2021 will be making an appearance.

Shareplay

Shareplay will make it possible for a group of people to watch series and movies together on their different devices and at their different locations. The macOS 12.1 beta suggests that it will soon be available on Macs.

SharePlay works with Apple TV and Apple Music and support for other services is expected, although third-parties will be responsible for adding it.

iCloud+ Hide My Email

Another new feature that appears in the macOS 12.1 beta relates to iCloud+.

When sending an email you will be able to hide your own email address. Instead the iCloud server will creates an alias for you so you don’t need to share your address, similar to how it works when signing in to Apple in some apps. If the recipient responds to such an anonymized mail, iCloud the answer to the original address.

iCloud subscribers will be able to use Hide My Email from within the Mail app on their Mac following the update.

Graphics card support

It seems that macOS Monterey 12.1 will add support for AMD’s Radeon 6600XT GPU.

Bug fixes

Apple has also fixed some bugs in existing functions in the beta. For example, saving the Safari extensions locally did not work for some extensions.