Apple Seeds Second Public Beta of macOS Monterey With Universal Control - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple Seeds Second Public Beta of macOS Monterey With Universal Control

by

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Monterey 12.3 update to its public beta testing group, with the new software coming a week after the first macOS Monterey 12.3 public beta.

macOS Monterey 2
Public beta testers can download the macOS 12.3 Monterey update from the Software Update section of the System Preferences app after installing the proper profile from Apple's beta software website.

Universal Control is the major new feature in macOS Monterey 12.3, and it is designed to allow multiple Macs and iPads to be controlled using a single mouse/trackpad and keyboard. If you have a MacBook Pro and an iPad Pro, for example, both devices can be controlled with the ‌MacBook Pro‌'s trackpad and keyboard or a keyboard attached to the iPad.


iPadOS 15.4 is required for ‌Universal Control‌ on the ‌iPad‌, and once the updates are installed on your devices, the feature just works as it is automatically enabled.

macOS Monterey also includes new Emoji 14 characters like melting face, biting lip, heart hands, and more, and plus it adds support for updating AirPods with a Mac. There's no official update interface, but your AirPods can receive firmware updates over-the-air when connected to a Mac, similar to how the update process works with an iPhone.

There are some under-the-hood changes as well. Apple is removing Python 2 from macOS with macOS 12.3 after support was suspended in January 2020, and Apple is eliminating some kernel extensions used by Dropbox and OneDrive, necessitating software updates for those apps.

Related Forum: macOS Monterey

Popular Stories

macOS 27 on MacBook Pro

Apple Says macOS 27 Won't Be Compatible With These Macs

Wednesday June 3, 2026 8:29 am PDT by
During WWDC 2025, Apple revealed that macOS 26 Tahoe would be the final major macOS version for Intel-based Macs. macOS 27 will be compatible with Apple silicon Macs only, meaning that you will need a Mac with an M-series chip or a MacBook Neo with an A18 Pro chip in order to install the software update. Apple will unveil macOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 keynote this Monday, June 8, and the...
Read Full Article • 90 comments
MacBook Neo on Yellow Feature

MacBook Neo is So Popular That Apple Reportedly Doubled Production

Wednesday June 3, 2026 9:24 am PDT by
On an earnings call in late April, Apple's CEO Tim Cook said that customer response to the MacBook Neo was "off the charts," and the popularity of the laptop has reportedly led the company to significantly boost production. Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo this week said he believes that MacBook Neo shipments to Apple were doubled from an initial target of 5 million units to 10...
Read Full Article • 114 comments
iphone 18 pro blue%402x

iPhone 18 Pro: Dark Cherry, Light Blue, and Dark Gray Chassis Leaked [Update]

Thursday June 4, 2026 5:18 am PDT by
Update: Since publication, new information has come to light suggesting the images have been AI-manipulated and are not in fact iPhone 18 Pro chassis parts. The original article follows. The color options Apple is reportedly planning for the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max have appeared online today in the form of images of chassis parts of unknown authenticity....
Read Full Article • 74 comments

Top Rated Comments

gank41 Avatar
gank41
56 months ago
Look's like Apple's updated their servers for the latest install Assistant .pkg file.

https://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/23/30/002-66217-A_ACVWSX94YV/d9iefwh8ij6sxtm1n48ssolnlg0utl1rmx/InstallAssistant.pkg
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacsRgr8 Avatar
MacsRgr8
56 months ago
One thing that irritates me on my 24" iMac M1 (maxed out):
Connecting a 4K TV via TB 4->HDMI cable as 2nd display.

It does work, but if I want "extended display", 4K @ 60fps, I need to remove and re-insert the cable at the back of the iMac after a reboot.

If I don't do that, it always defaults to screen-mirror, 4K @ 30fps. I cannot adjust the settings in System Prefs. Only removing and re-inserting the TB 4 (USB C) cable gives the correct options.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macar00n Avatar
macar00n
56 months ago

Can you iterate what these massive bugs are succinctly for those of us who don't seem to experience them?
Kernel panicking when connected to my one external display when waking up from sleep. A dock does it too so I removed that from my setup to reduce complexity. To trick my machine into not KPing on wake, I have to open the lid - if I wake it by keyboard, it KPs maybe a third of the time, wiping out what I'm doing on both my personal and work user accounts. Ultra annoying coming from Macs that could have months of sequential uptime. This bug was covered in MacRumors review video and in my research I've found that it has been around since the first M1 Macs in early 2021 with no resolution since.

The Bluetooth battery drain while asleep is massive.

A minor one that I hate so much is that my FN button, improved in Monterey to be able to pull up emoji menu, stopped doing it in 12.2. Just absolute amateur hour with Monterey. It's like they don't test at all anymore. Just tout and deliver crappy new features
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macar00n Avatar
macar00n
56 months ago
Are the massive bugs fixed? Forget the features for five seconds Apple - first and foremost, is it stable?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Realityck Avatar
Realityck
56 months ago
Some issues were fixed in this second beta. The Javascript issue with Safari 15.4 and speedtest.net was fixed. That warning about Catalina users upgrading to this beta was fixed. Yesterday it took a second install for this to complete the installation. Not sure it was attributed to server issue or something else. Like to know if it installs in the first pass?

macOS 12.3 beta 2 (21E5206e)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tmoerel Avatar
tmoerel
56 months ago

Every time you encounter a new problem in macOS, just remember this: most of Apple's top programmers are not on the macOS team but iOS.

Is this a fact? If yes, please provide evidence! If not then this is your opinion and thus could be considered trolling!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments