- Apple inaugurated a new continuity feature with iOS 18.4 and MacOS Sequoia 15.4
- You can now use an iPhone or iPad to help configure your Mac
- Although relatively small, it could be a huge time saving
Part of what makes the Apple ecosystem so good – and attractive for newcomers or people who buy only new devices – is continuity between them, including configuration. For example, to configure an Apple Watch or AirPods, simply hold the device near your iPhone.
Configuration of an iPad? Put it near your iPhone, follow the steps and scan the glossy blue orb. The configuration of a new iPhone? Hold it near your old iPhone. This removes a large part of the manual nature of a new device configuration and even helps to authenticate your account.
While iOS 18.4, iPados 18.4 and MacOS Sequoia 15.4 did not bring with them the next major set of Apple intelligence features, they brought something great with them. And if you get a new Mac, plan to get one or frequently reset your elders, you enjoy.
As long as you are up to date – which means that your Mac has the latest version of Sequoia and your iPad runs iOS or iPados 18.4, you can now configure this new Mac with your other Apple device. Really neat, and it could save you time. As with quick configuration, you will need Wi-Fi and Bluetooth activated so that these two devices connect.
So what is this quick configuration? Very important Wi-Fi references, design choices such as dark mode or icon size, accessibility features and others are included. In addition, as you authenticate and connect with your Apple account (formerly called ID), you can choose to activate iCloud features such as a shared office, your photo library, cloud messages, your long list of passwords, notes and other elements.
How does the configuration of your Mac work with an iPhone or iPad
Now the good news is that this whole process really accelerates the configuration process of your Mac – and this is going to know if it is an office, like the Mac Mini, Mac Studio or Imac, or a laptop, such as the MacBook Air or the MacBook Pro.
You will always start the Mac and select your language, but then, under the familiar screen which requires “transfer your data to this Mac”, you will find a new option:
- From a Mac, a time machine or a starter disk
- From a Windows PC
- Configure with iPhone or iPad
- NEW as a new
This third option – configured with iPhone or iPad – will you have to select to do exactly this. From there, your Mac will then start looking for a device nearby, and you will want to unlock your iPhone or iPad and bring it closer.
Then, as when configuring a new iPhone or iPad, a Splash screen will appear at the bottom to ask if you want to use your Apple account to “configure a new Mac”. Just press Continue, then scan a model displayed on your Mac with your iPhone. This is the last step in authentication here.
After that, you are wondering if you want to activate all accessibility settings, then create your Mac account. The last step is a bit of a pending game because your Apple account synchronizes with your Mac, then you can conclude the configuration.
Basically, you accelerate the authentication process and get some of the previously personalized parameters associated with your new Mac.
It’s good to have, and if you’ve already dreaded to configure your new Mac, you might ask yourself how you lived without.
