Master System Settings

The Mac's preferences interface has a new look and a new name

- Ian Osborne

IT WILL TAKE

5 minutes

YOU WILL LEARN

How to open and navigate System Settings to configure your Mac

YOU’LL NEED

macOS 13

Apple’s ongoing plan to bring its operating systems closer together and form a single all-purpose ecosystem took another step forward with macOS Ventura, as System Preferences got an iOS-inspired makeover.

Now called System Settings, it functions in much the same way as the old System Preferences, but instead of being arranged in a grid of preference panes, it’s now far more like the Settings app in iOS and iPadOS, with a long list of individual settings options. In macOS, this list is set into a sidebar, with the settings options themselves in the main window.

Unlike Apple’s mobile devices, it doesn’t offer settings for individual apps that came bundled with the OS or that you’ve installed yourself. These are still found in the app itself, under the pull-down bearing its name. But all the Mac system configurations are achieved through this new System Settings interface.

HOW TO Configure your Mac in System Settings

1 Opening System Settings

To open System Settings, you can use apple logo > System Settings in the top-left corner of the screen, the Dock icon or the Launchpad. Or you can click on the Dock icon and go straight to the Settings window you need.