macOS Sequoia supports Macs with Apple silicon and those with Intel's Skylake-based Xeon W and 8th-generation Coffee Lake chips or later. A Mac with an M1 chip or later is required to use Apple Intelligence. macOS Sequoia supports every Mac that supports macOS Sonoma, with the exception of the 2018-2019 MacBook Air models with Amber Lake chips. Similar to Sonoma, the 2019 iMac is the only supported Intel Mac that lacks a T2 security chip. macOS Sequoia is the first version of macOS to drop support for a Mac with a T2 security chip.

The following devices are compatible with macOS Sequoia:

• iMac (2019 and later)
• iMac Pro (2017)
• MacBook Air (2020 and later)
• MacBook Pro (2018 and later)
• Mac mini (2018 and later)
• Mac Pro (2019 and later)
• Mac Studio (all models)

macOS Sequoia introduced several new features and improvements, mainly focused on productivity:

• iPhone Mirroring, a feature to mirror and interact with content from an iPhone running iOS 18 as a macOS window, has been introduced. It is supported on all Macs that run Sequoia except the 2019 iMac, which lacks a T2 chip. This function is not available in the European Union due to the lack of conformity to the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
• The Calculator app has been redesigned to be more similar to that of iOS and iPadOS, including rounded buttons, departing from the design that has been used since OS X Yosemite.
• Notes has been updated with the Math Notes feature, which can be used to calculate simple equations, evaluate expressions, and assign variables within the app.
• Passwords, a cross-platform password manager application, was introduced, which replaces Keychain.
• In System Settings, individual menus have been rearranged and slightly redesigned to quickly access frequently used menus.
• Safari has been revamped, including revamped reader mode (now called Reader), faster page load times, a new start page, a new option to hide a singular element on a webpage, and a new unified menu; these had previously been exclusive to compact mode on iOS/iPadOS.
• macOS Sequoia includes the second iteration of Game Porting Toolkit, a Windows API compatibility layer derived from Wine and Crossover, allowing developers to more easily port Windows games to macOS.
• Apple Intelligence is available on all Apple silicon Macs and includes artificial intelligence features such as a redesigned Siri, Writing Tools with which selected text can be proofread or have its tone changed, Smart Reply in Mail to quickly draft email responses, and a system-wide integration with ChatGPT.
• Window tiling is now automatically suggested by macOS when dragging a window to the edges of the display, similar to the Aero Snap feature included in Microsoft Windows.
• The Tips app is now an independent app from the rest of the operating system. The user interface (UI) has also been redesigned, and has replaced the previous Help system included in earlier versions of macOS. The app surfaces individual user guides for apps such as Freeform, Pages, Keynote, Notes, and Apple TV, and also surfaces user guides for any other devices a user may own, such as an iPhone, Apple Watch or Apple TV. As an independent app, it can also be pinned to the Dock.

• Bengali Abbreviation Sign (U+09FD) (10.0)
• CJK Unified Ideographs Extension G (U+30EDD-U+30EDE) (13.0)

• Mongolian Free Variation Selector (U+180F) (14.0)

• Arabic End of Text Mark (U+061D) (14.0)
• Gujarati Marks (U+0AFA-U+0AFF) (10.0)
• Oriya Sign Overline (U+0B55) (13.0)
• Telugu Letter Nakaara Pollu (U+0C5D) (14.0)
• Telugu Sign Siddham (U+0C77) (12.0)
• Kannada Sign Siddham (U+0C84) (11.0)
• Kannada Letter Nakaara Pollu (U+0C5D) (14.0)
• Malayalam Sign Combining Anusvara Above (U+0D00) (10.0)
• Malayalam Letter Vedic Anusvara (U+0D04) (13.0)
• Malayalam Chillu Letters (U+0D54-U+0D56) (9.0)
• Malayalam Fractions (U+0D58-U+0D5E) (9.0)
• Malayalam Fractions (U+0D76-U+0D78) (9.0)
• Sinhala Sign Candrabindu (U+0D81) (13.0)

• Mongolian Letter Cha with Two Dots (U+1878) (11.0)
• Mongolian Supplement (U+11660-U+1166C) (9.0)

The first developer beta of macOS Sequoia was released on June 10, 2024. As with macOS Sonoma, the Sequoia developer betas are available to anyone with an Apple Developer account, without needing a developer subscription.