How to upgrade macOS Big Sur to macOS Monterey

macOS Monterey is the 18th and current major release of macOS at the time of writing this piece and it is the successor to macOS Big Sur. It was announced at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2021) on June 7, 2021, and was officially released on October 25, 2021. macOS Monterey lets you connect, share, and create like never before. Enjoy new FaceTime audio and video enhancements, including spatial audio and Portrait mode. Get more done with powerful productivity tools like Focus, Quick Note, and Tab Groups in Safari. Work fluidly across your devices with AirPlay to Mac.

In this guide, I will be showing you how to upgrade macOS Big Sur to macOS Monterey. Note, I have automatic update enabled. I received an alert to upgrade to macOS Monterey. Here are some related guides that might be of interest to you. How to Set Quicktime or VLC as a default player on macOS, how to record your desktop on macOS, How to take a screenshot on a mac device, and how to Check if homebrew is installed on Mac OS.

New Features in macOS Monterey

Kindly click on this link to learn more about this new OS from Apple. Below are some features:

For FaceTime:
• Spatial audio makes voices sound like they come from the direction of a speaker on the screen in a Group FaceTime call
• Voice Isolation blocks background noises so your voice is crystal clear
• Wide Spectrum brings every sound in your space into the call
• Portrait mode puts the focus on you by blurring your background on Mac computers with the M1 chip
• Grid view displays people in same-size tiles and highlights the active speaker
• FaceTime links for inviting friends to calls on Apple, Android, or Windows devices

Safari
• Tab Groups help you save and organize your tabs and sync across devices
• Intelligent Tracking Prevention prevents trackers from viewing your IP address
• Compact tab bar option lets you see more of the webpage on your screen

Privacy:
• Mail Privacy Protection helps prevent senders from tracking your Mail activity
• Recording indicator in Control Center for apps that are accessing your mic

Note: Before installing any upgrade, it’s a good idea to back up your Mac. Time Machine makes it simple, and other backup methods are also available. If you are using macOS Big Sur, macOS Mojave, or later, you can get macOS Monterey via Software Update. Alternatively, you could use this link to open the macOS Monterey page on the App Store: Get macOS Monterey. Then click the Get button or iCloud download button.

See the following guides on how to start an application automatically on macOS, how to stop TeamViewer from starting automatically on Mac, How to stop an application from starting up automatically on macOS, how to stop Cisco Webex Meetings from starting up automatically, how to enable or disable startup programs: How to view or change programs that run on startup, how to enable or disable automatic login on macOS, and how to enable and disable automatic login on Ubuntu Linux via the GUI and CLI.

How to upgrade your macOS

Step 1: Navigate to System Preference

To upgrade your macOS, Choose the Apple menu  > System Preferences as shown below. As you can see from the screenshot already, there is an update available.

Step 2: Click on Software Update

To proceed, click on the Software Update as shown below.

This will open the software update window. To upgrade, click on “Upgrade Now“. If you wish to automatically keep your macOS up to date, ensure you check the button “Automatically keep my Mac up to date”.

Step 3: Click on Upgrade Now

The updates are being downloaded, as shown below.

After downloading, the installer opens automatically. Click Continue as shown below and follow the onscreen instructions. Please allow installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. Your Mac might restart and show a progress bar or blank screen several times

Step 4: Start macOS Monterey Installation

Accept the license term by clicking on Agree, and thereafter click on continue as shown below.

You will be required to authenticate (provide your administrative credentials) before the installation of macOS Monterey can proceed.
– After providing your credentials, click on Unlock as shown below.

You can see below that the installation of macOS Monterey is currently in progress. This will take a while, please be patient.

A prompt will appear, instructing you to restart your device for the installation of the new macOS to take effect. Please be aware that the device may restart more than once.

Step 5: Restart your Mac

If you have applications open, you will be directed to close them. In my case, I clicked on “Close Other Applications“.

You can observe from the image below that the upgrade to macOS Monterey has been completed successfully. To check for updates, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Software Update.

Automatically Update Mac

Confirm that the button is selected, as displayed in the image above. When updates to macOS Monterey are available in the future, you will be notified. To check for updates, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Software Update.

I hope you found this blog post on How to upgrade macOS Big Sur to macOS Monterey helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.