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New MacBook Air and Mac Studio Offer Easy Setup With a Nearby iPhone

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple today said it will be easier than ever to set up the new MacBook Air and Mac Studio models with a nearby iPhone or iPad.

MacBook-Air-Hello.jpg

Once the new MacBook Air or Mac Studio are updated to macOS Sequoia 15.4, which is set to be released in April, users will be able to simply bring their iPhone or iPad close to the Mac to quickly sign in to their Apple Account. This will simplify the process of getting the user's files, photos, messages, passwords, and more on to the new Mac.

An excerpt from Apple's press release for the new MacBook Air:
Next month, macOS Sequoia 15.4 will make it easier than ever to set up the new MacBook Air with iPhone. By simply bringing iPhone close to Mac, users can quickly and conveniently sign in to their Apple Account to get their files, photos, messages, passwords, and more on their new MacBook Air.
Click to expand...
Apple's press release for the new Mac Studio has a nearly-identical paragraph.

We previously discovered that this feature might extend to at least some existing Mac models with the macOS Sequoia 15.4 update.

The nearby iPhone or iPad must be updated to iOS 18.4 or iPadOS 18.4 or newer. Those updates will also be released in April.

All of the software updates are currently in beta.

Article Link: New MacBook Air and Mac Studio Offer Easy Setup With a Nearby iPhone
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/03/05/mac-setup-with-nearby-iphone/
I mean easier is better, but it is unclear how that would apply when you upgrade from an existing Mac.
For folks who get their first Mac or maybe don’t want to transfer from old to new this seems very helpful.
 
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Will be testing this out next Monday when I pick up my 15" MBA M4.

:cool:


EDIT: Oops... guess not, since the feature doesn't come out till April LOL
 
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Once the new MacBook Air or Mac Studio are updated to macOS Sequoia 15.4, which is set to be released in April, users will be able to simply bring their iPhone or iPad close to the Mac to quickly sign in to their Apple Account.

The nearby iPhone or iPad must be updated to iOS 18.4 or iPadOS 18.4 or newer. Those updates will also be released in April.
Click to expand...
usersince86 said:
Will be testing this out next Monday when I pick up my 15" MBA M4.

:cool:
Click to expand...
Next Monday is April?
 
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Should make setting up very convenient. Expecting all Macs to support this in the near future after the software update.
 
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This story is misleading as it states they can, but really its all Macs when they they update to the new OS next month. MR, please do better in stating accurate information.
 
Does this mean it will finally be possible to sign into a Mac using an Apple account? Similar to what Windows and ChromeOS has supported for a long time.
 
jz0309 said:
I mean easier is better, but it is unclear how that would apply when you upgrade from an existing Mac.
For folks who get their first Mac or maybe don’t want to transfer from old to new this seems very helpful.
Click to expand...
If you put all your files in iCloud Drive, that makes it easy. But third party licensed software would be more tricky.
 
dannyyankou said:
If you put all your files in iCloud Drive, that makes it easy. But third party licensed software would be more tricky.
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I suppose that is correct. Me however, I only have passwords, Notes ,Health and some other minor stuff in iCloud, all my data is local only, and will remain that way.
 
AppleTO said:
Does this mean it will finally be possible to sign into a Mac using an Apple account? Similar to what Windows and ChromeOS has supported for a long time.
Click to expand...
Nope. All this does is (a) transfer your WiFi settings from you iPhone to make easier to connect to the Internet during setup and (b) log you in to your Apple Account after completing setup.
 
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The bottom of This thread is an indictment of the sad state of this transfer utility. It's broken like so much of modern Apple's software stack. This is in beta so that's also a mark against it with modern Apple. But who knows maybe they will squash all the bugs.
 
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CarlJ said:
Does anybody actually use Windows any more?
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awshucks said:
The people who have used it for decades and are too stubborn to switch to Mac. Believe me, there’s a longtime Windows user in my family that tried out an iMac but came back to PC.
Click to expand...

Chungry said:
I don't think I'm particularly stubborn, I prefer my Macs for some things, Windows for others. People are so judgy here
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I am OS fluid..

Sometimes I am a Mac.

Sometimes I am a PC and sometimes I am even a Linux 😲

I am tying this on a PC.
 
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CarlJ said:
My condolences.
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Oh no! I feel so bad for myself over here, look at me with my paltry i9 with 192GB of RAM and a GeForce 5090. Oh the horror, I can play games and run any cad program without a compromise. Have mercy 🙏 on me, there's a Mac Studio sitting on top for everything else I could ever need 😆 the huge manatees!

Some people are so petty
 
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AppleTO said:
Does this mean it will finally be possible to sign into a Mac using an Apple account? Similar to what Windows and ChromeOS has supported for a long time.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's just me, but this is a huge advantage in favor of macOS for me. I don't need my computers tied to a cloud account for login. On Windows it causes all kinds of problems. There's no reason to not use a local account and just use the services.

In managed corporate environments it's good, but they're also paying massive money and IT costs to make it work.

iCloud is still the best approach, IMO. Let me manage my user accounts, but do sync my managed data between Apple's standardized apps.
 
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