The macOS Setup Guide

System Settings, pane by pane

System Settings (the iOS-style app that replaced System Preferences in Ventura) has ~30 panes. Most defaults are fine. This chapter lists the settings that materially change how a developer's Mac behaves, in the order the sidebar shows them, with the defaults write equivalent where one exists so you can script them (Appendix A does exactly that). Skip anything you don't care about.

Tip

Search the Settings sidebar (⌘F inside the app) rather than hunting through panes. You can also jump straight to a pane from Spotlight — type "trackpad" and press Return.

Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, Network#

  • Wi‑Fi → ⓘ next to your network → Private Wi‑Fi address: Rotating is the default on public networks and fine; set to Fixed on your home network if you use DHCP reservations. Off breaks nothing but reduces privacy.
  • Wi‑Fi → ⓘ → Limit IP address tracking: on (iCloud Private Relay for Safari/Mail).
  • Network → Wi‑Fi → Details → DNS: consider 1.1.1.1/1.0.0.1 (Cloudflare), 9.9.9.9 (Quad9, malware-blocking) or 8.8.8.8. Campus networks sometimes require their own DNS for internal hosts; if a lab server stops resolving, this is why.
  • Network → Firewall: on. Click Options: Block all incoming connections off (breaks AirDrop/file sharing), Automatically allow built-in software: on, Automatically allow downloaded signed software: on, Enable stealth mode: on. The macOS firewall is application-based, not port-based; for port rules use pf (Chapter 16).
  • Network → VPN & Filters: if your university or employer uses a VPN, install its profile here. Modern choices are WireGuard-based (Tailscale is excellent for reaching your home machine or a lab box — Chapter 14).
  • Bluetooth: pair your keyboard/mouse/AirPods. In Tahoe the menu bar Bluetooth icon is inside Control Center; pin it (see below).

Battery#

  • Low Power Mode: Only on Battery is a good default for students — it caps peak performance and dramatically extends lecture-day battery life. Never for engineers who want compiles fast on battery.
  • Charging → Optimized Battery Charging: on.
  • Charging → Charge Limit (macOS 26.4+): if the Mac lives on a dock most of the day, set 80%. Lithium cells age fastest at 100% and warm; this single toggle is the best thing you can do for a 4-year battery. Toggle to 100% before a long day away.
  • Options → Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off: on if you run servers/long builds on a docked laptop; otherwise off.
  • Options → Wake for network access: Only on Power Adapter.
  • Battery health: System Settings → Battery → Battery Health ⓘ shows maximum capacity and cycle count. Under 80% after 1000 cycles is the AppleCare replacement threshold.

General#

  • Software Update: covered in Chapter 2. Everything on, including Install Security Responses and system files and Background Security Improvements.
  • Storage: shows categories; the useful button is Developer → delete old Xcode caches and simulator runtimes (Chapter 7 does this from the CLI). Turn on Empty Trash automatically (30 days). Leave Optimize Storage and Store in iCloud off on a dev machine — you do not want macOS evicting your Documents to the cloud.
  • AirDrop & Handoff: AirDrop Contacts Only; Handoff on; iPhone Cellular Calls on if you like the Phone app.
  • AutoFill & Passwords: choose your password manager here (Passwords app, 1Password, Bitwarden…). Turn off duplicates — having two autofill providers is confusing.
  • Date & Time: 24-hour time on (developers read logs). Set time zone automatically.
  • Language & Region: Temperature, Measurement system, First day of week to taste. Add a second language here if you type in one. Translation languages download packs for Live Translation.
  • Login Items & Extensions: this is where you'll audit what starts at login (Chapter 18). Anything you don't recognise: right-click → Show in Finder before deleting. Extensions → File Providers / Finder / Quick Look / Sharing lists third-party plug-ins.
  • Sharing: everything off unless you need it. Remote Login (SSH): on only if you SSH into this Mac (e.g. from your iPad or a Raspberry Pi); restrict to your user, and use keys (Chapter 9). Screen Sharing on only if you remote-control it. Hostname at the bottom — set something short like alex-mbp (this becomes your .local mDNS name and shows in the Terminal prompt).
  • Time Machine: Chapter 17.
  • Transfer or Reset: erase to sell; Migration Assistant lives here too.

Accessibility#

Not just for disability: several of the most useful productivity toggles live here.

  • Display → Reduce motion: on if Spaces-swiping animations bother you; makes desktop switching snappier.
  • Display → Reduce transparency: on if Liquid Glass hurts legibility. In macOS 27 prefer the Liquid Glass slider in Appearance (below).
  • Display → Pointer → Shake mouse pointer to locate: on for multi-monitor setups.
  • Zoom → Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom: on, modifier ⌃. Hold Control and two-finger scroll to zoom into any pixel — invaluable for checking UI alignment and reading small diagrams in lecture PDFs.
  • Pointer Control → Trackpad Options → Use trackpad for dragging → Three Finger Drag: on. Move windows and select text by dragging with three fingers instead of click-and-hold. Most long-time Mac users consider this the single best hidden setting.
  • Keyboard → Full Keyboard Access: on if you want to Tab through every control in dialogs (also see Keyboard → Keyboard navigation).
  • Spoken Content / Live Captions / Voice Control: real accessibility features; also nice for proofreading essays (select text → Speech).

Appearance#

  • Appearance: Auto switches Light/Dark with sunset. Dark mode is easier on the eyes for long code sessions; Light is more legible in sunlight. Many editors follow the system.
  • Accent color / Highlight color: taste. Since Tahoe the text highlight colour is separate from the accent colour.
  • Liquid Glass (Tahoe 26.1+: Clear / Tinted; Golden Gate: a slider from fully clear to fully tinted): if you find window chrome hard to read, move towards Tinted. This doesn't cost performance.
  • Opaque menu bar: on if the transparent menu bar bugs you.
  • Icon & Widget Style: Default (colour), Light, Dark, Clear, Tinted. Default is the most legible for quickly spotting apps in the Dock.
  • Folder Color: system-wide folder tint; per-folder customisation is in Finder (right-click → Customize Folder).
  • Sidebar icon size: Small fits more Finder sidebar items.
  • Show scroll bars: Always. Click in the scroll bar to: Jump to the spot that's clicked.

Apple Intelligence & Siri#

  • Toggle Apple Intelligence globally here. In Golden Gate this also enables Siri AI (the LLM assistant that lives in Spotlight and the Siri app). Requirements: any Apple silicon Mac; custom Siri voice and improved on-device dictation need M3+ and 12 GB+.
  • Siri → Keyboard shortcut: Hold 🌐 Space or Off. Golden Gate's Spotlight ("Search or Ask") handles typed requests, so voice activation is optional.
  • Extensions → ChatGPT / other providers: opt-in; Siri can hand off to ChatGPT. You can use it without an OpenAI account (anonymised) or sign in.
  • Privacy: Apple Intelligence runs on-device where it can and otherwise on Private Cloud Compute (Apple-attested servers; in 2026 some capacity runs on Google Cloud with NVIDIA hardware under the same attestation model). If you handle confidential code or data (NDA'd employer, research data), read your employer's policy — Writing Tools on selected text sends that text to PCC. You can disable individual features (Writing Tools, Image Playground, Notification summaries) here.
  • Siri Suggestions & Privacy → Learn from this App: turn off for apps you don't want indexed into the semantic index (e.g. a banking app).

Control Center#

Everything about the menu bar lives here.

  • Bluetooth, Wi‑Fi, Sound, Now Playing, Screen Mirroring: Show in Menu Bar for the ones you toggle often; the rest stay inside Control Center. You can also right-click any control inside Control Center → Pin to Menu Bar (Tahoe+), and Edit Controls to add third-party controls.
  • Battery → Show Percentage: on.
  • Clock options: Show the day of the week, Show date: Always, 24-hour, optionally Display the time with seconds (handy when you're timing things).
  • Spotlight: hide the menu bar icon (you use ⌘Space).
  • Menu Bar Only → Automatically hide and show the menu bar: Never on a laptop screen (the notch region is otherwise wasted); In Full Screen Only is the default.
  • Reorder menu bar items by ⌘-dragging; remove third-party ones by ⌘-dragging out. If you have more than ~12 icons they disappear behind the notch — see Ice or Bartender in Chapter 19.

Desktop & Dock#

  • Dock size: small. Magnification: off or subtle. Position: Left or Bottom — Left frees vertical pixels on a 16:10 laptop screen; Bottom is what muscle memory expects.
  • Minimize windows using: Scale effect (faster). Double-click a window's title bar to: Zoom or Fill. Minimize windows into application icon: on.
  • Automatically hide and show the Dock: on. Remove the show delay entirely: defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0; defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0.15; killall Dock.
  • Show suggested and recent apps in Dock: off.
  • Desktop & Stage Manager → Click wallpaper to reveal desktop: Only in Stage Manager (otherwise every stray click on the desktop shoves your windows aside to show widgets).
  • Show items → On Desktop / In Stage Manager: your call; a clean desktop is faster (Finder renders every icon).
  • Widgets → Show Widgets on Desktop: off if you never look at them; they cost a little battery.
  • Default web browser: set it here. Default terminal is not a system setting — Ghostty offers "Set as default terminal" (Chapter 9).
  • Windows → Prefer tabs when opening documents: Always (Finder, Terminal, TextEdit, Preview then open new docs as tabs).
  • Windows → Tiled windows have margins: off (tighter tiling; Chapter 6). Drag windows to screen edges to tile: on. Drag windows to menu bar to fill screen: on. Hold ⌥ key while dragging windows to tile: on.
  • Mission Control: Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use: off. When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application: on. Group windows by application: off (shows every window in Mission Control). Displays have separate Spaces: on for multi-monitor.
  • Hot Corners…: bottom-right Lock Screen, top-right Mission Control, top-left Desktop (reveal), bottom-left Quick Note or –. Set a modifier (hold ⌘) if you trigger them accidentally.

Displays#

  • Resolution: for the built-in display, Default is right; the "More Space" step is legible on 14"/16" Pro screens and gives a lot more code per screen at the cost of slightly smaller text. Use Show all resolutions (right-click a preset) if you need an exact size.
  • Refresh rate: ProMotion (adaptive up to 120 Hz) on Pro. Externals: pick the highest available.
  • External display arrangement: drag to match physical layout; drag the white menu-bar strip to the display you want as main (where new windows and the Dock appear).
  • Night Shift: schedule Sunset to Sunrise, warmth ~50%. True Tone: off if you do colour-sensitive work; on for reading.
  • Advanced → Show resolutions as list; Allow your pointer and keyboard to move between any nearby Mac or iPad (Universal Control).
  • Text on a non-Retina external monitor looks thin because Apple removed subpixel antialiasing in Mojave. Improve it slightly with defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 2 (log out to apply) — or, better, buy a 4K/5K display (Chapter 1).

Screen Saver, Lock Screen, Wallpaper#

  • Lock Screen → Start Screen Saver when inactive: 10–20 min. Turn display off on battery: 5 min; on power adapter: 15–20 min. Require password after…: Immediately (with Touch ID it's painless). Show large clock: on.
  • Show message when locked: put your name + a contact email ("If found, please email …"). This is the free version of a lost-laptop recovery plan.
  • Wallpaper: pick something dark and low-contrast if you spend the day looking at semi-transparent Liquid Glass. Dynamic wallpapers cost a trivial amount of battery.
  • Screen Saver → Show as wallpaper: on for the animated Aerials (looks great, harmless).

Notifications & Focus#

  • Show previews: When Unlocked.
  • Allow notifications when the display is sleeping / locked / mirroring: off, off, off (don't leak Slack messages onto a projector).
  • Go app by app: Slack/Teams/Discord → Banners, sounds off, badges on; Mail → badges only; Calendar → alerts; everything else → off. Summarize previews (Apple Intelligence) is fine for group chats.
  • Focus: create a Work focus (allow calendar, your team chat; block social) and a Do Not Disturb schedule for sleep. Enable Share across devices. Tie Focus filters to apps (Safari tab group, Mail account, Calendar set). Chapter 21 automates Focus with Shortcuts.

Sound#

  • Alert volume: low. Play sound on startup: your call (off for lecture halls). Play feedback when volume is changed: on.
  • Output: if you use a USB DAC or dock audio, macOS remembers per-device volume. Hold ⌥ while clicking the Sound menu item to switch input/output quickly.

Touch ID & Password#

  • Enrol 2–3 fingers. Enable Use Touch ID for: unlocking, Apple Pay, iTunes/App Store, autofill, fast user switching.
  • Stolen Device Protection (MacBooks, 26.4+): on.
  • Apple Watch: unlock and approve requests with your watch if you have one.
  • Touch ID for sudo in Terminal is configured in /etc/pam.d/sudo_local — Chapter 9.

Users & Groups#

  • Best practice (and what the ERNW Tahoe hardening guide recommends): a standard account for daily use and a separate admin account you never log into but authenticate as when needed. The practical cost on a single-user machine is a few extra password prompts per week; the benefit is that malware running as you can't silently gain root. Homebrew is fine in this model — install it while temporarily admin (or authenticate once), then sudo chown -R $(whoami) /opt/homebrew. If this is too much friction, at least don't enable automatic login.
  • Automatic login: off (it's disabled anyway when FileVault is on).
  • Guest User: off (Find My can still show a guest login screen on a locked Mac regardless).
  • Login Options (click ⓘ): Show password hints: off. Fast User Switching menu: off unless shared.

Internet Accounts, Game Center, iCloud, Wallet#

  • iCloud → iCloud Drive → Desktop & Documents Folders: off on a developer Mac unless you keep code elsewhere. On is convenient for a student who wants essays on iPad and Mac — just keep ~/Developer outside it.
  • iCloud → Optimize Mac Storage: off if you have ≥ 512 GB; you don't want files evicted.
  • Advanced Data Protection: on. End-to-end encrypts iCloud Drive, Photos, Notes, Backups, Reminders, Messages in iCloud. Requires a recovery contact or recovery key (set both up, store the key in your password manager).
  • Access iCloud Data on the Web: on if you use icloud.com.
  • Private Relay (iCloud+): on for Safari; it can interfere with campus networks that require local DNS — turn off per-network if so.
  • Hide My Email: use it for every signup that isn't a professional identity.
  • Passwords app: Chapter 16. Turn on Detect Compromised Passwords and, on Golden Gate, review the automatic password change feature for weak/compromised logins.

Keyboard#

Covered in depth in Chapter 5. The essentials:

  • Key repeat rate: fastest; Delay until repeat: shortest. Faster still via defaults write -g KeyRepeat -int 1; defaults write -g InitialKeyRepeat -int 10 (values below the slider's minimum; log out to apply).
  • Adjust keyboard brightness in low light: on. Keyboard brightness → Turn keyboard backlight off after inactivity: 1 min.
  • Press 🌐 key to: Do Nothing. Keyboard navigation: on (Tab moves focus across all controls).
  • Text Input → Input Sources → Edit…: Show Input menu in menu bar if you switch layouts; Correct spelling automatically: off; Capitalize words automatically: off; Show inline predictive text: off (it's distracting when coding in text fields); Add period with double-space: off; Use smart quotes and dashes: OFF.
  • Text Replacements: add your email, address, and snippets like ;date → today's date (or use a snippets tool — Chapter 19). They sync via iCloud.
  • Keyboard Shortcuts…: see Chapter 5 for the remaps; at minimum Modifier Keys… → map Caps Lock to ⌃ Control (or ⎋ Escape for Vim users), and in Mission Control turn on ⌃1…⌃9 Switch to Desktop N. In Spotlight, check that ⌘Space isn't hijacked by an input-source switcher (Input Sources → Select the previous input source — move it to ⌃Space or off).
  • Dictation: on if you use it; it's on-device and works offline. Shortcut: Press 🌐 twice or off.

Trackpad & Mouse#

  • Point & Click: Tracking speed 7–8; Click Medium; Force Click and haptic feedback on; Look up & data detectors: Tap with Three Fingers (keeps Force-click for other uses); Secondary click: Click or Tap with Two Fingers; Tap to click: on.
  • Scroll & Zoom: Natural scrolling: your call (on matches iPhone; off matches Windows and scroll wheels — the Mouse pane has an independent toggle since Tahoe, so you can have natural on trackpad and traditional on mouse). Smart zoom, rotate: on.
  • More Gestures: Swipe between pages: two fingers; Swipe between full-screen applications: three or four fingers (this is how you move between Spaces — Chapter 6); Notification Center: two-finger swipe from right edge; Mission Control: swipe up with three/four fingers; App Exposé: swipe down (on); Launchpad: pinch (still works as Apps view); Show Desktop: spread.
  • Mouse (Magic Mouse or third-party): Tracking speed high; Scrolling speed high; disable mouse acceleration if you game or want 1:1 movement: defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling -1 (log out). Logitech users: install Logi Options+ for gesture mapping; steer clear of old Logitech Control Center.

Printers, Game Controllers, Passwords, Screen Time#

  • Printers & Scanners: add your campus printer via IPP/AirPrint; most universities publish a queue URL. Nothing else to configure.
  • Screen Time: useful for yourself — set Downtime for sleep and App Limits for whatever eats your evenings. It also shows honest weekly usage.

Privacy & Security#

The most important pane; Chapter 16 goes deep. Quick pass:

  • Location Services: on; scroll down → System Services → Details: leave Find My Mac, Time zone, Networking on; Significant locations and Mac analytics off if you like.
  • Full Disk Access / Files and Folders / Accessibility / Input Monitoring / Screen & System Audio Recording / Automation: these fill up as you install tools (terminals, window managers, Raycast, screen recorders). Review quarterly; remove anything you uninstalled. A tiling window manager or text expander will need Accessibility. A terminal will ask for Full Disk Access when you ls ~/Library/Mail.
  • Local Network: apps that scan your LAN (Spotify, dev servers, Docker) ask here.
  • App Management: allow your editor/updater (e.g. Homebrew via Terminal) to modify other apps.
  • Developer Tools: add Terminal/Ghostty so you can run unsigned binaries you built yourself without Gatekeeper prompts.
  • Security → Allow applications from: App Store & Known Developers. There is no "Anywhere" option in the UI since Sequoia, and sudo spctl --master-disable no longer works. To open an unsigned app: try to open it, get refused, then come back here and click Open Anyway (within an hour). Or remove the quarantine flag: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Foo.app. Homebrew casks can install with --no-quarantine.
  • FileVault: on; Recovery Key stored.
  • Lockdown Mode: off for everyone except journalists/activists/people with a specific adversary — it disables JIT in Safari, blocks most attachments, and breaks many dev sites.
  • Advanced… (at the bottom): Log out automatically after inactivity: off (kills long-running jobs); Require an administrator password to access system-wide settings: on; Allow accessories to connect: Ask for New Accessories (this is the USB data-blocker — a good default for laptops).
  • Analytics & Improvements: off. Apple Advertising → Personalized Ads: off.

Scripting these settings#

Every checkbox above is stored in a .plist under ~/Library/Preferences (per-user) or /Library/Preferences (system) and can be set with defaults write. Apps read them at launch, so most changes need killall Dock, killall Finder, killall SystemUIServer or a logout. Appendix A collects our recommended set into a single idempotent script; here is the flavour:

sh
# Finder: show extensions, path bar, status bar, list view, hidden ~/Library
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowPathbar -bool true
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowStatusBar -bool true
defaults write com.apple.finder FXPreferredViewStyle -string "Nlsv"
defaults write com.apple.finder FXDefaultSearchScope -string "SCcf"
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXSortFoldersFirst -bool true
chflags nohidden ~/Library

# Dock: autohide fast, no recents, small
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide -bool true
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0.15
defaults write com.apple.dock show-recents -bool false
defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -int 40
defaults write com.apple.dock mru-spaces -bool false

# Keyboard: fast repeat, no autocorrect/smart quotes
defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 1
defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 10
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticSpellingCorrectionEnabled -bool false
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticCapitalizationEnabled -bool false
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticPeriodSubstitutionEnabled -bool false
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticQuoteSubstitutionEnabled -bool false
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticDashSubstitutionEnabled -bool false
defaults write NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false   # key repeat instead of accent popup

# Trackpad: tap to click, three-finger drag
defaults write com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad Clicking -bool true
defaults write com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad TrackpadThreeFingerDrag -bool true

# Screenshots: PNG into ~/Pictures/Screenshots, no shadow
mkdir -p ~/Pictures/Screenshots
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location -string "$HOME/Pictures/Screenshots"
defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true

# Misc: expand save/print dialogs, always show scroll bars, 24h clock
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool true
defaults write NSGlobalDomain PMPrintingExpandedStateForPrint -bool true
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowScrollBars -string "Always"
defaults write com.apple.menuextra.clock Show24Hour -bool true

killall Dock Finder SystemUIServer 2>/dev/null

Two cautions: (1) Apple silently renames or removes keys between releases — verify with defaults read <domain> after a major upgrade; a key that no longer exists is harmless but does nothing. (2) A handful of settings (Accessibility permissions, FileVault, Firewall state, Gatekeeper) cannot be set with defaults for security reasons; they need sudo tooling (fdesetup, /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw, spctl) or an MDM profile. Appendix A handles those separately.

To discover the key for any checkbox: run defaults read > /tmp/before.txt, flip the setting, defaults read > /tmp/after.txt, and diff them.

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Last reviewed September 2026. Written for macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27 Golden Gate on Apple silicon Macs. Prices are US list prices. Text is CC BY 4.0; code and configs are MIT.