macOS System Settings, explained after the Ventura redesign
macOS Ventura swapped the System Preferences grid for a sidebar and rehomed a dozen familiar panes. This is where each of them ended up.
Why System Preferences became System Settings
macOS Ventura replaced System Preferences with System Settings. The old window was a grid of icons called panes, each opening its own bespoke layout. The new one is a fixed sidebar beside a scrolling detail view, matching the shape of Settings on iPhone and iPad.
The change was structural, not cosmetic. Panes were split, merged and renamed, so a path written for Monterey or earlier often points at something that no longer exists. Ventura and later layouts sit on the macOS hub, while the original grid is preserved on the Mac OS X hub.
Reading the sidebar top to bottom
Your Apple Account card sits at the very top, holding iCloud, Family Sharing, payment details and the list of signed-in devices. Below it come Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Network and VPN, which is where you join a network or pair an accessory.
Then comes a group for Notifications, Sound, Focus and Screen Time, followed by General, Appearance, Accessibility, Control Centre, Siri and Spotlight, and Privacy & Security. Further down sit Desktop & Dock, Displays, Screen Saver and Wallpaper, then Lock Screen, Touch ID & Password and Users & Groups, with Keyboard, Mouse, Trackpad and Printers & Scanners at the end. Apple adds and renames rows each release.
General swallowed a dozen old panes
General is the drawer that absorbed the most. Software Update, Storage, About, AirDrop & Handoff, Sharing, Time Machine, Startup Disk, Date & Time, Language & Region and Transfer or Reset all live inside it now.
That single change breaks most older instructions. Updating no longer has its own icon, so the update guide routes through General, and the storage screen you need when freeing space is in the same section.
Where privacy and login items live now
Privacy & Security replaced the old Security & Privacy pane and carries considerably more. Per-app access to location, camera, microphone, files, screen recording and full disk access sits near the top, while FileVault, Lockdown Mode and the rule for allowing apps from identified developers sit lower down alongside the lock and security basics.
Login items moved out of Users & Groups and into General. On recent releases that row is called Login Items & Extensions and also gathers the background-item toggles that used to be scattered across several panes.
What did not move
Plenty stayed put. Displays, Sound, Keyboard, Trackpad and Printers & Scanners kept their names and most of their contents. Appearance holds the light and dark switch that the dark mode guide uses, and Desktop & Dock inherited the old Mission Control options.
What did change is depth. Advanced options that used to sit behind a visible button now hide behind a row at the foot of a page or a small Advanced sheet. Nothing was deleted outright, but a good deal sits one level lower than it used to.
Searching instead of hunting
The search field sits directly above the sidebar. It matches individual controls rather than only page names, so typing a phrase such as login items or firewall filters the sidebar down to the pages that contain it.
If you are weighing platforms rather than chasing one toggle, the macOS and Windows comparison and the macOS and Ubuntu comparison line the sections up. You can also open macOS System Settings in the simulator and click through the real tree.
Try it yourself, on the real menusOpen any of 43 operating systems in your browser and walk the Settings tree exactly as it appears on the device. No download, no account.Frequently asked questions
Where is Software Update in System Settings?
Inside General. It lost its own top-level pane in Ventura, and the same screen holds the automatic update options.
Where did login items go?
They moved from Users and Groups into General. On recent releases the row is named Login Items and Extensions and also lists background items.
Can I get the old System Preferences grid back?
No. From Ventura onward the sidebar layout is the only interface, though the underlying preferences and command-line tools are unchanged.