Pull requests are a valuable tool for reviewing and discussing code, documentation, and designs, and GitHub for Mac has enhanced this process by allowing users to create pull requests directly from the application. This update simplifies interactions with forked repositories by automatically fetching the upstream repository, enabling users to check out or merge its branches without needing to use the command line or handle multiple remotes. Josh Abernathy highlights these improvements as a way to streamline workflows and encourage users to download GitHub for Mac to take advantage of these features.