Are you waiting for the new macOS for 2019? Which amazing things will come? macOS Catalina will come up with many third-party iOS apps to the Mac, and many exciting features.
macOS Catalina Release Date
In June 2019, there was the first demo of the new operating system at WWDC. macOS Cataline, also called macOS 10.15, will be out in October 2019.
For registered developers and people who signed up to the public beta, there is no need to wait longer since they can experience the beta of Catalina from now.
Which Features Is MacOS 10.15 Catalina Improved?
New features of macOS 10.15 Catalina
Although macOS Catalina hasn’t been officially launched, I know some exciting things in this new version through WWDC.
Project Catalyst
The presence of Project Catalyst is good news for both users and developers. Apple’s new SDK allows to port iOS apps to the Mac easily. There is no need to put more effort to write code for two different apps. Although Project Catalyst still has two apps, it’s fine for the developers to write only one code for porting iOS apps to the Mac.
Meanwhile, for users, it will increase the number of available apps on the Mac platform.
Project Sidecar
Project Sidecar helps you use your iPad as a graphics tablet and second display. Please take a look at its two uses separately.
Second display
This means that you can use your iPad as a second screen with a Mac. You can plug an iPad into a Mac or connect it with Bluetooth and Continuity wirelessly.
Note: for security, you should share with your iPad only because you are required to log into your same iCloud account.
After connecting, let’s drag and drop windows on Mac over to your iPad touch screen. What’s more, there is an Apple Pencil that can draw, click, and point as Markup tools.
You use the multi-touch gestures and the text editing gestures on the iPad apps as well. This way allows you to use Mac apps on an iPad because it’s running macOS.
Graphics tablet
You can use an iPad as a graphics tablet for creative works through certain apps. It works as a Wacom tablet. iPads working well with Sidecar are any iPad iOS 13 with a Mac running macOS Catalina.
Some apps can support advanced stylus like enabling pressure and tilt for the Pencil. Following apps can work well with Sidecar: Substance Designer & Substance Painter, Sketch, Principle, Painter, Motion, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, CorelDraw, ZBrush, Maya, Cinema 4D, Affinity Photo & Affinity Designer, Adobe Illustrator.
New Apps and Updated Apps in macOS Catalina
In the latest version of macOS, Apple removes the iTunes app and provides three separate entertainment apps: Podcasts, TV, and Music. They also update other apps such as ScreenTime, Reminders, Mail, Safari, and Photos.
TV
The current TV app still allows you to watch shows and movies by buying or renting from the iTunes Store. But, there isn’t any functionality on the TV app even the way it integrates with other streaming services.
Let’s see what Apple has done with the new TV app version on the Mac:
- Like iOS, you can access the movies and shows you are watching on the TV app from any Apple device through UP Next.
- Apple’s team of editors will recommend some options based on what you watched and what you are looking for. On this app, Apple TV channels help you watch your favorite shows without separate apps required.
- You can still enjoy the source of 100.000 movies as well as TV shows, and you can access all content in Apple TV+.
- Any Mac model introduced in 2018 or later supports 4K, 4K HDR, 4K, and HDR10. Now, there is no need to pay for Netflix to watch shows and movies.
- You can see on the toolbar of the new TV app through 9to5Mac, there are many functionalities including Library tabs, Kids, TV Shows, Movies, Watch Now and Downloaded, TV Shows, Movies, Recently Added, and genres (Kids and Comedy).
Music
As I mentioned, Apple breaks up iTunes because its jukebox app and media management are pretty complicated.
Unlike the cluttered and complicated iTunes in the past, the new Music app only focuses on music instead of something like syncing that requires to deal with through Finder.
Any Apple Music subscriber can access Apple’s extensive catalog and listen to everything inside. The look of this app is cleaner and more colorful than the current iTunes app.
Here are other features:
- You can see the lyrics while listening to a song.
- It controls music better.
- There is a mini-player.
- The search features help you locate songs in the library easily and quickly.
Podcast
There are about 700.000 shows in Apple’s Podcast catalog. The new Podcast app comes with many new features, which help you find out your favorite shows among these things quickly and effortlessly. They include new categories, curated collections, Trending section, and Top Charts.
You might search for content such as a particular topic, show, guest, and host. Besides, this app enhances search using machine learning for podcasts‘ spoken content.
If you subscribe to your favorite shows, there will be a notification when new episodes are available.
Find My
Find My is a new version of Find My Phone. The new feature of this app can detect your closed or offline device, in case it is stolen or lost.
How can Find My locate an Apple device even when it is offline?
It sends signals through Bluetooth to nearby devices, then relays back to the user. This process is anonymous and encrypted, so there is no need to worry.
Take a look at another feature:
- Activation Lock prevents a thief from booting up the Mac because it requires your password.
- Moreover, you can incorporate Find My with Find My Friends to locate your friends and find out their lost devices.
Screen Time and Parental Control
Screen Time lets you know the amount of time you are using on your devices. From this point, you can figure out reasonable time on websites and apps. Or you can set a using period on some certain apps.
Screen Time also allows you to manage all devices of your family by scheduling downtime, selecting which sites you can access, setting app limits.
Photos
The new Photos comes with a new method to showcase all images and videos by day, month, or year. Meanwhile, previews let you zoom in and see larger photos.
Memory Movies also get a few new functionalities like editing moods, duration, and title of the slideshow and movie. You can sync what you edited to your devices through iCloud Photos. Moreover, your live photos and videos autoplay as well.
Safari
New Safari version comes with Siri Suggestions based on your iCloud tabs, bookmarks, frequently visited sites, links sent in Messages, and reading list selections.
It can recognize weak passwords and suggest a better password as well.
To avoid receiving emails from a specific sender, the new version of Mail will block their mailing. How to do?
Click on the name of that sender in the email header. Another new feature is that you can mute or stop notifications.
Note
It’s easier to look for notes via search suggestions or new Gallery View. In general, your notes are showed as visual thumbnails.
This app improves collaboration options like shared folders. Thus, you can share your documents at read-only mode, so that other people can’t edit. Note app allows you to scan notes on your iPhone because it can recognize words and something in images via optical character recognition.
The checklist option is used to move all completed notes to the end. It’s a great idea to organize your notes, right?
Can my Mac run macOS Catalina?
If you own a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, or iMac 2012 and later, sure it will.
Remember to Experience macOS Catalina!
Any user should download macOS Catalina and experience its outstanding features. Have you got all you want to know? For more details, please download and experience it yourself!
Solomen is the founder of MrHow.io, and he is happiest when working with technology and able to help others. In his free time, he often listens to Baroque music, swims or runs. Feel free to contact him on social media!
