MacOS Big Sur: What’s New?
June 23, 2020During its annual worldwide developer conference (WWDC) this week, Apple revealed several sweeping changes to the Mac that heralds a new era. At the end of this year, the company will begin shipping Macs with ARM based CPUs and ship with MacOS Big Sur, the latest installment of the OS X operating system, that has been optimized to run efficiently on these new chips.
Here’s what Apple has changed:
Interface
This new OS offers a new design aesthetic with improved navigation features. The curvature of the window corners, color palettes and textures have been tweaked. Icons in the Dock have been redesigned to be more consistent with the rest of Apple’s app ecosystem. Buttons and controls appear and recede when necessary.
There’s an all-new Control Center, that delivers quick access to controls from the desktop. Notification Center includes more notifications and redesigned widgets, which are designed to provide more relevant information at a glance. Core apps also have a new design that provide better organisation to multiple open windows.
Safari
It has been tweaked to offer better speed and reduced power consumption. There’s also an improved JavaScript engine that allows it to load websites 50% faster than Google Chrome. Its tabs have been redesigned to accommodate more of them at any given time, and display favicons by default to help identify the open tabs.
Now, users can customize the start page with background images and sections like Readings List and iCloud Tabs. And Safari’s built-in translation engine allows it to detect and translate entire web pages for seven supported languages. There’s also improved support for browser extensions, which include different ways of sorting through them on the Mac App Store.
Safari has a new Privacy Report that is said to deliver better transparency into how it protects user browsing activity. Users can choose when and which websites a Safari extension can work with. User password information is also kept private, even from Apple.
Messages
It has new tools to help manage important conversations and ones that help users share more expressive messages. Favorite conversations can be pinned at the top of the list for easier access. The Search function has been improved to better organize results into links, photos, and matching terms.
Message effects allow for balloons, confetti, and more to be added to messages. Users can create and customize Memoji and use Memoji stickers to match their mood and personality. In addition to this, there also a new photo picker to share images, GIFs, and videos.
Inline replies help users respond directly to messages. They can direct a message to an individual in a group conversation by typing in their name. Also, a photo or emoji can bet set for a group conversation that is shared with all members of said group.
Maps
There improved guides from trusted resources or create custom guides of favorite restaurants, parks, and vacation spots that can be shared with friends and family. Users can also take advantage of the 360-degree view called Look Around and browse detailed indoor maps of major airports and shopping centres.
