It’s been a big day for Apple so far, with the announcements of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14. But for MacBook users, the exciting part of the day is just beginning. Apple has unveiled the next version of macOS: Big Sur.
Design changes begin with what Apple is calling the biggest upgrade since the introduction of Mac OS X. There’s now a customizable Start page, with a refined app dock and Finder to make better use of screen space. The Mail app has colors in the navigation interface again, while Photos will feature an updated sidebar. The gallery in Photos is also backed by Metal so animations show up quickly.
Apple has made some other tweaks as well. The menu bar is now taller and more translucent, the interface’s font color changes based on the color of your desktop background, and pull-down menus are larger with more space between lines. You can pin the items you use the most to the top of the menu bar. Windows are also more translucent, with more rounded edges.
A number of apps have received streamlined new designs, including Mail, Photos, Notes, and iWork. Apple has introduced a new search feature to Messages, as well as inline replies, customizable icons, and @-sign mentions for group chats, a new photo-selection interface, and other message effects including Memoji stickers. You’ll be able to pin up to nine chats to the top of your conversation list, which syncs across Messages in iOS and iPadOS as well.
There are similar privacy updates in Safari that Apple announced earlier during the show, which let you have finer control over how long websites and extensions have access to your data. A new Privacy Report shows up when you press the Shield icon next to the URL bar to show you what trackers are on the page, too. Tabs are also becoming easier to navigate, with more of them showing onscreen at once and displaying favicons by default. When you hover your cursor over a tab, a preview thumbnail will show up so you can be visually reminded of what’s on that page.
Safari will also have built-in translation, similar to what Chrome already offers. When Safari detects that the website you’re looking at is not in your default language, a button will pop-up to translate that text. This feature will work with seven languages for now, including Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Russian, English and Brazilian Portugese.
On the developer side, Apple has upgraded SwiftUI to make it easier to create apps that are versatile throughout its ecosystem, and to add custom Mac features.
The update comes just over a year after Apple announced macOS Catalina, which brought iPad app support, the Sidecar feature that allows you to use your iPad as an extended Mac display, and a number of redesigned apps including Apple Music, Podcasts, Apple TV, and Find My. The 10.16 update continues to bring the macOS experience closer to that of iPhones and iPads, and to refine the app experience.
