Its been a few days since I’ve done one of these posts from WWDC19 as I discovered that other features would be written about by people attending the conference that I wouldn’t have been able to access by being at home in England. For the macOS Catalina update there wasn’t a great deal of new things announced. It already had the dark mode in a previous update so that wasn’t a new thing this time. There were more connectivity with other device announcements that were cool though.
As with the whole of apple devices, the iTunes app was being spread into apple music, podcasts and tv. To be totally honest it took me until researching this update to see and realise there wasn’t a tv app for the Mac as I thought it had come last year. So this is a good update as a lot of people would probably watch tv on their Macs whilst doing other work. They can also set some shows to watch and buy through tv whilst doing work while its fresh in your mind.
MacOS Catalina
One of the “ITS ABOUT TIME!!” Updates to come to this macOS is called sidecar. With this you can use an iPad as a separate screen. This has been lacking for years. Where you can extend the screen into the iPad or even do drawing work on the iPad and it showing on the Mac. With apple pencil this could be amazing for designers and artists who want to use both the iPad and have a Mac too. I thought this feature would never show up as apple have been trying to make the iPad better than a MacBook or to be used instead of one. I fear this sidecar would only be on the higher spec iPads like the pro or latest air but I might be surprised. This feature is also wireless so you don’t have to go out and buy a special cable or connect the iPad to the Mac so that is a great help.
Sidecar allows you to connect an iPad to the mac and use it as another screen or like a drawing tablet.
A big feature that apple was demoing for this update was accessibility features. It showed a guy in a wheelchair who couldn’t use his limbs so typing and scrolling on a Mac is impossible for him (and others out there) so they showed that Siri has become more smart and they could speak commands to the Mac to run apps, and do everything you’d want to do on a Mac. This feature is an accessibility thing but it brings out the star trek geek in me to talk to the computer to get tasks done. It can also be handy for working at home when you might be getting dressed or doing something with your hands and still be able to check things out or do some work on the mac. (It could also be a lazy thing for some able bodied people but each to their own).
As with all apple devices and software, security is a big thing. Security, user privacy and transparency so there is an update on security and devices with the newer security chip will make their devices less attractable to thieves.
SCREEN TIME has also come to the Mac in this update. It will be the same as on the phone and iPad so there’s not much of an update here, other than its coming to the Mac. There is more security for family sharing too so parents can keep track of who their kids talk to and can limit app times etc. Great for parents able to keep track of screen time and game time for their kids.
Screen time is now coming to mac
As well as all of this, the other updates to photos, mail etc that are on the iPad and iPhone are also coming to the mac. Great interconnectivity with all devices as I personally have all apple devices so its good for me. However my iPad has reached its update limit and cannot get iPadOS so id have to get a new one to get all the features. Maybe in 2020. However I will be surprised if my Mac will allow many more updates as its older than my iPad … but I guess il just have to wait and see with that one.
No comments:
Post a Comment