Features Of MacOS Sierra

At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2016 in San Fransisco, the latest version of the Mac Operating System was announced. The new OS is the successor to OS X 10.11, and focuses on Siri, iCloud, Optimal storage, etc. The latest version is branded as MacOS Sierra.

At the conference, it was also announced that the new operating system is called MacOS and this brings the uniformity with iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. This means the name change has been confirmed and the Mac OS X is now rebranded as MacOS, announced by Craig Federigh, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering.


Image Credit: Apple’s WWDC
Image 1- Apple's Craig Federighi at WWDC

Here are the exciting features announced:

Siri introduced to the Mac desktop

Sierra brings Apple's personal assistant Siri to the Mac desktop. The platform will perform many of the same tasks that it can on iOS devices. The tasks include web searches, sending text messages, playing music from iTunes, calendar events etc. To activate Desktop Siri, use keyboard shortcut, click icon in the OS X menu bar or you can easily work it out through the "Hey Siri" voice command.

Image Credit: Apple’s WWDC

Image 2: Use Siri while doing another work - Multitasking

Here are some of the features of Siri on Mac, 

• It’s easier to access Siri, even when you’re doing some other important task.
• Ask Siri to locate any of your files whose location you forgot. Refine results by date, keywords in the title, etc.
• Search for images and information just by asking Siri.
• After getting the Siri results, just pin it, like sports schedule, Twitter feeds, etc in the Notifications Center.
• Ask anything from Siri, like,
  
  
  • “Show the images in my Downloads folder”
  • “Play the top 5 Eminem songs”
  • “What’s the weather in Philadephia?”
  • “FaceTime Amit”
  • “How do you spell Chesapeake?”
  • “What time is it in New Delhi, India?”
  • “How much free space do I have on my Mac?”
  • “Call Monish’s iPhone”
  • Show me all the files I shared with Manish.

Photos: Enhanced experience with Memories

Now get new experiences with the “Memories” tab, and new technologies make photos even better at face recognition. Interestingly, now you can  search your photos by the objects and scenery in them. Photo Memories will also generate a slideshow movie automatically.


Image Credit: Apple
Image 3- Photos new Memories tab on macOS

Apple Pay

Apple Pay is coming to the Mac with Sierra by bringing the mobile payments service to the web. You can authenticate purchases using Touch ID on your nearby iPhone. You can also find Apple Pay by double-clicking the side button on your Apple Watch.

Auto Unlock Mac with Apple Watch

It allows users to remotely unlock Mac using an Apple Watch. No need to type password.

Universal Clipboard

It improves the traditional copy and paste functionality, by allowing users to automatically copy text, photos, video and more from an iPhone, and paste them on a Mac.


Image Credit: Apple
Image 4: Universal Clipboard

Messages

The messaging experience has also been enhanced. Now, send a huge emoji and give an amazing touch by responding back with a heart or a thumbs-up. This would be visible on your friend’s message bubble. Also, you can play videos and preview links in the conversation.

Optimized Storage

Here’s a free feature that will help in optimized storage. The new macOS automatically stores rarely used files in the cloud and you can get them when you need them. You can also find and remove old files you stopped using and don’t want to use further.


Image Credit: Apple
Image 5- macOS Optimized storage

Discover new Apple Music experience

With the launch ofthe new OS, now it’s easy to find your favorite songs. It's  noweven easier to discover new songs with the redesigned Apple Music inside iTunes.

The “For You” has been redesigned for making it easy to discover new music and playlists. The Browse section will let you see the best of Apple Music, which includes new releases, playlists and top charts. Additionally, you can also see lyrics.

 

Image Credit: Apple
Image 6- Enhanced Apple Music Experience

iCloud Drive Enhanced

Desktop and Documents folders in Mac can now be automatically stored and updated in iCloud Drive. You can even access it from another Mac.


Image Credit: Apple
Image 7- iCloud Drive Enhanced

For Developers

Be a member of Apple Beta Software Program and have a part in shaping Apple software by test-driving pre-release versions.Work on it and let Apple know what you think.

Sign up for Apple Beta Software Program.

The macOS Sierra is here and wit it the SDK has been released that has new APIs and services for creating more productive apps.

Discover more about developing for macOS.

Availability

A public beta of macOS sierra will be offered in July and the public release is coming in the fall. Also, it is available to developers now.