Apple will officially announce the macOS 11 Big Sur on a special event. Since August, Apple already distributed the public beta of the new macOS version. With its 11.0 version naming, the Big Sur promises major changes compared to previous macOS 10.x versions.
Safari
It’s the biggest update to the Apple’s web browser since 2003 and probably the most important in Big Sur. Websites will load much faster on the Safari and it’s more convenient to use the tabs. For business professionals and personal users, there will be improved privacy features. There will be a reporting feature to track how websites acquire your data. Major security breaches like passwords theft will be less likely. Safari extensions will be available in the App Store to add preferred features and improve productivity. The start page of new Safari is customizable, allowing you to choose from a curated list of beautiful wallpapers or your own personal photos. There’s a built-in feature to translate language of a webpage from or to seven different languages. Despite these major enhancements, the new Safari will work mostly the same way. Now, tabs have the website’s favicon, so it will be quicker to spot them. Hover on the tab to see a preview of the webpage.
Messages
The new Messages app has the new ability to pin conversations, just like the one in iOS 14. Other new features are message effects, design a Memoji, redesigned search function and better way to wrangle group messages. For faster access, you can pin important conversations. To better manage big chats, you can create threaded messages in a group or direct a single message to one person. To tag a person, you can type a name in the group. When someone mentions your name, you will get a notification of the message. It is easy to organize search results by matching terms, photos and links. For better experience in Messages, you can add effects like confetti and balloons. Creating and customizing Memoji should be easy to do.
Maps
When exploring new places in Big Sur’s Maps, you can share your finding to friends. Whenever available, you can get indoor maps of popular shopping centres and major airports. It is now possible to use EV routing and get a 360-degree perspective of your destination with the Look Around feature. If you have an electric scooter or car, the EV routing will give you information about nearest charging station, road elevation, weather condition and the current charge level of your vehicle.
Widgets
With Widgets, you can quickly get the most relevant information on your home screen. At specific times of the day, you will get different types of widgets. Depending on your personal preferences or settings, you can get traffic information in the morning and stock market news after lunch. You can adjust the size of widgets to match your display.
Support for Mobile Apps
The macOS 11 Big Sur moves one step forward for better integration with iOS and iPadOS. The Mac App Store will also have new mobile apps. After buying an iOS app, you can install it on macOS and iOS at the same time.
Privacy Tracking and Reporting
It is easy for 3rd party apps to grab contact information, current location and other personal data. In macOS 11 Big Sur, you can track how apps use information. For example, you will know whether the app shares your information to any third party. However, privacy details may depend on the 3rd party developers. Although the reporting feature could be somewhat problematic in implementation, it is the right step to take.
Music
The Music app has a new tab called Listening Now that improves the discovery process. You can find your favourite artists and their music collection. There’s a built-in algorithm that learns your preferences and offers relevant suggestions. The Listening Now feature is also available in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14.
