An update significant enough for Apple to have called it macOS 11 instead of macOS 10.16, macOS Big Sur introduces design changes, feature updates, and app tweaks that make macOS feel refreshingly new and optimized.
In our latest YouTube video, we’ve highlighted some of the best features coming in macOS Big Sur that will make it worth your while to upgrade to the new software.
- Cool design – macOS Big Sur revises the macOS interface with a design that must be new but familiar at the same time. Windows have a clearer and cleaner appearance with rounded edges, there are new icons, the menu bar has been redesigned to be more useful, and there are new more consistent symbols throughout the operating system. Overall, most of the tweaks are minor, but overall, it’s a welcome change.
- Control center – Part of the macOS Big Sur redesign includes a new Control Center accessible from the menu bar, which puts useful Mac functions just a click away. It has quick access controls for WiFi, AirDrop, Bluetooth, screen and keyboard volume and brightness, along with switches for options like Dark Mode, True Tone, and Night Shift. It’s also customizable, so you can make sure your most-used controls are available.
- Notification center – Notification Center received one of the biggest design updates on macOS Big Sur, with Apple redesigning widgets and changing the way notifications work. The widgets more closely match the idgewidgets introduced in iOS 14, with customizable sizes and features to accompany the updated look. Notifications are now grouped by app, making them more readable, and many notifications are more interactive with options to do things like reply to an email without opening the Mail app.
- Safari customization – You can set a wallpaper for Safari in macOS Big Sur, choosing between one of the Apple options or your own photo. You can also add bookmarks, frequently visited websites, Siri tips, reading list, iCloud tabs and the new privacy report to the Safari home page so you can have your most used Safari features more easily available.
- Safari privacy report – The Privacy Report is a new Safari feature that lets you know which trackers Safari blocks so they don’t track you on the web. You can see which crawlers a website has installed by clicking the little shield button in Safari, but Apple also provides a Tracking Report with information on the crawlers blocked every week and which crawlers are used on most sites.
- Safari tab preview – Safari tabs have been updated in macOS Big Sur, and if you hover over any tab you have opened, you can see a small preview of the site. The preview lets you take a look at what’s on the tab so you don’t need to click to see what it is, which is useful when you have a bunch of tabs open.
- Safari Translation – There is a built-in translation feature in Safari, which allows you to translate languages with one click so you don’t need to install a separate extension. Apple’s built-in translation option works with English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese.
- Messages – Messages in macOS Big Sur is now a Mac Catalyst app, so it has the same functionality that is available in Messages for iOS. It supports all the new iOS 14 like features like pinned conversations, online responses and mentions, plus there is an updated photo picker, an option to create and share Memoji stickers, an image search to find images of trends and GIFs to share, and support for Message Effects like balloons, confetti, and more. Search has also been greatly improved and displays separate listings for conversations, photos, contacts, and locations, similar to Messages for iOS.
- Battery usage – In the Battery section of System Preferences, Apple now provides details on the battery life of the Mac for 24 hours or the last 10 days, broken down by battery level and usage screen so you can see how your battery is working . Apple also retrieved an estimate of the remaining battery life, which is a feature that was removed from macOS Sierra in 2016.
- Video edition – The Mac Photos app now supports video editing, so you can adjust parameters like light and color, add filters, and crop and rotate videos without having to use a third-party app.
- New startup sound – There are a ton of new and updated sounds in macOS Big Sur and we have a video that will exclusively cover the sound changes, but there is one major update worth noting here: the return of the macOS startup sound. macOS Big Sur sounds again when Mac starts.
There are many more new features in macOS Big Sur, and you can find more details on what’s coming in the update in our macOS Big Sur overview. macOS Big Sur is limited to developers at this time, but Apple should make a public beta available in the near future.
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