All New Features in MacOS Sierra
Apple just released macOS Sierra , and while it’s a small update, it does include Siri, the universal clipboard, and a few other new features. Let’s take a quick look at all the new items.
Siri lands on your Mac
Sierra packs Siri for your Mac, and that includes pretty much everything Siri can do on iOS. As you’d expect, you can ask Siri to check the weather, help you spell out, compose emails, find information on the web, and all the other features you’ve had on your iPhone over the past few years.
It can also do pretty much everything Spotlight can do on your Mac , which means you can use Siri to search for files and open apps with commands like “show me PDFs in my document folder” or “Open Photoshop” …
Siri expands the capabilities of the Action Center
Siri is adding a new feature to the Action Center where you can pin search results. Here you can add sports schedules, file list, trending topics on Twitter, and any other Siri search results to your Action Center. This makes the Action Center a much more useful place to store information.
Universal copy and paste between Mac and iPhone, unlock Mac with Apple Watch
Sierra adds two new Continuity features: copy and paste between Mac and iPhone, and the ability to unlock a Mac with an Apple Watch. If you have an Apple Watch, you can leave your password blank to unlock your Mac. For the rest of the use, just copy some text onto your iPhone, then press Command + V to paste it on the Mac. It should work just like this, without any tweaks. Like all Continuity features, this works over Bluetooth 4.0, so you’ll need to enable Bluetooth on both devices before you can copy and paste between them.
iCloud Drive expands to include your desktop and documents
If you store the documents you’re working on in the Documents folder or on your desktop, you’ll appreciate that iCloud Drive can now sync both of these folders to make it easier to transfer files between Mac computers. Just go to System Preferences> iCloud to enable it.
Photos on Mac gets all the new features of Photos on iOS
Photos in Sierra has almost all the features included in Photos in iOS 10 . This means that in the Mac app you will find a Memories tab, face recognition, and a photo map. Like the iOS version, Photos on Mac can now search for objects within photos, which means it can recognize things like sunsets, beaches, or birthday cakes.
Optimized storage frees up disk space
Optimized Storage is a new automated system for managing disk space on your Mac. If you’re using iCloud, your Mac can now decide which files to store in the cloud and which on your hard drive, depending on usage. It can also view and delete old files, duplicates and old app installers to help you free up space. You can find it in Apple> About This Mac, then click on Storage, then Manage.
Apple Music just gets a little easier to use
Apple Music is undergoing minor redesign inside iTunes. The new For You tab makes it easier to find new music, and the Browse section is redesigned to highlight new music.
Almost every application has tabs
If you love tabs in your web browser, then you will love tabs in your applications. You can now add tabs to almost every Apple app and a range of third-party apps by pressing Command + T.
Safari adds Picture-in-Picture mode
Just like the iPad, Safari on Mac has a picture-in-picture mode where you compress the video and place it in the corner of the screen so you can watch whatever you want while you work.
There are several other minor new features as well, including Apple Pay integration in Safari and giant emoticons in messages.