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Apple’s macOS Catalina arrives today, October 7.
Catalina is compatible withmost Mac models released after 2012.
If yours ranmacOS 10.14 Mojave, it will almost certainly run Catalina.
There are three new apps to handle media: Music, TV, and Podcasts.
The TV app is the new home of all things video.
This is also where you stream content from Apple’s newTV+ subscription servicewhen it finally launches this fall.
All three apps use a very similar interface.
And they’re noticeably leaner and more responsive than their previous iTunes implementations.
If you miss iTunes, don’t worry—on Windows,the classic iTunes app will live on.
From what we’ve heard, Sidecar should work on Macs released in 2016 or later.
Catalyst puts it in the hands of third-party developers.
Apple used the racing game Asphalt 9 to demonstrate the feature when they announced Catalina.
It’s not just games that will be ported across, though.
Apple also highlighted iOS apps, likeTwitter,TripIt, andMorpholio.
You see your app usage, incoming notifications, and gadget pickups (including iOS devices).
you’re free to also restrict content, stores, and more.
Screen Time also replaces the old Parental Controls panel in System Preferences.
So, this is now where you set up parental controls on your Mac.
It’s more powerful and makes it easy to set limits based on real-world usage.
If you’ve used Screen Time on an iPhone or iPad, the process will be familiar to you.
Catalina introduces an iOS mainstay calledActivation Lockfor Macs with Apple’s security-focused T2 chip.
With Catalina, macOS now runs in a read-only volume.
This prevents third-party apps from writing to the most sensitive parts of your system.
Catalina builds on the iOS-like permissions system introduced with Mojave.
You now have more control over what apps can do on your system.
You’ll find the new options under System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy.
It allows you to navigate your Mac with your voice.
Speech recognition and dictation were improved, as were accessibility features, like numbered labels and grid-based selection.
This means you’ve got the option to select, zoom, or drag files via voice commands.
And the “Hover Text” option displays highlighted text in high-resolution when you tap the Command key.
System Preferences Is More iOS-Like
System Preferences finally got a face-lift!
Can Your Mac Run macOS Catalina?
But remember, not all software will be compatible with it from the outset.
The installation file will download and give you an utility called “Install macOS Catalina.”
Run it and follow the prompts to upgrade your Mac to the latest version of macOS.
