10+ macOS Mojave innovations worth updating for

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Dark mode, dynamic wallpapers, stacks and other features of the new OS.

Dark design

The implementation of the dark style, which the company started with the menu bar and dock, is finally over. From now on, macOS fully supports the dark interface, which will surely appeal to anyone who often works in the evening and at night.

Thanks to the perfectly matched shades and anti-aliasing of the fonts, the dark style looks very cool. The theme is quite soft, without the black and white contrast that hits the eyes. Apple has updated the interface for all standard apps, and popular third-party developers have already followed suit. So only unadapted apps and websites can cloud the user experience right now.

Dynamic desktop

In addition to the dark theme, macOS Mojave introduces a dynamic desktop feature. Using geolocation, the system changes the lighting of the wallpaper on which day changes to night and vice versa. During the day, the picture gradually darkens and brightens in accordance with the time of day. It looks just amazing!

Stacks

Desktop stacks are another notable innovation. The new feature is designed to improve the organization of documents and files, making them easier to work with. To enable it, you need to call the context menu and select "Collect in stacks".

After that, the system will sort all the content and arrange it into neat stacks that unfold on click. You can view their contents without opening the stacks by using the swipe gesture. By default, files are grouped by type, but sorting by date and tags is also available.

Screen recording and screenshots

With macOS Mojave, Apple has made an already powerful screenshot tool better. Now the Screenshot program is invoked by the keyboard shortcut Shift + Command + 5 and allows you to take not only screenshots, but also record videos.

The tool is controlled through a small panel with icons, where you can select a mode. By default, a screenshot of the area is taken. In addition, it is possible to capture the entire screen or a specific window. For screencasts, there are two options available: full screen and selected area. You can immediately select where to save the snapshot or video, as well as set options such as timer or cursor display.

Gallery View in Finder

Finder now has an additional view mode with a large preview and a thumbnail strip at the bottom of the window. Gallery mode is focused on photos, videos and other visual content. In the sidebar on the right, now, in addition to the basic information about the file, full metadata about the image is displayed, which can be opened by clicking the "Show more" button.

Finder Quick Actions

Some of the Preview tools are now available in Finder as well. Now you can rotate images, use annotation, as well as create PDF, crop and rotate videos. Actions are configured through the standard extensions menu, so it can be assumed that the function will support tools from third-party applications.

Improved quick view

Similar capabilities are now available in the Quick File Viewer, which opens when you press the spacebar in the Finder. The toolbar is invoked by a click on the markup button and allows you to use the Preview and QuickTime editing functions without launching applications.

New Apps

Every year macOS integrates more closely with iOS through new features and applications. This year, Apple's desktop OS has four new apps that we are familiar with from iOS. News aggregator Apple News is available only in the United States so far and will appear if you change the region. But "Promotions", "Dictaphone" and "Home" take their place on Launchpad immediately after installing the update.

Continuity for the camera

Continuity technology now supports camera work. Thanks to this, you can launch the iPhone camera directly from the Mac, and then take a photo, which immediately appears on the computer. By the way, this thing works not only for photographs, but also for scanning documents.

Mac App Store redesign

Following the App Store on iOS, which underwent a radical transformation a year ago, the app store on macOS also received a new, minimalist interface. Navigation is carried out using the side menu, divided into sections "Creativity", "Work", "Games" and "Development". Here you will also find the main screen "Overview", "Updates" and the item "Categories", where applications are displayed with classic sorting.

What else

Of course, these are far from all the innovations in macOS Mojave. In addition to global and significant functions, it has many smaller, but no less pleasant changes under the hood. Here is some of them.

• Updated lock screen … The background blur has disappeared from the login screen, the avatar and text have become larger, and the interface looks cleaner overall.
• Recent programs in the dock … As with iOS, the macOS dock now contains an extra section on the right, where the last three apps are displayed.
• Software Update … Apple has separated system and application updates by removing them from the Mac App Store and adding them to a separate item in settings.
• Advanced privacy settings … Similar to iOS, macOS apps now need to obtain user permission before using a camera or microphone.
• Group FaceTime calls … Now the conference can be attended by up to 32 people at the same time.
• Favicons in Safari … After many years, Apple decided to add the function of displaying favicons of sites on Safari tabs.
• New wallpaper … The standard selection of wallpapers has been replenished with several additional photos on the theme of deserts.