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Apple announces the release of macOS 11.0, dubbed Big Sur, on November 12. The company first announced the new operating system at its developer conference in June and released it as a public beta in August. It will be the first macOS to support Apple’s new M1 laptop chip. Once you’ve downloaded the new free update, you’ll likely immediately notice the design and aesthetic changes, many of which come from iOS.
On the one hand, Big Sur comes with a customizable control center where you can toggle brightness, do not disturb, and other settings of your choice. It also includes a new Notification Center which will keep all your notifications and widgets (also redesigned and available in the App Store) in one column, sort which alerts are most recent, and group related notifications. Both interfaces are translucent, just like iOS. Other changes include taller menu bars, font color changes based on the desktop background, and more translucent windows.
Some apps, like Mail and Photos, also receive design updates, and a new version of Maps for Mac ships with the operating system. This update includes personalized guides, 360-degree location views, routes for bikes and electric vehicles (which you can send directly to an iPhone), live updates for shared ETAs, zones congestion and domestic maps.
In addition to the design changes, Big Sur includes privacy-focused features, like an update to Safari called the Privacy Report that lists cross-site trackers that the browser has blocked in the past 30 days, as well as a tool Password Watchdog where Safari helps you switch to secure passwords if it detects that any of your saved passwords have been involved in a data breach. Big Sur’s App Store will also now include what types of data apps could collect and whether the data is shared with third parties for tracking.
Finally, Apple also says that Macs’ screens turn on immediately when opened, much like the iPhone turns on when supported.
There’s a lot more to the update, which you can read in full here and experience on November 12th.
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