MacOS Mojave Review: Dark Mode and Preview of the Future of Mac

If you have an iPhone, there are good reasons to wait for the new version of iOS every year. It's typically accompanied by significant interface enhancements, new applications, and useful features – like this year's Screen Time option that monitors the use of your apps – and even occasional performance improvements.

But if you've owned a Mac in recent years, there's little reason to get excited about the new versions of macOS. Some hidden corners of the operating system may receive a new feature, a sharp edge or two are rounded up and another iOS feature will appear on the desktop.

MacOS Mojave, the new version coming out today, is a prototypically 2010 version of macOS: filled with minor improvements, some iOS additions, and little praise or complaints. I like it and I think there are things that are worth being installed. But more than ever, I wonder: where is this platform going?

There are some changes inside Mojave that are starting to answer this big question. But in everyday use, these are not really fun or useful updates, so I'll use them first. Among the things that make affect your daily use are some true crowd lovers. First of all: there is finally a dark mode.

I do not know what makes people adopt dark fashions, but everyone loves them. So including one in macOS has long been a popular demand and an easy fruit for Apple. This year, Apple has finally succeeded. At startup, you will be asked if you want to use the light or dark mode, and you will even receive a corresponding screen background.

Dark mode will not change the way you use your computer. And because developers need to add support for all their applications, it will not work anywhere. But there is really nothing wrong with that. If you waited for it, it's here.

I think the biggest improvement in the quality of life in Mojave is directly on the desktop. Apple has a new idea of ​​how organization files should work, and it's really handy to keep your computer from getting messy. The feature, called Desktop Stacks, automatically groups your desktop items into "stacks" (mostly sophisticated folders) of similar types. For example, one stack collects images, another collects screen captures, another collects PDF files, and so on.

Categories generally make it easier to find lost files in the mess of your office. When you want to see what's in each stack, just click on it, and all the files will open for you to see.

I do have some minor points about their display, however: opening a battery pushes all other batteries, and these do not automatically reduce when you're done. So you can end up with the same mess if you never close them. But overall, it's convenient. And while I still have to remember to clean up all the unnecessary files I left in each stack, the feature made my office easier to manage.

Another element that will please a lot this version is the change of Apple screenshots. Now, it works like on iOS: your screen capture will momentarily remain in the corner of the screen, allowing you to click immediately to open it and make some basic changes to it. The editing options are a bit clunky, but it's a practical addition. I liked being able to grab screen capture directly from the corner of the screen and put it directly into a tweet. These editing tools are now integrated with Quick Look, which allows you to rotate or add a note to an image or PDF file without opening it completely.

Then there are all the other things. Dynamic Desktop allows you to choose one of two wallpapers that change automatically throughout the day. (One is nice, the other is not.) There is a new Gallery view option in the Finder, which seems to be useful for photographers, but I do not see myself using it. Oh, and Safari finally shows favicons. I still do not pass Chrome, but if you use Safari, this is a major improvement.

Safari also does more to prevent websites from following you on the web. And this is just one of the many security enhancements in Mojave. Apple is also asking applications to get your permission to use your Mac's microphone and webcam, which is a really late change.

Since there is only one feature in Mojave, it's the introduction of iOS apps on Mac. This is what happened in the past, where Apple, for example, coded a brand new version of Notes for the desktop. We were told that these iOS apps worked largely with the same code they used on iOS.

This is entirely possible because Apple is working on a project that, supposedly, next year, will allow developers to easily transfer their applications from iOS to the Mac. The developers have not yet access to this project, but Apple has tested it internally. And four new apps – News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home – let us see the results today.

As simple additions to macOS, the applications are practical, even if they are insufficient. If you use it on your iPhone, having them here is great. I've always hated having to download voice memos on Dropbox to be able to download them to my Mac. Now I can just open the application and they are all there (assuming I have enough iCloud storage, of course). If you are like me, the house is also useful and you have a bunch of smart home gadgets in your home.

As stand-alone applications, they are not particularly exciting and often seem to be half-reduced. Apple News could be the best example: it is a very direct clone of the iPhone application, able to do most things you can do on the phone. Although fully functional, the experience is not designed for the office. It is small, simple and narrow. It works, but I can not imagine that it would be what Apple would do if it had started from scratch in order to design the best news reader in the world.

The problems apply to how to use these new hybrid apps: sometimes they behave in a way that makes no sense to the Mac. On the desktop, for example, I think I can go back on my trackpad to go back. But in News, the quick return takes you back to the previous article in a list. To return to the main screen, you must find a no-frills back arrow, hidden in the farthest corner of the application. In the home application, you are greeted by iOS-style drop-down menus instead of drop-down menus. Once, I had to slide a giant vertical slider full screen to adjust the brightness of the lamp.

These apps replicate the key features of their iOS counterparts, but they do not do this in a way that is particularly native to the Mac. Instead, they feel something in between: clumsy and voluminous Mac-ish applications that sometimes make their origins very clear. It is certainly better to have these applications on the desktop rather than having nothing at all, but they are far from ideal.

It is still early for this project. Apple seems to use these applications more as a proof of concept than as proof that it can provide an exceptional MacOS Stocks application. As tools improve or Apple spends more time on these applications, it's possible that they change and transform into something more like MacOS. But I suspect that these are not Apple's priorities. Apple is probably more interested in allowing these applications to run on multiple platforms than to make them adhere to the way the Mac has always been viewed and felt. However, we will not be able to judge for at least a year – probably more.

Another interesting thing about these ported applications is that they use a style a little different from that of a normal Mac application. All but one place a thick navigation bar on the left side, and the main area of ​​the application includes large discrete boxes containing individual elements.

What is remarkable is that this style is not limited to iOS applications. It also appears in the redesigned Mac App Store, an entirely native app, another big part of Mojave. I do not particularly like the new style (it's rather refreshing on a subject as busy as the Mac App Store), but what really strikes me is how touchable everything looks good. I'm not saying it's a sign of things to come, but it's a sign of … a lot of very compelling iOS apps that invade the Mac.

Whatever it is, the Mac App Store has been redesigned. The store has been in decline since its launch and in recent years, developers have even abandoned and have chosen to sell their applications only on the Web for various reasons. Maybe it's the lack of discoverability, but maybe also the bad conditions for developers and the lack of flexibility of sales models. The success of web applications has certainly contributed to the decline of native applications.

I usually like the redesign. The home page looks more like a page in a magazine than at a part of an online store. There are great illustrations that catch my attention, editorialized lists, and even explanations of some highlighted applications. Everything is a little bigger; and although there is still a ton to go, it is more spaced and easier to read.

That being said, the App Store shares some of the same browsing features as iOS apps. It's not just this left bar (which includes unfamiliar categories and icons that, for a while, have made me mistakenly believe that I had mistakenly activated a version of the shop developer-oriented), in a full-page popup window, and there is only one button (again, at the farthest corner of the application) that makes you out of l & # 39; screen.

Will this revive the Mac App Store? I doubt it loudly. It can certainly help developers who have the chance to find their applications presented by Apple. But Apple is facing a whole lot more problems than just a messy store, and I think iOS apps ports will probably play a bigger role in making the Mac App Store more appealing as soon as it arrives in 2019.

More than any other version in recent years, Mojave is a clear sign of the destination of macOS – not just iOS, but directly absorbing some of its code and sensibilities. There may be technical reasons for this. Apple, it has long been speculated, wants to pass the Mac to its self-designed processors, which are designed to run iOS code. But that sounds a bit like necessity. If Apple wants the Mac to grow as a platform, it needs desktop applications for the Mac instead of the Web. This upcoming project could make this a lot easier for developers.

Still, I wonder what macOS would look like if Apple was really focused on it. Would these excellent features of iCloud from a few years ago still be developed? Would the Mac App Store offer more attractive terms to developers? Would Apple News be completely different?

I do not know the answer to these questions and I do not think Apple knows it either. Instead, we have the feeling that macOS is intended to keep moving at this rate, making incremental improvements, often without interest, year after year.

Is this the best way to go? I do not know. I still think macOS is a great operating system, but it's no secret that he's been in trouble. Mojave might not change that, but it certainly suggests a more interesting future on the horizon.