At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2019, Apple previewed macOS Catalina, the latest version of the its desktop operating system, packed with cool new features and new apps. With macOS Catalina, Apple is replacing iTunes with its popular entertainment apps — Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and the Apple TV app.
The all-new Sidecar feature enables users to extend their Mac desktop by using their iPad as a second display or as a high-precision input device across creative Mac apps.
Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV Apps
macOS Catalina breaks iTunes with three all-new apps designed to simplify and improve the way Mac users discover and enjoy their favourite music, TV shows, movies and podcasts.
Apple says, the new Music app for Mac is fast, fun and easy to use. Apple Music will help users discover over 50 million songs, playlists and music videos along with the access to their entire music library, whether they downloaded the songs or purchased them.
The all-new Apple TV app brings together different ways to find and watch movies and TV shows into one powerful app. The Apple TV app features Apple TV channels, personalised recommendations and over 100,000 iTunes movies and TV shows to browse, buy or rent — so users can enjoy 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos-supported movies. The Watch Now section features Up Next, where viewers can keep track of what they are currently watching and resume on any screen. Later this year, Apple’s original video subscription service, will be available in the Apple TV app.
The popular Apple Podcasts app offers more than 700,000 shows in its catalogue and the option to automatically notify users of new episodes as soon as they become available.
Sidecar
With Sidecar, iPad can be used as an extended display for Mac and a high-precision drawing tablet across supported Mac apps. For users on the go, Sidecar makes it easy to bring an extended display with them so they can spread their work out over two displays wherever they happen to be. When paired with an Apple Pencil, they can use their iPad to draw, sketch or write in any Mac app that supports stylus input.
Availability
The developer preview of macOS Catalina is available to Apple Developer Programme members at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta programme will be available to Mac users later this month at beta.apple.com.
macOS Catalina will be available later this year as a free software update for Macs introduced in mid-2012 or later.
