Pavel Jelic It's been almost half a year since Apple introduced new operating systems at its WWDC20 developer conference - namely iOS and iPadOS 14, macOS 11 Big Sur, watchOS 7 and tvOS 14. Immediately after the presentation, developers could download the first developer beta versions of these systems. A few weeks ago, these systems were released to the public, that is, with the exception of macOS 11 Big Sur. Apple was in no rush to release the public version of this system - it decided to release it only after the introduction of its own M1 processor, which we saw at the conference on Tuesday. The release date was set for November 12, which is today, and the good news is that the first public build of macOS 11 Big Sur was released a few minutes ago.
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Flying around the world with Apple How to install?
If you want to install macOS 11 Big Sur, there is nothing complicated about it. Anyway, before you start the actual installation, back up all important data just to be safe. You never know what can go wrong and cause the loss of some data. As for the backup, you can use an external drive, a cloud service or perhaps Time Machine. Once you have everything backed up and ready, tap on in the upper left corner icon and select an option from the drop-down menu System Preferences… A new window will open in which you can move to the section Software update. Even though the update has been "out there" for a few minutes, it may take a few minutes for it to show up. However, keep in mind that Apple's servers will certainly be overloaded and the download speed will not be quite ideal. After downloading, simply update. You can then check out the complete list of news and changes in macOS Big Sur below.
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List of macOS Big Sur compatible devices
- iMac 2014 and later
- iMac Pro
- Mac Pro 2013 and later
- Mac mini 2014 and later
- MacBook Air 2013 and later
- MacBook Pro 2013 and later
- MacBook 2015 and newer
Complete list of what's new in macOS Big Sur
Prostředí
Updated menu bar
The menu bar is now taller and more transparent, so the image on the desktop extends from edge to edge. The text is displayed in lighter or darker shades depending on the color of the image on the desktop. And the menus are larger, with more spacing between items, making them easier to read.
Floating Dock
The redesigned Dock now floats above the bottom of the screen and is translucent, allowing the desktop wallpaper to stand out. The app icons also have a new design, making them easier to recognize.
New application icons
The new app icons feel familiar yet fresh. They have a uniform shape, but retain the stylish subtleties and details typical of the unmistakable Mac look.
Lightweight window design
Windows have a lighter, cleaner look, making them easier to work with. Added translucency and rounded corners designed around the curves of the Mac itself complete the look and feel of macOS.
Newly designed panels
Borders and frames have disappeared from the redesigned application panels, so that the content itself stands out more. Thanks to the automatic dimming of the background brightness, what you're doing is always in the center of attention.
New and updated sounds
Brand new system sounds are even more enjoyable. Snippets of the original sounds have been used in the new system alerts, so they sound familiar.
Full height side panel
The redesigned side panel of applications is clearer and provides more space for work and entertainment. You can easily go through your inbox in the Mail application, access folders in the Finder, or organize your photos, notes, shares, and more.
New symbols in macOS
New symbols on toolbars, sidebars, and app controls have a uniform, clean look, so you can immediately see where to click. When applications share the same task, such as viewing the inbox in Mail and Calendar, they also use the same symbol. Also newly designed are localized symbols with numbers, letters and data corresponding to the system language.
Control Center
Control Center
Designed specifically for Mac, the new Control Center includes your favorite menu bar items so you can quickly access your most used settings. Just click the Control Center icon in the menu bar and adjust settings for Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, AirDrop, and more—no need to open System Preferences.
Customizing the Control Center
Add controls for the most frequently used apps and functions, such as accessibility or battery.
More options by clicking
Click to open the offer. For example, clicking on Monitor displays options for Dark Mode, Night Shift, True Tone, and AirPlay.
Pinning to menu bar
You can drag and pin your favorite menu items to the menu bar for one-click access.
Notification Center
Updated Notification Center
In the redesigned Notification Center, you have all notifications and widgets clearly in one place. Notifications are automatically sorted from the most recent, and thanks to the newly designed widgets of the Today panel, you can see more at a glance.
Interactive notification
Notifications from Apple apps like Podcasts, Mail or Calendar are now more handy on Mac. Tap and hold to take an action from the notification or view more information. For example, you can reply to an email, listen to the latest podcast and even expand the invitation in the context of other events in the Calendar.
Grouped notifications
Notifications are grouped by thread or application. You can view older notifications by expanding the group. But if you prefer separate notifications, you can turn off grouped notifications.
Newly designed widgets
All-new and beautifully redesigned Calendar, Events, Weather, Reminders, Notes and Podcasts app widgets will blow your mind. They now have different sizes, so you can choose the one that suits you best.
Customize widgets
You can easily add a new one to the Notification Center by clicking Edit Widgets. You can also adjust its size to display exactly as much information as you need. Then just drag it to the widget list.
Discovering widgets from other developers
You can find new widgets from other developers for the Notification Center in the App Store.
Safari
Editable splash page
Customize the new start page to your liking. You can set a background image and add new sections such as Favorites, reading list, iCloud panels or even a privacy message.
Even more powerful
Safari was already the fastest desktop browser - and now it's even faster. Safari loads the most frequently visited pages on average 50 percent faster than Chrome.1
Higher energy efficiency
Safari is optimized for Mac, so it is more economical than other browsers for macOS. On your MacBook, you can stream video for up to an hour and a half longer and browse the web for up to an hour longer than in Chrome or Firefox.2
Page icons on panels
Default page icons on panels make it easy to navigate between open panels.
View multiple panels at once
The new panel bar design shows more panels at once, so you can switch between them faster.
Page previews
If you want to find out what a page is on a panel, hold the pointer over it and a preview will appear.
Translation
Safari extension in the App Store
Safari extensions now have a separate category in the App Store with editor ratings and lists of the most popular, so you can easily discover great extensions from other developers. All extensions are verified, signed and hosted by Apple, so you don't have to deal with security risks.
WebExtensions API support
Thanks to WebExtensions API support and migration tools, developers can now port extensions from Chrome to Safari – so you can personalize your browsing experience in Safari by adding your favorite extensions.
Granting access to the extension site
Which pages you visit and which panels you use is up to you. Safari will ask you which websites the Safari extension should have access to, and you can grant permission for a day or permanently.
Privacy Notice
Safari uses intelligent tracking prevention to recognize trackers and prevent them from creating your profile and tracking your web activity. In the new privacy report, you will learn how Safari protects your privacy on the websites you visit. Select the Privacy report option in the Safari menu and you will see a detailed overview of all trackers blocked in the last 30 days.
Privacy notice for specific sites
Find out how the specific website you visit handles private information. Just click the Privacy Report button on the toolbar and you will see an overview of all the trackers that Smart Tracking Prevention has blocked.
Privacy notice on home page
Add a privacy message to your home page, and every time you open a new window or panel, you'll see how Safari protects your privacy.
Password watch
Safari securely monitors your passwords and automatically checks whether your saved passwords are not ones that could have been leaked during data theft. When it detects that theft may have occurred, it helps you update your current password and even automatically generates a secure new password. Safari protects the privacy of your data. No one can access your passwords - not even Apple.
Import passwords and settings from Chrome
You can easily import history, bookmarks and saved passwords from Chrome to Safari.
Gallery
News
Pinned conversations
Pin your favorite conversations to the top of the list. Animated tapbacks, typing indicators, and new messages appear right above pinned conversations. And when there are unread messages in a group conversation, the icons of the last active conversation participants will appear around the pinned conversation image.
More pinned conversations
You can have up to nine pinned conversations that sync in Messages on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
Search
Searching for links, photos and text in all previous messages is easier than ever. New Search in News groups results by photo or link and highlights found words. It also works great with keyboard shortcuts - just press Command + F.
Sharing name and photo
When you start a new conversation or receive a reply to a message, you can have your name and photo automatically shared. Choose whether to show it to everyone, just your contacts, or to no one. You can also use Memoji, a photo or a monogram as a profile picture.
Group photos
You can choose a photo, Memoji, or emoticon as the group conversation image. The group photo is automatically displayed to all group members.
Mentions
To send a message to an individual in a group conversation, enter their name or use the @ sign. And choose to receive notifications only when someone mentions you.
Follow-up reactions
You can also reply directly to a specific message in a group conversation in Messages. For greater clarity, you can read all thread messages in a separate view.
Message effects
Celebrate a special moment by adding balloons, confetti, lasers, or other effects. You can also send the message loudly, softly, or even with a bang. Send a personal message written in invisible ink - it will remain unreadable until the recipient hovers over it.
Memoji editor
Easily create and edit Memoji that look like you. Assemble him from a whole range of hairstyles, headgear, facial features and other characteristics. There are more than a trillion possible combinations.
Memoji stickers
Express your mood with Memoji stickers. Stickers are automatically created based on your personal Memoji, so you can easily and quickly add them to conversations.
Improved photo selection
In the updated selection of photos, you have quick access to the latest images and albums.
Maps
Conductor
Discover famous restaurants, interesting shops and special places in cities around the world with guides from trusted authors.4 Save the guides so you can easily return to them later. They are automatically updated whenever the author adds a new place, so you always get the latest recommendations.
Create your own guide
Create a guide to your favorite businesses - for example "The best pizzeria in Brno" - or a list of places for a planned trip, for example "Places I want to see in Paris". Then send them to friends or family.
Look around
Explore selected cities in an interactive 3D view that allows you to look around in 360 degrees and move smoothly through the streets.
Interior maps
At major airports and shopping centers around the world, you can find your way around using detailed interior maps. Find out what restaurants are behind security at the airport, where the nearest restrooms are, or where your favorite store is in the mall.
Regular arrival time updates
When a friend shares their estimated time of arrival with you, you will see up-to-date information on the map and know how much time is actually left until arrival.
New maps available in more countries
Detailed new maps will be available later this year in other countries such as Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. They will include a detailed map of roads, buildings, parks, harbors, beaches, airports and other locations.
Charged zones in cities
Big cities like London or Paris charge to enter zones where traffic jams often form. The maps show the entrance fees to these zones and can also find a detour route.5
Privacy
App Store privacy information
The App Store now includes information on privacy protection on the pages of individual applications, so you know what to expect before downloading.6 Just like in the store, you can look at the composition of the food before you put it in the basket.
Developers must disclose how they handle private information
The App Store requires developers to self-disclose how their app handles private information.6 The application may collect data such as usage, location, contact information and more. Developers must also state if they share data with a third party.
Display in a simple format
Information about how an app handles private information is presented in a consistent, easy-to-read format in the App Store—much like information about food ingredients.6You can quickly and easily find out how the application handles your private information.
Software update
Faster updates
After installing macOS Big Sur, software updates run in the background and complete faster. It makes keeping your Mac up-to-date and secure even easier than before.
A signed system volume
To protect against tampering, macOS Big Sur uses a cryptographic signature of the system volume. It also means that the Mac knows the exact layout of the system volume, so it can update software in the background – and you can happily get on with your work.
More news and improvements
AirPods
Automatic device switching
AirPods automatically switch between iPhone, iPad, and Mac connected to the same iCloud account. This makes using AirPods with Apple devices even easier.7When you turn to your Mac, you'll see a smooth audio switch banner. Automatic device switching works with all Apple and Beats headphones with the Apple H1 headphone chip.
Apple Arcade
Game recommendations from friends
On the Apple Arcade panel and the games pages in the App Store, you can see the Apple Arcade games that your friends like to play in the Game Center.
Achievements
On the Apple Arcade game pages, you can track your achievements and discover unlockable goals and milestones.
Keep playing
You can launch currently played games on all your devices directly from the Apple Arcade panel.
See all games and filter
Browse the entire catalog of games in Apple Arcade. You can sort and filter it by release date, updates, categories, driver support and other aspects.
Game Center panel in games
You can find out how you and your friends are doing on the in-game panel. From it, you can quickly get to your profile in the Game Center, to achievements, rankings and other information from the game.
Soon
Check out upcoming games in Apple Arcade and download them as soon as they're released.
Battery
Optimized battery charging
Optimized Charging reduces battery wear and extends battery life by scheduling your Mac to be fully charged when you unplug it. Optimized battery charging adapts to your daily charging habits and only activates when the Mac expects to be connected to the network for an extended period of time.
Battery usage history
Battery Usage History displays a graph of battery charge level and usage over the last 24 hours and last 10 days.
FaceTime
Emphasis on sign language
FaceTime now recognizes when a group call participant is using sign language and highlights their window.
Household
Household status
A new visual status overview at the top of the Home app displays a list of devices that require attention, can be quickly controlled, or notify of important status changes.
Adaptive lighting for smart bulbs
Color-changing light bulbs can now automatically change settings throughout the day to make their light as pleasant as possible and to support productivity.8 Start slowly with warmer colors in the morning, concentrate fully during the day thanks to cooler colors, and relax in the evening by suppressing the blue component of light.
Face recognition for video cameras and doorbells
In addition to recognizing people, animals and vehicles, security cameras also recognize people you have marked in the Photos application. That way you'll have a better overview.8When you tag people, you can receive notifications of who is coming.
Activity zones for video cameras and doorbells
For HomeKit Secure Video, you can define activity zones in the camera view. The camera will then record video or send notifications only when motion is detected in selected areas.
Hudba
Let go
The new Play panel is designed as a starting place to play and discover your favorite music, artists, interviews and mixes. The Play panel displays a selection of the best based on your musical interests at the top. Apple Music9 learns over time what you like and chooses new suggestions accordingly.
Improved search
In the improved search, you can quickly choose the right song according to genre, mood or activity. Now you can do more directly from the suggestions - for example, you can view an album or play a song. New filters allow you to refine the results, so you can easily find exactly what you are looking for.
Notes
Top search results
The most relevant results appear at the top when searching in Notes. You can easily find what you need.
Quick styles
You can open other styles and text formatting options by clicking the Aa button.
Advanced scanning
Taking pictures through Continuity has never been better. Capture sharper scans with your iPhone or iPad that are automatically cropped – more precisely than before – and transferred to your Mac.
Fotky
Advanced video editing capabilities
Editing, filters and cropping also work with video, so you can rotate, brighten or apply filters to your clips.
Advanced photo editing options
Now you can use the Vivid effect on photos and adjust the intensity of filters and portrait lighting effects.
Improved Retouch
Retouch now uses advanced machine learning to remove blemishes, dirt and other things you don't want in your photos.10
Easy, fluid movement
In Photos, you can get to the photos and videos you're looking for by quickly zooming in multiple places, including Albums, Media Types, Imports, Places, and more.
Add context to photos and videos with captions
You add context to your photos and videos by viewing and editing captions – before adding a caption. When you turn on iCloud Photos, captions sync seamlessly across all your devices—including captions you add on your iOS or iPadOS device.
Enhanced memories
In Memories, you can look forward to a more relevant selection of photos and videos, a wider range of musical accompaniments that automatically adapt to the length of the Memories movie, and improved video stabilization during playback.
Podcasts
Let go
The Play screen now makes it easier to find what else is worth listening to. A clearer Upcoming section makes it easier for you to continue listening from the next episode. Now you can keep track of new podcast episodes you subscribe to.
Reminders
Assign reminders
When you assign reminders to people you share lists with, they'll get a notification. It's great for dividing tasks. It will be immediately clear who is in charge, and no one will forget anything.
Smart suggestions for dates and places
Reminders automatically suggests reminder dates, times, and locations based on similar reminders from the past.
Personalized lists with emoticons
Customize the look of your lists with emoticons and newly added symbols.
Suggested comments from Mail
When you're writing to someone via Mail, Siri recognizes possible reminders and immediately suggests them.
Organize dynamic lists
Organize dynamic lists in the Reminders app. You can easily rearrange or hide them.
New keyboard shortcuts
Easily browse your lists and dynamic lists and quickly move reminder dates to today, tomorrow or next week.
Improved search
You can find the right reminder by searching for people, places and detailed notes.
Spotlight
Even more powerful
Optimized Spotlight is even faster. Results are displayed as soon as you start typing - faster than before.
Improved search results
Spotlight lists all the results in a clearer list, so you can open the application, web page or document you're looking for even faster.
Spotlight and Quick View
Thanks to Quick Preview support in Spotlight, you can view a full scrolling preview of almost any document.
Integrated in the search menu
Spotlight is now integrated into the search menu in apps like Safari, Pages, Keynote, and more.
Dictaphone
Folders
You can organize the recordings in Dictaphone into folders.
Dynamic folders
Dynamic folders automatically group Apple Watch recordings, recently deleted recordings and favorites, so you can easily keep them organized.
Favourite
You can quickly find the recordings you mark as favorites later.
Enhancing records
With one click, you automatically reduce background noise and room reverberation.
Weather
Significant weather changes
The Weather widget shows that the next day is going to be significantly warmer, cooler or rainier.
Severe weather conditions
The Weather widget displays official warnings for severe weather events such as tornadoes, snowstorms, flash floods, and more.
International function
New bilingual dictionaries
New bilingual dictionaries include French-German, Indonesian-English, Japanese-Chinese (simplified), and Polish-English.
Improved predictive input for Chinese and Japanese
Improved predictive input for Chinese and Japanese means more accurate contextual prediction.
New fonts for India
New fonts for India include 20 new document fonts. In addition, 18 existing fonts have been added with more degrees of boldness and italics.
Localized effects in News for India
When you send a greeting in one of 23 Indian languages, Messages will help you celebrate the special moment by adding the appropriate effect. For example, send a message in Hindi "Beautiful Holi" and Messages will automatically add confetti to the greeting.
