Everything You Need To Know About the New OS X 10.10 Yosemite

Everything You Need To Know About the New OS X 10.10 Yosemite

At the annual Worldwide Developers Conference 2014, Apple didn’t only announce the upcoming iOS 8 mobile operating system, they also unveiled their next-generation OS X 10.10 Yosemite. The new OS follows the footsteps of OS X Mavericks, and comes with a handful of new features on board. The good news is: it will be available this fall as a free upgrade for people running on OS X 10.9 Maverick.

OS X 10.10 Yosemite will come with a cleaner user interface, with flatter icons and translucent bars. As we said, it has taken some of the design cues from iOS, and features improved features, icons, buttons and even a new system font for improved readability. There’s also a dark mode that dims the entire interface for improved focus while you’re working.

Apple has also improved the notification center in the new version, giving users a lot more detail. There’s a Today View in the notification center, which give users an overview of everything, such as upcoming events, reminders, stock information and more. You can even add widgets from the Mac App Store to customize the notification center, and display the things which matter to you.

There’s an improved spotlight search as well — it went through some enhancements on iOS as well. In addition, the built-in apps have received major updates as well, including Mail, Messages and Safari. Apple also introduced a new app called iCloud Drive, which is a Dropbox alternative, and give users the ability to save their files in the cloud so they are accessible on every device — Mac, iPhone, iPad and even Windows PCs. Thew new messages app gives users the ability to receive and respond to iMessages, and SMS messages on their Mac.

Another interesting feature is the ability to make and receive calls on your Mac. OS X 10.10 Yosemite and iOS 8 works in conjunction with each other, so that you can make and receive calls on your Mac, no matter where your iPhone is in your house. It’s not just the phone calls, the messages on your iPhone are also available on your Mac. Now, if you are working, you don’t have to look for your iPhone if you receive a message — iMessage or SMS — and respond it directly.

There’s a new Handoff feature as well, which was discussed in iOS 8 as well, and lets users connect all their Apple devices, and work with them. You can continue on any device you own, for example, if you started writing an email on your iPad, and decided to switch to your Mac, you can continue it from where you left off on the iPad.

The new OS X 10.10 Yosemite also features a new Instant Hotspot feature, which basically uses your iPhone as a hotspot. There’s no setup required, and it will connect to your iPhone when both devices are in range. It will be displayed in the WiFi menu on the Mac, and shows the amount of battery left as well as the signal strength. Interestingly, it will disconnect from the hotspot when it’s not in use to save the battery life on your iPhone.

The new OS X 10.10 Yosemite will be released later this fall, possibly alongside the iOS 8. However, if you’re an enrolled developer, you’ll be able to grab it from the online Apple portal. Apple also said there will be a public beta later this summer so that normal users can try the new OS and give their feedback