OS X is dead. The name, at least.
Apple’s desktop operating system will become macOS this fall with its next major update, which will bring a whole host of exciting new features and improvements — including Siri integration, automatic unlocking, and Apple Pay for the web.
The official name of Apple’s next Mac update is macOS Sierra, and it’s huge. The experience starts with Auto-Unlock, which instantly unlocks your Mac when you sit down in front of it wearing your Apple Watch.
Another feature that’s going to make your life easier is the Universal Clipboard. This lets you copy and paste content between your Mac and iOS devices. Thanks to improvements to iCloud, you can also do the same with files and folders.
Photo: Apple
Apple is also adding Optimized Storage, which automatically sends old documents and files to iCloud, freeing up local storage space. It can also clear your trash, web history, and other data in the background to keep your Mac clean.
This negates the need for Mac cleaner apps, which remove old files that you no longer need. Apple claims that during one test, Optimized Storage was able to free up a whopping 130GB of local storage on one Mac.
macOS is also getting Picture-in-Picture, a feature adopted from iOS that lets you enjoy video while you do other things. Apple is also making tabs available inside more apps to make multitasking easier, and this will be automatic — devs don’t need to do anything.
Photo: Apple
Other improvements to macOS include Siri integration, and the ability to use Apple Pay in your web browser. Just like watchOS 3, macOS will be a free update when it rolls out to all this fall. Developers can get their hands on a preview today.
