Mac OS 11 features: 5 expected features

Despite the still unknown release date for the new operating system, there are some rumors surrounding the new Apple macOS 11. However, there are already design studies of what macOS 11 looks like and what new functions it could bring.

macOS 11 with a new design concept

The Spanish designer Álvaro Pebesio has published a design study with the new functions of macOS 11 at Behance.

• The menu bar should become significantly smaller and no longer take up the entire width of the screen.
• Rather, the menu and status bar are now separate and are located in the upper corners of the display.
• Even with this design change, the new macOS version is strongly based on iOS.

Hack: Control Center for Mac

Some elements from the former status bar move to a clearly laid out control center.

• This Control Center on Mac should be called up with a swipe gesture with two fingers from the status bar down on the touchpad.
• This element is also strongly reminiscent of iOS. According to the design study, you will find the quick toggles for WLAN, Bluetooth, AirDrop as well as volume and brightness here.
• Practical: In the settings, you can specify which shortcuts should be in the control center.

Apps are becoming universal

So far there are apps for macOS and apps for iOS.

• If you believe the rumors about macOS 11, the iOS apps of your iPhone should be usable on the Mac in the future.
• The prerequisite for this is that at least iOS 12 is installed on your iPhone.

Siri becomes proactive

Siri has been an integral part of macOS for a long time. In the new macOS 11, the voice assistant should no longer only accept commands. In the future, Siri should also make suggestions for what you could do next.

• For example, when opening a tag document, the voice assistant might suggest that you translate it into English. By the way, Siri can translate.
• Open your calendar, Siri might suggest you find a free slot this week. According to the design study, the proposal is displayed next to the colorful Siri dot in the status bar.

Dark Mode for macOS

Another idea from Álvaro Pebesio would suit many users. The study suggests introducing a real dark mode for macOS.

• The Dark Mode makes working on a Mac in a dark environment much easier. So far, you can only activate Dark Mode in Safari.
• As mentioned at the beginning, these are all just design studies. What the new macOS 11 may do and what it will look like is still uncertain.

So you will continue to work with the existing macOS versions for some time. For this reason, we will show in our next practical tip how the dynamic wallpapers work under macOS Mojave.