macOS Mojave announced


Announced at WWDC, macOS Mojave is the name for the next iteration of macOS.

Apple is bringing its News app to macOS, in addition to Stocks, Home, and Voice Memos. I’ve been using the News app more and more and enjoy it, so I imagine I'll be using it on the Mac.

Perhaps burying the lead a bit, Apple said these apps are using a new development framework for Mac Apps. Using this framework, iOS apps can be brought to macOS. Apple said to expect these frameworks to be available starting late 2019. There have been rumors of some kind of platform convergence, and this may be what was floating around. It sounds like this is making it easier for developers to essentially port iOS applications to the Mac and not necessarily the Mac running iOS apps as was rumored.

Apple is finally bringing group calling to FaceTime. Now multiple people can join or be added to a group call. Group FaceTime will be supported on iOS and macOS devices and audio using the Apple Watch. This should be a nice addition.

Apple is also bringing a new Dark Mode to macOS. This switches the color scheme of the display so that background elements and controls darken. This can help focus attention, but can also be easier on the eyes. Apple said it’s making Dark Mode APIs available to developers so they can incorporate features consistently.

Apple is also revamping the Mac App Store. Apple did a big facelift to the iOS App Store and now it seems the smaller Mac App Store is getting some attention.

macOS Mojave will have a public beta later this month and is expected to be released in the fall. It will be a free update to Macs released in mid-2012 and later and 2010 Mac Pro models with Metal-capable graphics processors