Along the announcements of tvOS 10, iOS 10, and watchOS 3, Apple also lifted the curtain from macOS Sierra, the company’s newest desktop operating system.
Apple today officially announced macOS Sierra, which is the next version of its desktop operating system. The first developer beta has been seeded today, with the public beta primed for release in July. Following the developer and public beta releases, Apple plans to launch macOS Sierra this fall for the public.
macOS Sierra offers a plethora of new features. That includes the ability to use Apple Pay, the company’s mobile payment option, from within Safari for partners that include Gilt, and other major brands. With it, users will be able to authenticate purchases on their desktop by using Touch ID on their iPhone.
macOS offers other new Continuity features, too, including the ability to unlock your MacBook –avoiding the part where you input your password– by having your Apple Watch on your wrist. Another big addition to the software is Picture-in-Picture support, which will let users pop out a video and continue to watch it while they navigate other apps behind it. The picture can be resized, moved around, and it will stay on the top of other apps as the user moves from one virtual desktop to another.
The biggest new addition for macOS Sierra is Siri, which lets users ask the digital personal assistant to do a variety of things, like find files, contacts, and use more complex voice queries to find specific elements on their computer from specific dates or from other people. Siri can also play music from Apple Music, send messages, and much more.
The first developer beta for macOS Sierra is available right now on Apple’s dedicated developers page, right here. If you’re signed up as a developer, you can download the new pre-release software now.
Apple plans on releasing a public beta in July, and the full release will happen this fall.