Sep 24, 2018 Familiar iOS apps including News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home come to the Mac for the first time, allowing users to do more than ever right from their desktop. News provides a one-stop destination for trusted news and information, curated by editors and personalized for each user.
Good news for those who love to personalize their iPhone with the photos depicting their significant other, kids, dogs, kittens and what have you: with iOS 7 Apple has gone beyond adding a bunch of new wallpapers, having implemented cool new enhancements to really bring those wallpapers to life.
Taking a page from Google’s Android (obviously), iOS 7 includes dynamically animated wallpapers created by Apple’s design team. Not only that, the operating system lets you set any panoramic image from your Camera Roll as your Lock/Home screen background for a jaw-dropping effect. But wait, there’s more…
Just like the current iOS 6, the upcoming iOS 7 lets you customize your Lock and Home screen wallpaper in Settings > Brightness & Wallpaper or via the Share menu in the Photos app. By the way, for the sake of consistency Apple should let us set any image in any app as wallpaper, via the standard Share menu.
You’ll notice that in addition to the preloaded static wallpapers (now called Stills), iOS 7 now also includes two motion backgrounds under the Dynamic section of Settings > Brightness & Wallpaper.
These are true motion backgrounds, light rays and soft bubbles randomly shifting in and out of focus. The design reminds me of the ‘focus’ theme seen in a new video on Apple’s design philosophy.
iOS 7 comes with a bunch of wallpapers (left), including two motion backgrounds (right).
I wonder if Apple plans on allowing motion backgrounds in iOS 7 from third-parties.
It is certainly a distant possibility: these moving things can be easily created using Quartz Composer, Apple’s tool Facebook used in prototyping the Home and Chat Heads interface.
iOS 7 relies heavily on hardware-accelerated Core Animation APIs for its new approach to animation and motion, so theoretically developers could distribute packaged Quartz Composer wallpapers through the App Store.
Perhaps Apple will add a new Wallpapers App Store section soon?
By the way, iClarified has more images of the new iOS 7 dynamic wallpapers.
Another feature bound to turn heads: panoramic wallpapers.
If you’ve ever seen an Android device in action, surly you must have noticed how swiping between Home screens slowly pans the background image left and right, creating a sense of depth.
In iOS 7, Apple’s gone further: you can now set any panoramic photograph as your Lock/Home screen wallpaper .
Doing so allows for a head-turning effect – moving your device around pans the background around to either side of you. The panning panorama shot effectively replaces the subtle parallax UI shift where the static background moves only slightly based on the handset’s position in space.
And because iOS lets you take amazing 240-degree photos, you can imagine the stunning effect as the wallpaper moves freely with you.
On a final note, let me just point out how even the simple task of personalizing your iPhone with wallpapers has a system-wide impact on the user experience.
Take, for example, the Phone app where touching a circular keypad button shows the Home screen wallpaper underneath for a fraction of a s second.
Here, have a look at an animated GIF below.
Cool, no?
Also worth pointing out: due to the extensive use of translucency in iOS 7, your wallpaper choice actually impacts the subtle shades which can be seen behind your apps and content throughout the system.
As much as I love motion backgrounds in iOS 7, Apple has really knocked my socks off with those panoramic wallpapers – I have no doubt in my mind the feature will get a lot of people excited.
Am I making too much fuss about nothing?
Update Brings Dark Mode, Stacks, New Apps, a Redesigned Mac App Store and More
macOS Mojave, the latest version of the most advanced desktop operating system, is now available as a free software update for Mac users. macOS Mojave brings a number of new features to the Mac, including Dark Mode which transforms the desktop with a dramatic dark color scheme, and a new Dynamic Desktop with a series of time-shifting images to match the time of day. New productivity features like Stacks cleans up messy desktops by automatically organizing files into neat groups. The Mac experience is also enhanced with the arrival of familiar iOS apps, including News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home, and a redesigned Mac App Store featuring rich editorial content that makes finding the right Mac apps easier than ever.
Dark Mode: A Dramatic New Look for Mac
Dark Mode transforms the desktop with a dark color scheme that highlights content and makes it easier on the eyes, especially when working in low light such as in a darkened room or on an airplane. Dark Mode is beautifully integrated across built-in Mac apps including Mail, Messages, Maps, Calendar and Photos. Users can enable Dark Mode in System Preferences, and third-party app developers can also integrate Dark Mode in their own apps.
Stacks: A Clutter-Free Desktop
Stacks quickly clears cluttered desktops by automatically organizing files into neat groups based on file types like images, presentations, PDFs and text documents. Users can also customize Stacks to sort based on other file attributes, including date and tags. Stacked files can be easily accessed by clicking to expand a Stack and then opening a file.
Dynamic Desktop: An All-New Mac Experience
For the first time, the macOS Mojave desktop background features a series of images that shift to match the time of day wherever a user is in the world. The desktop, featuring the rolling sand dunes of the Mojave Desert, transitions with different lighting variations based on the time of day, from dawn to morning, midday, dusk and evening to give the Mac user an all-new experience.
Finder: Do More Than Ever Before
Finder in macOS Mojave features an all-new Gallery View that lets users skim through files visually, while a Preview Pane shows all of a file’s metadata, making it easier to manage media assets. Quick Actions now appear in the Preview Pane within Finder and allow users to do things like create and password-protect PDFs, and even run custom Automator Actions. Quick Look now lets users rotate and crop images, mark up PDFs and trim video and audio clips and can be accessed by selecting a file and pressing the keyboard space bar.
Screenshots: Now a Snap
Screenshots delivers easy-to-use on-screen controls for quick access to screenshot options and new video recording capabilities. This feature can be accessed by launching the Screenshot utility or pressing shift-command-5 to access a series of controls to capture still images and videos of a Mac screen, including options for setting a timer and even choosing where to save screenshots.
Continuity Camera: Seamless Integration Across Mac and iPhone
With Continuity Camera users can shoot or scan a nearby object or document using their iPhone, and have it appear on their Mac. Users need to simply choose “Import From” in Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Notes, Mail and other supported apps to scan or shoot using their nearby iOS device.
New Apps: News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home
Familiar iOS apps including News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home come to the Mac for the first time, allowing users to do more than ever right from their desktop. News provides a one-stop destination for trusted news and information, curated by editors and personalized for each user. Stocks provides a simple way to track the market, delivering curated market news alongside a personalized watchlist complete with quotes and interactive charts. With Home, users can control their HomeKit-enabled accessories, from turning on lights to adjusting a thermostat or checking a baby monitor. And Voice Memos makes it easy to record personal notes, lectures, meetings, interviews or song ideas with the Mac’s built-in microphone and then later access them through iCloud from iPhone, iPad or Mac.
New Mac App Store: Discover More Great Mac Apps
The Mac App Store is completely redesigned and now features rich editorial content that makes it easier than ever to find Mac apps. A new Discover tab highlights the hottest new apps for Mac, while Create, Work, Play and Develop tabs help users find apps for a specific project or purpose. Stories, collections and videos help you find the perfect app with in-depth information and insights about these powerful apps and the creators who use them. The Mac App Store also features a number of great new apps including productivity tools like Omni Focus 3 and games like Alto’s Adventure and The Gardens Between.
Safari: Surf the Web With Better Safety
In Safari, enhanced Intelligent Tracking Prevention helps prevent social media “Like” or “Share” buttons and comment widgets from tracking users without permission. Safari also presents simplified system information when users browse the web to prevent data companies from creating a unique “fingerprint” that can be used for tracking. To help users better manage their passwords, Safari now automatically creates, autofills and stores strong passwords when creating new online accounts and flags reused passwords so users can change them.
Additional Features
Safari now supports website icons in browser tabs so users can easily identify their open tabs with a glance. Website icons can be enabled in Safari Preferences.
Mail now features an Emoji menu right within the Mail composition window, making it quick and easy to add Emoji to email messages.
Siri on Mac now lets users control HomeKit-enabled devices and also has improved knowledge of food, celebrities and motorsports.
UK English, Australian English, Canadian French and Traditional Chinese for Hong Kong system languages are now included in macOS Mojave, as well as improved maps for China and romanized English input for the Japanese keyboard.
macOS Mojave is available today as a free software update for Macs introduced mid-2012 or later, plus 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro models with recommended Metal-capable graphics cards. Some features may not be available in all regions or languages. For more information, visit: apple.com/macos/mojave.
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Images of macOS Mojave
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More Dynamic Text Stops For The New Mac Ios Update
