Earlier this week, Apple released the 16th major release of macOS, Catalina. Almost any device that is running Mojave will be able to be upgraded to Catalina. While we generally advocate for keeping your software up to date whenever possible, it looks like you might want to hold off on updating to Catalina for a couple of months.
What's new in macOS Catalina?
- Sidecar – If you own an iPad, you can now use it wirelessly as a second display to your compatible mac. This allows you to also use the iPad as a drawing tablet for your creative apps on your mac.
- Voice Control – Apple has revamped its voice control accessibility feature. While it’s still not completely perfect, this revamped system allows your mac to make some more complex actions, such as adding numbers to clickable items on the page or creating a grid to easily zoom in and out of parts of the screen.
- RIP iTunes – iTunes has been split up into three individual applications: Music, Podcasts, and TV. This allows for easier and more streamlined control of your media.
- Catalyst apps – This allows easier portability of iPad apps to macOS. If you are a developer of iPad apps, this is quite helpful in porting your apps to be compatible with Macs.
Don’t update yet! Here’s why:
- A lot of things are going to break! – Most backup software, security software, file-sync apps, and some hardware are not yet compatible with Catalina. Also, it does not look like Catalina is compatible with a lot of key programs, mainly any 32-bit programs, that you may currently be using on Mojave.
- No huge benefits of upgrading ASAP – While things such as Sidecar and Catalyst apps are nice, there is no huge reason to upgrade quite yet until the kinks are ironed out.
Eventually you will want to upgrade to Catalina, but it is in your best interest to wait a few months for Apple to implement bug fixes and polish Catalina a little bit more before diving in. If you have any questions or if you want more information about macOS 10.15 Catalina, feel free to send an email to info @ hybridge.com or call us at 888-353-1763.
