Apple has announced that OS X Yosemite, the latest operating system for its Macintosh computers, is now available as a
free download from the Mac App Store.
Yosemite comes with a revamped user interface and introduces Continuity features that make it easy to hand off activities between Mac and iOS devices and even make and receive iPhone calls from your Mac. Yosemite also includes a new Today view, a redesigned Spotlight and updated versions of Safari, Mail, Messages and iTunes.
"OS X Yosemite is the most advanced version of OS X we've ever built, with a brand new design, amazing Continuity features and powerful versions of the apps you use every day," said Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior vice president of Software Engineering. "OS X Yosemite ushers in the future of computing, where your Apple devices all work together seamlessly and magically. It's something only Apple can do, and it's available today."
Other new features in OS X Yosemite include:
- Today view in Notification Center, giving you quick access to widgets for Calendar, Weather, Stocks, Reminders, World Clock and social networks. You can also add widgets like Yahoo! Sports from the Mac App Store to customise your Today view.
- A new Spotlight, delivering information to your desktop from Wikipedia, Maps, Bing, App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, top websites, news and movie showtimes.
- iCloud Drive, so you can store files of any type in iCloud, organise them like regular files and folders, and access them from your Mac, iPhone, iPad or even a Windows PC.
- Improved Safari performance and iTunes 12.
- An updated version of Mail, which includes Markup for quickly filling out and signing forms and PDFs right within Mail, plus Mail Drop, which makes it easy to send large attachments up to 5GB for free.
- Enhanced Messages, so now you can add participants to your ongoing group conversations, see their locations on a map, quickly access attachments and even mute notifications.
- Family Sharing, so family members can now browse and download each other's iTunes, iBooks or Mac App Store purchases.