ICloud Drive is Apple’s adaptation of iCloud to make it more competitive with Dropbox, GoogleDrive, Microsoft SkyDrive, and other cloud services. Messages works with both SMS and iMessages – and transparently integrates with messages on your iOS device(s) using iOS 8. Mail works better with large attachments and lets you annotate documents. It looks great, but time will tell how useful it is.Īnd for those who are tired of white pull-down menus, there’s a new dark theme. The font used in the menu bar, pulldown menus, and with icons has also been tweaked for a superior user experience.Īpple made a lot of translucency during the keynote. For instance, icons in the (no longer 3D) Dock are a lot less busy and detailed, a lot simpler and more dynamic – just like icons for apps updated for iOS 7. Just as Apple overhauled the look of iOS when it released iOS 7 last year, it is overhauling the look of OS X this year.
In addition to a lot of new features and a whole new level of integration with iOS devices, Yosemite looks like the most beautiful version of the Mac OS to date. For a complete rundown of everything that's changed in Yosemite, read our review.Īnd if you have any questions, let me know in the comments.Apple previewed OS X 10.10 Yosemite on June 2, 2014, at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). Hopefully by now you're running Yosemite and enjoying Apple's efforts to modernize and harmonize the Mac with a new user interface, cool new features and more.
If you wanted to keep another copy but forgot to make one, you can always download it again from the Mac App Store for free. If you've left the Yosemite installer in its default location in the Applications folder, it will have automatically deleted itself after it's installed. Then it will move these apps and system extensions to a folder called "Incompatible Software." Again, check with developers for updates to any apps you rely on.
It may also find software that won't work with the new operating system if it comes across any, it will warn you. Post Yosemite clean-upĪfter Yosemite is installed, the installer may ask you a few questions. Once the installer has put the new software on your Mac, just step back, go have a beverage or a snack, and let it do its thing.
Select the hard drive you'd like to install it on (for most of us, that's the only hard drive the Mac has), and then let the installer do its thing - your Mac will restart and begin the upgrade process.įor the most part, installing Yosemite is a hands-off process. If you've saved it for later use, you can double-click it like any other application. Once Yosemite installs it will automatically launch. If you don't happen to have an external hard drive handy, moving the installer out of the Applications folder should stop it from deleting itself once it's done upgrading your Mac. The installer can be copied like any other file or application - just drag it to the target disk. If you're upgrading multiple Macs with Yosemite, make sure to copy the installer to an external hard drive or a USB thumbdrive so you don't have to download it again. That's a great way to save hard drive space.
That installer measures several gigabytes, and will automatically delete itself after installation as part of its own housecleaning process.
That's something you'll only find in most 2012 or later era machines.ĭownloading Yosemite will deposit the installer inside your Applications folder.
Certain features like Handoff and Instant Hotspot only work on Macs equipped with Bluetooth 4.0, or Bluetooth LE.