Over at WWDC, Apple dropped the hammer, revealing both details as to macOS 10.15 Catalina as well as the fact that the “future of iTunes” means that iTunes’ core functions will be divided into three apps: Apple Music, Apple podcasts, and Apple TV. As such the traditional iTunes app will be discontinued in macOS 10.15 Catalina.
In turn, the company has stated that the apps will “greatly simplify and improve” the way that users discover media on the Mac.
To start, Apple Music will sync with your Apple Music account and provide full access to music streaming, playlists, music videos, Beats1 radio stations, downloaded songs, and more. The iTunes Music store will remain alive, located in the Apple Music app, for those users who still prefer to own their music.
The Apple TV App will essentially behave as it does under tvOS and iOS, allowing users to sync Up Next lists across devices and easily access favorite shows. For its end, Apple Podcasts will offer more than 700,000 shows in its library and sync your content across devices.
Certain features previously seen in iTunes will be migrated elsewhere on macOS, like iPhone syncing and device storage management now located in Finder.
Apple also announced its Sidecar feature for Catalina, allowing an iPad to be used as an extended display for their Mac. This allows users to use an Apple Pencil, or other stylus, to draw on their iPad when desired.
Catalina will also gain an accessibility feature called Voice Control, which lets users control their Mac entirely with their voice. This is aimed at anyone who can’t operate traditional input devices, and uses Siri speech recognition technology.
Other updates will include improved security, Screen Time on macOS, and improvements to apps such as Photos, Safari, Mail, Notes, and Reminders.
macOS Catalina is available to Apple Developer Program members from today, and a public beta program will launch later in June. A full public launch will follow in the fall.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via MacRumors