Ironically, Apple chose to name this year’s update to macOS after an island. Since the iPhone and iOS took off, macOS has sometimes felt like an island isolated from the rest of the company’s OSes, but the goal articulated by the company at WWDC this year was quite the opposite. Apple clearly telegraphed that change is coming to the Mac and it’s designed to bridge the user experiences between each of its platforms.

To developers, that message came in the form of Catalyst and SwiftUI. Catalyst, which was previewed as an unnamed ‘Sneak Peek’ in 2018, is meant to make it easier for iPadOS developers to bring their apps to the Mac. SwiftUI has a similar longer-term goal of unifying and streamlining how developers build the interfaces for their apps across a range of devices, for everything from the Apple Watch to the Mac.

The efforts to draw macOS in closer with Apple’s other operating systems run deeper than just developer tools though. macOS may have been the foundation on which iOS was built, but in the years that followed iOS’s introduction, the two OSes grew apart. Identically-named apps were developed on different schedules, which meant they rarely included the same features. Also, system-level functionality like System Preferences, which serves the same purpose as iOS’s Settings app, was unfamiliar, making Mac adoption unnecessarily hard for newcomers. Catalina is an attempt to address those kinds of inconsistent user experiences.

With Catalina, Apple has taken clear, though not always successful, steps to bridge the divide between the Mac and iOS. App functionality has been realigned, System Preferences has been rearranged, and new features have been added to make it easier to move from one platform to the other.

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As with other transitional periods in the Mac’s history, this one isn’t going to be easy. However, because the change is driven by a fundamental change in computing, it’s also necessary. We live in a new climate where computing is now dominated by mobile devices. For many people, a smartphone is all the computing power they need day-to-day. That doesn’t mean there’s no longer a place for the Mac, but it’s clearly what’s driving the changes in Catalina.

Apple could have chosen to ignore the shift of the ground beneath its feet and merely maintained macOS, making the kind of small incremental changes we’ve become accustomed to in recent years. However, not adapting is as deliberate a choice as change is, and it carries just as much or more uncertainty for the Mac as a platform because it risks irrelevance.

The Mac isn’t in crisis, but it isn’t healthy either. Waiting until the Mac is on life support isn’t viable. Instead, Apple has opted to reimagine the Mac in the context of today’s computing landscape before its survival is threatened. The solution is to tie macOS more closely to iOS and iPadOS, making it an integrated point on the continuum of Apple’s devices that respects the hardware differences of the platform but isn’t different simply for the sake of difference.

Transitions are inherently messy, and so is Catalina in places. It’s a work in process that represents the first steps down a new path, not the destination itself. The destination isn’t clear yet, but Catalina’s purpose is: it’s a bridge, not an island.

But wait, there’s more Catalina Review eBook Plus iOS and iPadOS 13 Review Perks By subscribing to Club MacStories, you’ll gain exclusive access to the eBook version of this review plus the many perks related to Federico’s iOS and iPadOS 13 review that was published last month: New today: macOS Catalina Review eBook. Available today, the eBook version is the best way to read this review offline using any EPUB reader. The book is fully interactive with all of the images and links you’ll find on MacStories, and it looks great in Apple’s Books app. The eBook version can be downloaded in the members-only Downloads area here. Additional Perks Released with Federico’s iOS and iPadOS review: iOS and iPadOS 13 Review eBook. In the Downloads area you’ll find the eBook version of iOS and iPadOS 13: The MacStories Review by Federico, which we published last month.

In the Downloads area you’ll find the eBook version of iOS and iPadOS 13: The MacStories Review by Federico, which we published last month. Exclusive wallpapers. For the very first time, we’re also offering Club MacStories members a set of free mobile (iPhone and iPad) and desktop (5K) wallpapers. They come in red, gold, and black, plus two colorful gradient versions. They’re absolutely stunning.

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The MacStories Shortcuts Icons are a collection of 300 custom icons for shortcuts added to your Home screen, designed by the MacStories team. As a Club MacStories member, you’ll be able to buy MacStories Shortcuts Icons at 33% off. For more details on your discount and how to buy the icons, visit the MacStories Shortcuts Icons FAQ page. Advanced Shortcuts, MacStories Unplugged, Extras eBook. If you haven’t checked them out yet, Federico created a series of advanced shortcuts that take advantage of the new Shortcuts features for iOS 13, which are available in MacStories Weekly, Issue 192, which you can find here. We also published two episodes of our Club-only podcast, MacStories Unplugged, with episodes that take a look behind the scenes of the iOS and iPadOS 13 review and round up some of our favorite iOS and iPadOS 13 apps. Finally, we published an eBook that is a companion to Federico’s iOS and iPadOS 13 review and compiles the nine iOS 13 preview stories published by the MacStories team over the summer. You can unlock all of these perks with a Club MacStories subscription, starting at $5/month. And in doing so, you’ll also get access to the complete archive of Club MacStories with over four years worth of exclusive content. JOIN FOR $5 PER MONTH

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