- [Jeff] In this video, we take a look at MacOS 11.3
and it is chocked full of features,
including the ability to have a home pod stereo pair
as your default sound output.
Check it out.
In previous versions of MacOS,
iOS apps running on M1 Apple Silicon Macs
lacked the dedicated preference panel.
In the menu bar instead, all you had was touch alternatives.
And touch alternatives basically makes it
so that you can interact with some of those apps
using simulated touch input.
And when you enable touch alternatives,
it was all or nothing.
But in 11.3 beta 1,
you now have a dedicated preferences section
in the menu bar.
And when you open that up, there you go,
you get touch alternatives.
So this is the first module, so to speak,
that you'll find in preferences for iOS apps
running on Apple Silicon.
But notice you can actually granularly...
That's not a word, is it?
Anyway, you can see you can enable
each different touch alternative one by one.
So if you only need multi-touch gestures
or you only need to drag,
you can enable just that one thing.
I just enabled swipe here
and that basically allows me to simulate a swipe
using my arrow keys on my keyboard, just like this.
Looking forward to see what other preferences we get
in the future.
Now you'll also notice larger iPad apps
running on Apple Silicon.
So here is HBO Max running on 11.2
and here is the same app running on 11.3 beta 1.
You could see a larger window, and this is really nice
because you can't manually resize these windows
for iOS apps running on Apple Silicon.
Especially handy for video apps like HBO Max.
And finally, in 11.3 you now have an option
to use stereo paired HomePods
as your default global output option.
Now, of course you could already output to a stereo pair
using the Music app in previous versions of MacOS.
As you can see, my HomePods Minis right there,
I could enable those in output via the Music app
directly to that stereo pair.
But here's what you could not do.
In previous versions of MacOS,
you didn't have that option to output globally
as a default to that stereo pair.
You see how they're all still listed as individual HomePods,
even though they are paired in all actuality.
But here, in 11.3 beta 1, notice what you have.
Look at that, you get the stereo pair.
Now, granted, it's still showing the glyphs
for the full-size HomePods
when actually this is the HomePods Mini stereo pair.
But nonetheless, you can output globally as a default
to your stereo paired HomePods,
such a nice improvement in 11.3 beta 1.
Now just like you had an iOS 14.5
you get the new Made For You section within the Music app,
and that basically pulls in all the made for you content
that you have saved to your library.
So you can see your Favorites Mix and your New Music Mix.
These are easily accessible
thanks to this new made for you section
within the Music app.
And of course, you can always go to Listen Now
and find those as well, just like that.
So side note, I'm kind of curious, do you use Made For You?
Do you find it, it does a good job
of creating mixes that you like,
let me know down below in the comments.
And you get a redesigned Apple News Plus section
within the News app.
And what Apple's done here
is just basically simplified everything.
So now you have a my magazine section
with all your reading now.
You have your downloaded section
for magazines that are on your device.
You have a newspaper section.
And then you have your catalog
which contains all the various genres
of magazines and periodicals.
And you can specify the exact category
that you're looking for.
So it's just a cleaner interface,
a little bit easier to use in my opinion.
And you get updated Reminders app options for sorting.
So of course, you can sort manually by due date,
creation date, priority, or title.
But the nice thing is now you can actually sort by
ascending or descending, just like that.
And of course, that wording changes
based on what you sort by,
so priority is going to be the lowest first, highest first,
creation date is going to be oldest first, newest first
and due date is going to be earliest first and latest first.
But you can also right click on the list
right from within the Reminders app here
and sort by there as well.
So just a nice way to do that
without having to venture up to the menu bar
if you want to sort directly from the app itself.
And that includes, of course,
being able to adjust the ascending or descending value
if you want to do that.
What do you guys think about Reminders overall?
Do you use it to stay organized?
Let me know down below in the comment section.
And just like in the most recent iOS beta update,
NextGen controller support
for the PS5 and Xbox series X controllers
is now available on the Mac in 11.3 beta.
And this is not only beneficial
for Apple arcade games, of course,
but also should be ideal when controlling games
when streaming to the Mac from these consoles.
And yet I still haven't been able to get my hands on either
and I refuse to pay scalper prices.
Any switch gamers in the house, let me know down below.
So in MacOS Big Sur, you got that new option in Safari
to go in and customize your start page
whenever you open up a new window.
You can customize by favorites, frequently visited,
privacy reports, series suggestions,
reading lists, iCloud tabs, background image.
You can go in and enable and disable whatever you like.
I especially like the ability to add that cool
awesome background image.
And of course, you have some canned images there
but you can also add your own.
And I'm just going to select one of these right here,
just like that.
So keep this in mind, the customization aspect.
Now notice what's coming in MacOS 11.3.
Soon, you'll be able to customize and override
the new window and new tab with extensions.
So as we noted, 9to5Mac has found out
that the default MacOS web browser
will have the option to override a new window
or tab page with extensions.
And this code will allow users to change the default pages
of a new window or new tab
but these extensions are not yet available.
But I imagine that they will be available right here
when you click the little settings button
in the bottom right hand corner,
adding those extensions and further customizing
the start page experience.
Now you'll also find, which is coming soon,
a new support menu that sort of mimics what you have already
on the iPhone in Settings, General, About,
where you can go in and find out about your warranty,
whether you have AppleCare or limited warranty.
Of course, on the current support page,
you have some of that.
You can show your service and repair options,
tell you more about Apple care, check your support status,
but you have to actually take action.
Whereas here on 11.3 you're going to have details
about your current coverage,
you're going to be able to start a repair
right from that support page as well.
So it gives you more information.
It doesn't require the user to do as much legwork
to take action and get support.
And speaking of support, there's going to be,
or at least there are indications
that Apple is working on a support app for the Mac.
Now, currently this support app is iOS and iPadOS only.
I side loaded this app, it doesn't actually run.
But it's likely that Mac users will also be getting
their own support app,
which of course allows you to do all sorts of things,
like run diagnostics and initiate repairs for instance.
Now there's also a new icon
when using the Feedback Assistant.
So notice what I said earlier
that the HomePod Mini glyphs were wrong,
it's showing the old HomePod or the original HomePod glyphs
for this stereo pair,
so I'm going to submit that as sort of a bug report here.
So I took a screenshot there,
now I'm going to unpair those two devices
and I'm going to take a screenshot of the unpaired view
and you'll see that they're actually HomePod Mini devices.
So let's go ahead and do that now.
Go up to Control Center, Sound and there they are.
So there's the two HomePod Minis.
Notice the correct glyph is there when they are unpaired.
So what I'm going to do, take a screenshot of that
and then I'm going to submit this bug report and say,
hey, fix that glyph please, Apple, would you mind?
Just want to go ahead and fill all that information out.
But the point is you get a pretty new icon.
Look at that little glyph,
looks so happy to submit that bug report.
So ladies and gents,
tell me what you think about MacOS 11.3.
If you appreciate this video, please leave me a thumbs up
and be sure to subscribe for more videos like this.
This is Jeff with 9to5Mac.
(upbeat music)