MacOS Big Sur


macOS Big Sur is the next major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s operating system for Macintosh computers. It is the successor to macOS Catalina and was announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on June 22, 2020, with official public release scheduled for later this year. It is named after the coastal region of Big Sur in the Central Coast of California.
macOS Big Sur features a major user interface redesign, and is designed to take advantage of Apple-designed ARM processors in future Macs. On those ARM-based Macs, it will support running iOS and iPadOS apps.
In a symbolic gesture accompanying Apple's transition of the Macintosh lineup to their own in-house Apple Silicon, the primary version number of the operating system has been incremented—from 10 to 11—for the first time since the release of the Mac OS X Public Beta in 2000.

Development history

Providing some indication as to how the prerelease operating system was viewed internally at Apple during its development cycle, documentation accompanying the initial beta release of macOS Big Sur referred to its version as "10.16", and when upgrading to the beta release from prior versions of macOS using the Software Update mechanism, the version referred to was "10.16," with the exception of the Developer Transition Kit, which has always reported the system version as "11.0." As of macOS Big Sur Beta 3, the system version is reported as "11.0" on all Macs running the beta.

System requirements

Unlike macOS Catalina, which supported every standard configuration Mac that Mojave supported, Big Sur drops support for various Macs released in 2012 and 2013. Big Sur runs on the following Macs:

Design

macOS Big Sur introduces a refresh of the design of the user interface, described by Apple as the biggest change since the introduction of Mac OS X. The operating system introduces refinements to the interface such as translucency and a new color palette. All standard apps, as well as the Dock and the Menu Bar, are redesigned and streamlined. The application icons are also redesigned to look more similar to those on iOS and iPadOS. Compared to iOS, Big Sur's icons include more shading and highlights to give a three-dimensional appearance. Its aesthetic has been described as "neumorphism", a portmanteau of new and skeuomorphism. System sounds are redone as well.
The new OS also brings further integration with Apple's SF Symbols, enabling easier use by third-party developers as UI elements for their apps through UIKit, which makes it possible to unify third party apps with the existing Apple-made design language.

Control Center

An interface with quick toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, screen brightness and system volume has been added to the menu bar. This interface is functionally and visually similar to Control Center on iOS and iPadOS.

Notification Center

The Notification Center is redesigned, featuring interactive notifications and a transparent user interface. Notification Center also features a new widget system similar to that in iOS 14, displaying more information with more customization than previously available.

System

Support for Apple-designed processors

macOS Big Sur marks the beginning of the transition of Apple’s Macintosh line of personal computers from Intel x86-64-based processors to Apple's ARM64-based processors, referred to as "Apple silicon". The chip mentioned in demo videos, and used in the Developer Transition Kit, is the A12Z Bionic, which is the same chip used in the 2020 iPad Pro. This is the first release of macOS to support ARM-based Macs, although Apple stated that it would support Intel Macs "for years to come." Most software that has not completed the transition to Apple silicon can use Rosetta 2, an update of a compatibility mechanism first utilized during the PowerPC to Intel x86 transition.

Support for iOS and iPadOS apps

On Macs based on Apple silicon, macOS Big Sur will run iOS and iPadOS applications natively and without any modifications needed from developers.

Signed system volume

The system volume is cryptographically signed to prevent tampering. This includes adding a SHA-256 hash for every file on the system volume.

Software updates

Software updates can begin in the background before a restart, thus requiring less downtime to complete. Because system files are cryptographically signed, the update software can rely on them being in precise locations, thus permitting them to be effectively updated in place.

Spotlight

, the file system indexing and search mechanism first introduced in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, is more optimized for speed, and the interface has been refined. Additionally, Spotlight is now the default search mechanism in several applications including Safari, Pages, and Keynote.

Other changes

Safari

in Big Sur now features a new customizable start page and an improved tab design. In addition, enhancements in Safari 14 include:
The Messages app was rewritten to be based upon Apple's Catalyst technology. This enables the app to have feature parity with its iOS counterpart. Alongside a refined design, the messages app brings:

App Store

Refinements and new features of the Mac App Store include:
VersionBuildDateDarwinRelease Notes
11.0 beta 120A4299vJune 22, 202020.0.0
11.0 beta 220A4300bJuly 7, 202020.0.0
11.0 beta 320A5323lJuly 22, 202020.0.0