macOS Catalina: macOS 10.15 release date, news and features

The public release of macOS Catalina – the official name for macOS 10.15 – is just around the corner, and we should be able to install it on our Macs by October 2019. As we're now well into October, we expect more news about the macOS Catalina release date soon.

Apple first revealed macOS Catalina at its WWDC 2019 conference in San Jose, California earlier this year, during which the company showcased some of the exciting new features that macOS Catalina brings to the table, including its nifty capability to utilize an iPad as a secondary screen.

Apple’s macOS Catalina has already been accessible as early beta software to app developers, permitting them port their iPhone and iPad apps to Mac before the public release of the operating system. Apple has introduced a new feature, christened "Project Catalyst," solely for this purpose – to allow developers to seamlessly port their iOS 13 and iPadOS apps to the macOS environment for Mac users.

Apple's head of software, Craig Federighi, also revealed at WWDC that when the macOS 10.15 Catalina is finally available to the public, it will say goodbye to iTunes in order to give way to new apps. These apps include Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV. Each of these macOS Catalina apps will have new and improved features that aren't on hand in their earlier versions that were running on other Apple devices.

macOS 10.15 Catalina, whose public beta is now available to download, will also feature Sidecar, a new built-in tool for using an iPad as a secondary display for your Mac or MacBook device. This feature will work both wired and wirelessly.

Here's every major change to expect for Macs and MacBooks in 2019 when we usher in macOS Catalina.

Cut to the chase

What is it? macOS 10.15 Catalina, the successor to macOS 10.14 Mojave.
When is it out? Some time in October 2019
How much will it cost? Nothing. Apple software updates are always free.

macos 10.15 Sidecar feature (Image Credit: Apple)

macOS Catalina release date

Apple hosted its iPhone 11 event on September 10, but the show came and went with nary a mention of macOS 10.15. However, Apple's macOS 10.15 Catalina page was updated with an "October 2019" release window. As to the exact release date, Apple has yet to share that.

There were rumors that Apple might have accidentally leaked the macOS Catalina release date as October 4. The reference to October 4 was spotted on Apple's Danish macOS Catalina website. However, October 4 came and went without macOS Catalina releasing, so the wait continues.

Meanwhile. the public beta of macOS Catalina is now available for free, and is accessible for anyone to try out at this link. If you're feeling especially adventurous and have 100 bucks or quid to spare, you can even test out the special developer preview beta. Especially if you have plans to develop your own app.

For anyone who isn't an app developer or willing to step into the beta before everyone else, macOS Catalina will be made available to the public sometime in October, as listed in its landing page on the Apple website.

If you’d rather not wait a few more weeks, however, we’ll show you how to download the macOS Catalina beta. Otherwise, keep this page bookmarked as we will be updating it as more details regarding macOS 10.15 Catalina come our way.

macOS Catalina compatibility

Of course, one of the first questions that come to mind must be: can the Mac or MacBook I own right now work with this new hotness?

Luckily, every piece of Mac hardware that could upgrade to the current macOS 10.14 Mojave will be able to receive the new macOS 10.15 Catalina update. Here's the full list of devices:

12-inch MacBook (2015 and later)
MacBook Air (2012 and later)
MacBook Pro (2012 and later)
Mac mini (2012 and later)
iMac (2012 and later)
iMac Pro (2017)
Mac Pro (2013 and later)

Goodbye, iTunes – hello, Apple Music, Podcasts Books and TV

WWDC 2019 and macOS 10.15 Catalina has made it official: we are saying goodbye to good ol’ iTunes. From its ashes, however, rises a novel set of exciting apps for macOS: Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Podcasts and Apple Books – and they’re going to be refined versions of those that already appear on iOS.

Apple Music will give macOS users access to their entire music libraries regardless of whether the tracks have been downloaded or are being streamed. This will also house music that have been ripped from CDs, assimilated into the same libraries.

Apple TV, on the other hand, will house the app's channels and offer more than 100,000 iTunes movies and TV shows available for you to browse, buy or rent. And, content will be available in 4K HDR video and Dolby Atmos audio wherever offered. Apple TV+ will also be accessed through this app as soon as the service rolls out later in the year.

Meanwhile, Apple Podcasts will bring the service's more than 700,00 podcasts, as well as new episode updates, to the Mac in a completely fresh interface. This version of the app will also offer better search functions that can pull up episodes by hosts, guests or even discussion topics.

Last but not the least, Apple Books will be home to all the audiobooks you can purchase, download and listen to. Much like the other new apps, it will also feature a familiar interface for anyone who is used to iTunes.

Apple has revealed more information about these apps that will replace iTunes following WWDC and how they will work, if you want to get ahead of the public release.

Worried about all your existing music and playlists, as well as iTunes gift cards and credit? Rest easy. Apple has stated that all your music and playlists will be transferred over to the Apple Music app in macOS 10.15 Catalina. Plus, any iTunes gift cards or unspent iTunes credits are still valid to be used in these new apps.

In macOS 10.15 Catalina, the iTunes Store, which will be accessed through the Sidebar in the Apple Music app, can still be used to buy new music. And of course, you can subscribe to the Apple Music streaming service through the app as well – if you do, you can hide the iTunes Store for a cleaner, more minimalist interface.

macOS 10.15 iPhone management — You'll sync your devices via Finder in macOS Catalina (Image credit: Apple)

With iTunes making its exit, Apple explained that syncing devices in macOS Catalina will now be handled by the Finder app. It will be able to backup and sync those devices. According to Apple, it will also be easier to drag and drop files for quick transfers as well.

Sidecar turns your iPad into another display

This is probably the most exciting update that macOS will get with macOS 10.15 Catalina: the capability to extend your Mac's display to a nearby iPad, whether wired and wirelessly. A good amount of MacBook users are already iPad owners, so this essentially means that a substantial number of mobile workers just received a secondary display for free.

Probably even more importantly for designers, this connected iPad can also be utilized as a drawing tablet with various specifically supported apps. Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Illustrator and iWork are the first apps listed to support this capability.

We currently don’t have the official word on which iPad models will support the Sidecar feature. However, we can speculate that it'll most likely be those models that can also run the new iPadOS, which is expected later this year as well.

Apple says that the following Mac apps will support Sidecar's Apple Pencil input and other enhanced features:

Adobe: After Effects, Illustrator, Premiere Pro
Affinity Designer & Affinity Photo
Cinema 4D
CorelDRAW
DaVinci Resolve
Final Cut Pro & Motion
Maya
Painter
Principle
Sketch
Substance Designer & Painter
ZBrush

macOS 10.15 screen time — Screen Time for macOS has a special "One more minute" feature. (Image Credit: Apple)

Screen Time comes to macOS

One of Apple's most impactful changes to iOS 12 was Screen Time, an app that tracks your iPhone or iPad usage time and offers insights into the trends. This time around, this capability will not only come to macOS with Catalina, but also offer a new “One more minute” feature, giving you more time to save your work or finish up a game.

This information will be synced across your other Apple devices as well, so that you have a complete profile of how often you stare at your collective screens, as well as get tips on what to do with that information. In addition, it will also include parental controls on time spent using a Mac, as well as with whom children are able to interact with on those devices.

macOS 10.15 Project Catalyst — Twitter's return to macOS was made possible by Project Catalyst. (Image Credit: Apple)

Project Catalyst – is this Marzipan?

It seems that what was previously referred to in rumors and leaks as "Project Marzipan," is now known as Project Catalyst. And, what it is, is Apple's master plan to bring more apps from the iPhone and iPad to the Mac.

For developers, it all seems to start with simply ticking off a box within the Xcode app in macOS 10.15 Catalina. A series of new features and protocols then become available to the app in the development phase, from which the developer can choose to add to their apps – presumably with additional yet lighter coding.

It seems to make the process more seamless and even faster, with even the likes of Twitter use the tool to more effortlessly bring its native app back to macOS from iOS.

Other fun improvements

Safari browser will have a new startup page that uses Siri Suggestions to surface commonly visited websites, bookmarks, iCloud tabs and more.

Mail will allow users to block messages from senders, mute message threads from issuing push notifications and send unsubscribe requests from within the app to mailing list providers.

Lastly, Reminders will soon get an overhaul in visual interface so that it will let users more easily create, keep track and organize their reminders.