OS X Yosemite’s key features

A year after iOS became all glass and translucence, OS X is set to follow in OS X 10.10, with windows that show colour from underneath, elements such as the taskbar streamlined, and a new system font – as well as new, bigger features. It should run on everything OS X 10.9 does, and will be free.

Continuity

Apple wants to make your Mac and iOS device work seamlessly together. Phone calls and texts can now be made or received on your Mac, and AirDrop works between Mac and iOS. Plus, there’s a killer feature called Handoff, which lets you start tasks on, say, your iPad, stop halfway through, and pick up exactly where you were on your Mac (or vice versa).

Improved apps

Mail now annotates images from within a message, and can send files up to 5GB as download links instead of attachments. Safari offers new options for searching, and new organisation views (especially good for tabs). And Messages supports regular text messages, as well as the new audio and group options from iOS.

iCloud Drive

Apple is making iCloud appear more like other cloud syncing apps now, making its files available to view easily on your Mac. They’ll be organised by app, so you can find them easily, and on your Mac you’ll be able to browse both Mac app files and iOS app files. You’ll also be able to buy more storage for cheaper than before.

Notification Center

The death of Dashboard? Notification Center will be more useful in Yosemite, with the addition of widgets, so you can see information or access some functionality on the side of the screen with just a gesture. There’s also a new Today view, with all your appointments and reminders in one place.

Spotlight

Spotlight is one of our favourite Mac tools, but it’s lacked in improvements for a while. However, Yosemite will make it much smarter. As well as searching files, it can search the web, or bring in info such as movie times or maps to places.