Michael Grothaus 08/06/2018 - 3:29pm

The Mac’s operating system has tons of great stuff coming.

This week Apple previewed the next version of its Mac operating system: macOS Mojave. The OS update brings a ton of big changes to the Mac, including a dark mode, a redesigned Finder, new apps like News and Voice Memos, and major improvements to Markup and QuickLook.

But the new Mac operating system also features tons of little changes that Apple didn’t address in the keynote. This changes might not be as sexy or headline-grabbing as, say, Dark Mode, but they’ll really help do their part in taking macOS to the next level.

We’ve had a peek around the beta and discovered some of the best hidden features coming to your Mac this autumn.

Color Accent Options

A really cool feature is the ability to customize the color accent of the buttons in macOS. Mojave adds red, orange, yellow, green, purple, pink and brown options in addition to the current blue and gray options of High Sierra. This color options affect the look of menu and button highlights in macOS.

More Permission Controls

The least-sexy, but most important, feature we’ve found is an expanded set of permission controls in the Privacy settings of macOS. Now apps and websites will need to ask your permission to use your Mac’s camera and microphone.

This is a great privacy feature as you can be sure apps can’t access the components on the sly. You’ll also be able to revoke access to any app at any time.

Recently Used Apps In The Dock

Following in the footsteps of the Dock in iOS 11 on the iPad, Apple is adding a recently used app divider in the Dock in Mojave. This means the Dock on your screen will now have the option of showing recently used apps. Great for quick access to get back into them.

Audio Editing In QuickLook

As mentioned QuickLook is getting a ton of editing options in Mojave, but users will also be able to edit audio in QuickLook in addition to video now too. Don’t expect advanced editing, however. It’s QuickLook after all. We’re talking about simple trimming options for audio. Still, they’re very welcome.

Updated DVD Player App

The DVD Player app in macOS Mojave has received a complete rewrite with AppKit and is now 64-bit. Apple has also added Touch Bar support to the app and it gets a new optical disk icon.

This update was a surprise as Apple doesn’t even sell Macs with built-in DVD drives anymore. But Apple is thinking of users with older Macs here.

Software Update Gets Moved

Another change taken from iOS is that macOS’s software update mechanism has been moved from the Mac App Store to its own preferences pane in System Preference. This mirrors the location of the Software Update feature for iOS in iOS’s Settings app.

Better Looking Lock Screen

Users can also expect small tweaks to the lock screen in macOS Mojave. You’ll now see bigger user icons and a bigger password field. It’s also presumed the lock screen will show dynamic wallpapers that shift according to the time of day if you’ve got one set for your desktop image.

Safari Favicons

Finally, macOS Mojave is gaining favicon support in the tab bar in Safari. Favicons are those little icons individual websites have. If you enable them to show on tab bars, it makes navigating between tabs easier due to each website’s Favicon unique look.

We’ll update this list as we find more hidden features!