Yosemite Features You Did Not Know...

Last night I finally updated my MAC to Yosemite, and I must say this version is awesome as I am using it more, I am understanding the details to which Apple has gone to deliver this greatness. We have compiled few out of the box solution from Yosemite which I am sure if you have Yosemite, you might not have noticed.

But first, what you need to run Yosemite

- A device running OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6.8) or above
- At least 2GB of RAM
- 8GB of storage

Airdrop, Handoff and Instant Hotspot require a mobile device running iOS 8, such as:

- MacBook Air (2012 or above)
- MacBook Pro (2012 or above)
- iMac (2012 or above)
- Mac mini (2012 or above)
- Mac Pro (Late 2013)
- iPhone 4s and above
- iPad Air and Air 2
- iPad 2 and above
- iPad Mini

1) Make and receive calls on your Mac

One of the cooler features of Yosemite is the ability to use any iDevice to make and accept calls. As long as your iPhone is on the same network, any incoming calls will automatically flash up on the user's iPad and Mac as well.

To set up your Mac up to make and receive phone calls you need to:

- Open FaceTime > Preferences > Tick the box with “iPhone Cellular Calls”

- Make sure your iPhone and Mac are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

Incoming calls will pop up as a notification in the top right hand corner and the Mac will also use the same ringtone as your phone. Outgoing calls can be initiated from the Contacts, Calendar, Messages, Spotlight or FaceTime apps.

2) Interact with Messages

OS X Yosemite allows you to send and receive SMS messages from your Mac and iPad. When you open up the Messages app, you’ll be prompted to “Turn on” the feature. Other features include the ability to share your screen - useful for collaborate purposes. Messages automatically initiates an audio chat when you start a screen sharing session, allowing you to talk about what’s on screen.

3) Continue working where you left off with Handoff 

When users start any work within apps like Pages, Safari or Keynote it's possible to switch between any Apple device and pick up directly where work was left off. This is known as Handoff.

To activate this go to Settings > General > Handoff & Suggested Apps and make sure it’s activated.

4) Activate disk-level encryption 

During the installation process, Yosemite tells you it's going to encrypt data on your hard drive and gives you the option to opt out. Allowing Yosemite to carry out disk-level encryption via FileVault is encouraged as it will make it almost impossible for any thieves to access data on the machine.

Activating FileVault also means law enforcement agencies won't be able to pull off data from a hard drive without the user password. This appears to backup Tim Cook's claims of protecting user privacy and the FBI has expressed displeasure that Apple is encouraging this.

5) Spotlight

The process of searching your Mac has been overhauled for Yosemite. Clicking on the magnifying glass in the top right corner will trigger a large search bar to pop up in the middle of the screen. You can also access this quickly by pressing ‘Cmd + Spacebar’ at any time.

When you type in a phrase, Spotlight will carry out a universal search and bring up an in-line preview, saving you the need to open multiple apps when you're searching for something specific. Not only does this search the Mac, but Spotlight also searches your email and internet sources like CNN, Bing and Wikipedia. You can set the order in which you want results from different sources to display, depending on your preference. Apple said it has specifically chosen Bing because Microsoft has agreed not to track any of the queries made.

6) iCloud Drive

Apple has finally extended the capabilities of iCloud to allow users to save any documents into the iCloud folder on the Mac and then open compatible files on any other Apple device. There’s 5GB of free allowance, with more storage available to purchase for a monthly fee.

7) Notifications bar
This has been beefed up to incorporate the Today View - so you can see your calendar appointments, check the weather or even post status updates to social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter.

Apple has opened up the APIs, so users will be able to install third-party widgets. The most high-profile so far is the Tumblr widget.

8) Improved Safari

Safari has a noticeably streamlined look. The search bar now provides smart suggestions based on what you type in and the toolbar can be customized to include as many or as few options as you want.

There’s a new bird's eye view allowing you to get a preview of all your open webpages. Every time you open a fresh tab you’re greeted with a list of the most recently visited websites and also your favorites.

9) Airdrop to iOS

Users with iOS 8 and Yosemite can also share files between Macs and iOS devices. To do this, turn on the AirDrop feature on both devices and then drag and drop the file you want to share. 

10) Annotate attachments & MailDrop 5GB files

Apple’s default Mail app has added a couple of useful features.

Firstly, you can now annotate attachments within emails - highlighting key areas, for example. It’s now possible to add signatures via your trackpad as well as by holding up a picture to the front-facing camera.