18 MACWORLD DECEMBER 2019
MACUSER 8 HIDDEN CATALINA FEATURESinto a video file. This is a feature that would
be great for making a movie out of a burst
of photos, a time lapse, or even a series of
drawings. You can choose the resolution, f
rame rate, and encoding formats
- STOP TYPING PASSWORDS
For a while now, Macs with built-in
Touch ID have been able to
authenticate with their fingerprints
rather than typing passwords. Catalina
extends support for biometric
authentication to unlocked Apple
Watches. When something requiring
authentication appears on screen—it
happens most often for me when I’m
adjusting items in the System
Preferences app—my Apple Watch taps
my wrist and asks me to double-tap the
side button. That’s all that’s required.
Unfortunately, this method of
authentication doesn’t seem to extend to
third-party apps right now, so I can’t yet
unlock my password manager with a
couple of watch clicks. Maybe someday.- FIND YOUR MISSING
DEVICES
Catalina and iOS 13 both include some
pretty incredible new technology that
lets you find missing devices more
easily. Now if you leave your Mac behind
somewhere, you can find it even if it’s
not connected to any network, because
on Catalina Macs emit a
Bluetooth beacon that can be
picked up by other Apple
devices. You can read more
about how this is implemented in
this Wired article (go.macworld.
com/clcr).
And of course, you can now find
your devices—and your friends—
right from your Mac via the new
Find My app, which lets you mark
devices as lost, see their last known
locations, and also alert you when a
friend leaves or arrives at particular
locations. All those features have
been on iOS for a while now, but
they’re finally on the Mac too.
The Security & Privacy system preference has the
option to set your Apple Watch as a way to unlock
apps and your Mac.