macOS 15: All The Little Things

[Platskies]

It appears that HelpViewer.app has indeed been discontinued completely. Beginning with Beta 2, when you open Help from any native application (haven't tested 3rd party apps), Tips.app opens (icon showing in the Dock) and shows the help content for that application. This behavior actually harkens back to older versions of Mac OS X. It used to be that when launching help for an application, you'd get the Help Viewer icon on the Dock. Leopard and later made it that the Help Viewer window would be floating and would not have a dock icon.

Edit: I tested this on a 3rd party application, and it still opens Tips.app for the help content for that app.

Checking Activity Monitor, there is no HelpViewer process anymore; this is definitely different from Sonoma. Looks like all Help guides has been consolidated into Tips.app, and the Tips application looks somewhat different, too (see screenshot).

Kind of sad that HelpViewer has been done away with; it was with us since Mac OS 8, or 9 (not sure which). Say hello to the new replacement, Tips.app.

View attachment 2394252

I don't think it's technically a brand new app - I think it's just been renamed while still using the underlying "Apple Help" foundation (pretty dated now, but it's still around). The toolbar also looks similar to the last couple of releases I think.

Also, it still has a bundle identifier of com.apple.helpviewer

 

[Platskies]

A few little things I noticed:

I think apps can dim themselves in the Finder if they're "not compatible" - so far, noticed this with Boot Camp Assistant (on Apple silicon) and Image Playground:

Edit: I had hidden files on


Login Items settings was renamed, shows extensions (and has some more iconography I don't remember seeing):

Privacy & Security settings shows summaries per category:

Window management stuff has been mentioned a bit, but just wanted to show what the Window menu looks like now - shorter titles for the menu items which is easier to digest imo, and looks a bit nicer generally in a way? (apart from those black icons… beta )

Also a little localisation touch I liked for people in Australia/UK… they call it "Maths Notes" with an 's'

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

I don't think it's technically a brand new app - I think it's just been renamed while still using the underlying "Apple Help" foundation (pretty dated now, but it's still around). The toolbar also looks similar to the last couple of releases I think.

Also, it still has a bundle identifier of com.apple.helpviewer

Weird. Tips.app and HelpViewer.app has coexisted since Tips.app was introduced in Ventura. I'm assuming Tips took over the "core" HelpViewer app with the UI but still uses the underlying foundation.

 

[RandomDSdevel]

Kind of sad that HelpViewer has been done away with; it was with us since Mac OS 8, or 9 (not sure which).

BTW, I checked on Infinite Mac and it appears HelpViewer was introduced as a version 1.0 application in Mac OS 8.5. So, 1998-2024; RIP, HelpViewer.

Indeed. So long, and thanks for all the fish!

I don't think it's technically a brand new app - I think it's just been renamed while still using the underlying "Apple Help" foundation (pretty dated now, but it's still around). The toolbar also looks similar to the last couple of releases I think.

Also, it still has a bundle identifier of com.apple.helpviewer

Weird. Tips.app and HelpViewer.app has coexisted since Tips.app was introduced in Ventura. I'm assuming Tips took over the "core" HelpViewer app with the UI but still uses the underlying foundation.

…or maybe not? That's…actually kind of funny.

---

Window management stuff has been mentioned a bit, but just wanted to show what the Window menu looks like now - shorter titles for the menu items which is easier to digest imo, and looks a bit nicer generally in a way? (apart from those black icons… beta )

Seeing that globe icon as part of those keyboard shortcuts threw me for a loop for a little bit, but then looking it up reminded me that recent Apple keyboards have a globe icon on their fn key.

 

[KALLT]

A few little things I noticed:

I think apps can dim themselves in the Finder if they're "not compatible" - so far, noticed this with Boot Camp Assistant (on Apple silicon) and Image Playground:
View attachment 2394582 View attachment 2394583

Have you enabled the setting that shows hidden items by any chance (shortcut: shift – command – .)? On macOS 14 (Apple Silicon) Boot Camp Assistant is hidden for me, same as Apple News (which isn't available in my country).

 

[zevrix]

Seeing that glove icon... reminded me that recent Apple keyboards have a glove icon on their fn key

I broke out in a cold sweat while reading this. Did they really change it to glove? Because Apple can. Checked my laptop. Whew... it's still globe.

 

[RandomDSdevel]

I broke out in a cold sweat while reading this. Did they really change it to glove? Because Apple can. Checked my laptop. Whew... it's still globe.

Heh, oops. Didn't realize I'd made some typos there; they're fixed now.

 

[zevrix]

Heh, oops. Didn't realize I'd made some typos there; they're fixed now.

Typos are a sacred thing, we're all entitled to them, no issue at all here.

 

[Platskies]

Have you enabled the setting that shows hidden items by any chance (shortcut: shift – command – .)? On macOS 14 (Apple Silicon) Boot Camp Assistant is hidden for me, same as Apple News (which isn't available in my country).

Ah yes you're right - edited.

 

[Luckygreek]

Is anyone having an issue with Mac's "Password" app crashing when trying to either create or modify a password?? It's like clockwork, edit a password..crash, try to modify a password and it crashes, sometimes it generates a report that goes to Apple and other times it just "Password has unexpectedly quit" Reopen or Quit. This is the only app to date that crashes for me. I did some searches but haven't found any reports, for 1Password yes but not for Apple's Password app

 

[fisherking]

Is anyone having an issue with Mac's "Password" app crashing when trying to either create or modify a password?? It's like clockwork, edit a password..crash, try to modify a password and it crashes, sometimes it generates a report that goes to Apple and other times it just "Password has unexpectedly quit" Reopen or Quit. This is the only app to date that crashes for me. I did some searches but haven't found any reports, for 1Password yes but not for Apple's Password app

not happening here. perhaps try creating a test admin account, and trying the app there...

 

[MrWeenus]

default wallpaper received some colour variations. probably like they did on iOS.

selecting between auto (this photo), light and dark mode sets three different colour tones. I'm pretty sure auto will cycle through some through the day.

 

[MrWeenus]

Siri has been moved awkwardly in system settings

 

[MrWeenus]

UGH.

fn + control + c does not center the window anymore and take the dock into consideration. it centers it as if the dock wasn't there anymore.

🤬

also, emoji picker updated emojis are bigger AND UNALIGNED (recents vs rest)

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

UGH.

fn + control + c does not center the window anymore and take the dock into consideration. it centers it as if the dock wasn't there anymore.

🤬

also, emoji picker updated emojis are bigger AND UNALIGNED (recents vs rest)

Might be an unpopular opinion, but from what I see, I like the bigger emoji picker — gives much more space and feels more spacious than the current Sonoma-esque one.

 

[Luckygreek]

Yeah I can give that a go, thanks

not happening here. perhaps try creating a test admin account, and trying the app there...

Upgrade to latest beta seems to have addressed the issue, I can add, modify entries and import 1Password passwords and it hasn't crashed as of yet, so yaaa Apple. BTW it can only import CSV format files, I did try 1PUX which Passwords didn't recognize, just a heads up, so if you're going to import that's the format to use.
Still on the fence with it, although its free it has some limitations as you cannot change login password for it and that's a big 1 for me, also it won't import password entries that have a PDF or any document attached to it, however it does do a pretty good job of autofilling website passwords. At lease that's been my experience.

 

[netsped]

Has anyone tried to select never hide the Menu Bar (with a notched MacBook Air or Pro) and play a fullscreen video and see if the menu bar disappears then. It should disappear when watching a video because who wants to see the menu bar while playing a 2 hour movie. It doesn't disappear right now on Sonoma, have to manually change the setting every time.

If not, please report it to Apple so they can implement the change.

Thanks.

Somebody?

 

[HuNay]

Has anyone tried to select never hide the Menu Bar (with a notched MacBook Air or Pro) and play a fullscreen video and see if the menu bar disappears then. It should disappear when watching a video because who wants to see the menu bar while playing a 2 hour movie. It doesn't disappear right now on Sonoma, have to manually change the setting every time.

If not, please report it to Apple so they can implement the change.

Thanks.

I have it set to never and can confirm it doesn’t go away while watching videos in full screen:

 

[Diskutant]

Might be an unpopular opinion, but from what I see, I like the bigger emoji picker — gives much more space and feels more spacious than the current Sonoma-esque one.

I think the problem is, that only the recently used Emojis are bigger, in the screenshot from MrWeenus you the last line of emojis (the one where you see only the top half of the emojis) is the first line of regular (not recently used) emojis, and those are shown smaller and differently alligned than the recently used ones.

 

[MrWeenus]

Yep, it looks ugly AF. Recents are way too big, and all emojis are disproportionate.

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

Yep, it looks ugly AF. Recents are way too big, and all emojis are disproportionate.

Hmm, still doesn't look too bad to me. I think they spread out the recents to make it more obvious. They could add a faint line between the recents and full emoji selection, though—maybe headers too explaining (ie, RECENTS then ALL EMOJIS). That might be a bit better. *shrug*

 

[netsped]

I have it set to never and can confirm it doesn’t go away while watching videos in full screen:

View attachment 2396134

Thank you, it’s a shame. I don’t do beta testing but hopefully you and everyone doing it can report it to Apple. It definitely should disappear when a full screen video is playing.

 

[Janichsan]

Thank you, it’s a shame. I don’t do beta testing but hopefully you and everyone doing it can report it to Apple. It definitely should disappear when a full screen video is playing.

That's not a new behaviour, though. This is how it works since the advent of Macbooks with notches.

 

[MrWeenus]

Emoji picker changes have been reverted in beta 3 re-release. Same on iOS

 

[Mr.Mozi]

Is the Music app still randomly turn off random button for anyone else?

YES and it still sometimes skip the song you choose to play in explore/search. These bugs were introduced with Apple Music app back in Catalina