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• Add App To Privacy Settings
• Best Macos Apps

Apple continues to add new features to Safari on a regular basis to try to make our web browsing experience faster, easier, and—above all—more secure.

You can open up a private browser window anytime you want in Safari's file menu and Safari won't save your browsing history and will ask websites you visit not to track you. But there are a few more steps you might want to consider taking.

The place to go for most of these things is in Safari's preferences window, accessed from the Safari menu.

How to guard against unsafe files

As with all things related to security, there's a balancing act between convenience and safety. Safari will automatically open certain types of 'safe' files you download from the web as a matter of convenience. But because a malicious file could be disguised as a 'safe' file, it's a good idea to guard against unsafe files—and it's as easy as checking a box.

1. Launch Safari. If it's not in the Dock, you can find it in the Applications folder.

2. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences....

3. Click the General button.

4. Uncheck the box to Open 'safe' files after downloading.

Downloads will occur as they usually do, and to the location you have chosen, but the files won't automatically open.

For example, by installing Evernote, you’ll get an option to add selected text to Evernote. Unfortunately there’s no specific list that you can view to check whether an app adds options to the Services menu or not, but if used by more app developers, the Services menu can vastly improve a macOS. One of the major changes in the macOS Sierra Public Beta isn’t an obvious one, and you may not encounter it until you try to install an app that you didn’t buy from the App Store. Follow some simple steps to make your security and privacy settings. Must see: How to see the devices linked to your Apple ID & ways to remove them STEP 1: Open System Preferences by clicking on Apple icon on the top left of your Mac screen. Review the values and settings you entered for the app. When you are done, click Create to add the app to Intune. The Overview blade for the line-of-business app is displayed. The app you have created appears in the apps list where you can assign it to the groups you choose.

How to identify fraudulent websites

Add App To Privacy Settings

Mojave not privacy settings blocking all Mic input, and not prompting to 'allow access' on any app. I am unable to add mic access to any app on MacOS Mojave, as the apps are not 'requesting' access, and I am not receiving the prompt to add permissions.

Safari already identifies websites that use encryption (indicated by a padlock icon in the address bar) and an EV certificate which indicates a more extensive identity verification of the website operator (indicated in green). Safari also uses Google Safe Browsing technology--which is simply a list of websites that may contain malware, unwanted software, or phishing scams.

If it's not already on, here's how to do so:

1. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences....
2. Click the Security button.

3. Check the box to Warn when visiting a fraudulent website.

If you happen to run across one of these sites, Safari will put up a full-screen warning about the site before you can proceed.

How to disable JavaScript

Many—if not all—webpages contain JavaScript, which enables certain functionality for web pages, such as displaying the time and date or displaying an image from a set of options.

You can disable JavaScript if you like, but it may impact the functioning of the web page.

1. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences....
2. Click the Security button.

3. Uncheck the box to disable JavaScript.

How to prevent cross-site tracking

If you've been using Safari and suddenly seen a plethora of lawnmower ads not long after doing some web research about lawnmowers, then congratulations: you've discovered crop-site tracking. It's a way of keeping track of your behavior on one part of the internet to show you ads while using a different part of the internet. If you prefer, you can turn it off.

1. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences....
2. Click the Privacy button.

3. Check the box to Prevent cross-site tracking and check the box to Ask websites not to track me.

Keep in mind that while you can ask websites not to track you, it's up to the website creator to honor your request.

How to block all cookies in Safari

Cookies are small text files a website may store on your Mac to help identify you or your Mac when you visit the website in the future. Examples of content stored in a cookie are your name, site browsing history, and preferences. If you don't want Safari to use cookies, you can shut it off.

1. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences....
2. Click the Privacy button.

3. Uncheck the box to Block all cookies.

How to remove website data

If you ever decide to remove website data from your Mac, you can do it selectively for certain websites or remove all the data.

1. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences....

2. Click the Privacy button.

3. Click the Manage Website Data... button.

4. Select a website and click the Remove button to remove the site's cache, cookies, or local storage or click the Remove All button to delete data for all websites.

How to clear your browsing history

Rather than root around through a set of checkboxes and pop-up menus, you can clear your browsing history, cookies, and website data with a menu command.

1. From the Safari menu, choose Clear History....
2. From the Clear pop-up menu, choose how far back you want to go.

3. Click Clear History.

In addition to the history of the website pages you've visited, you'll also give the heave-ho to recent searches, a list of items you have downloaded, the frequently visited site list, and other information.

If your Mac and other devices have Safari turned on in iCloud preferences, the clear history command will remove the browsing history from Safari on those other devices.

How to check for Apple Pay on websites

You can enable Safari on your Mac to show you websites that can accept payments via Apple Pay. You can then make the payments from your Apple Watch or iPhone, or using Touch ID if it's built into your Mac.

1. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences....
2. Click the Privacy button.

3. Check the box to Allow websites to check if Apple Pay is set up.

How to allow or deny camera, microphone, and location access

Safari includes the ability to determine whether or not websites ask can use your Mac's camera and microphone. Here's how to set it up.

1. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences....

2. Click the Websites button.

3. From the General section of the sidebar, click Camera.

4. Click the pop-up menu for 'When visiting other websites' and choose Ask, Deny, or Allow, depending on your preference.

The settings work in exactly the same way for your Mac's microphone and your location. Simply click Microphone or Location in the sidebar. Similarly, you can change the setting for currently open websites to suit your preference.

How to block pop-up windows

Some web pages that you visit will automatically display a pop-up window that will block content—often with an ad—that you're trying to view. While this can be annoying, there are some sites that require pop-up windows to work properly. Fortunately, Safari provides fine-grained control of these pop-up windows.

1. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences....

2. Click the Websites button.

3. From the General section of the sidebar, click Pop-up Windows.

4. Click the pop-up menu for 'When visiting other websites' and choose Block and Notify, Block, or Allow, depending on your preference.

Similarly, you can change the setting for currently open websites to suit your preference.

If you choose Block and Notify, a small icon will appear on the right side of the Smart Search field. Click it to display the pop-up windows for the web page.

Great Mac accessories

Apple AirPods 2(From $159 at Apple)

The best Apple accessory has gotten betting with AirPods 2. Now offering a wireless charger case, the popular earbuds feature the new Apple H1 headphone chip that delivers a faster wireless connection to your devices, as well as support for 'Hey Siri.'

Samsung T5 SSD(From $88 at Amazon)

This solid-state drive from Samsung is speedy, tiny, and portable. It also connects using USB-C, making it a perfect companion for your new Mac.

Questions?

Let us know in the comments below.

Updated August 2019: Updated through macOS Mojave and the macOS Catalina beta.

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Apple Sanlitun, Apple's newest store in China, is opening today

Apple has announced that its newest retail store, Apple Sanlitun in Bejing, is opening to customers in the area later today.

macOS Big Sur brings a refined new design, powerful controls, and intuitive customization options to the most advanced desktop operating system in the world.

Experience

Updated menu bar

The menu bar is now taller and more translucent, allowing your desktop picture to extend from edge to edge. Words lighten or darken based on the color of your desktop picture. And pull-down menus are larger, with more space between the lines to make everything easier to read.

Floating Dock

The redesigned Dock is lifted from the bottom of your display and is more translucent, allowing your desktop wallpaper to shine through. And app icons are all-new and even easier to recognize.

New icons for apps

App icons have been redesigned to feel both familiar and fresh. Icons have a uniform shape but retain the stylistic touches and details that give Mac its character.

Lighter window appearance

Windows have a lighter, more spacious appearance that makes them cleaner and easier to work with. Additional translucency and rounded edges designed to match the radii of Mac create a cohesive look and feel throughout macOS.

Redesigned sheets

Sheets in apps have been completely redesigned, removing borders and bezels to put the focus on your content. They automatically dim the background and scale into the center of the app.

New and updated sounds

System sounds are all-new and even more pleasing to the ear. The new system alerts were created using snippets of the originals, so they sound familiar.

Full-height sidebars

A new look for app sidebars makes it easier to find what you want and gives you more space to get things done. Easily track your Mail inbox, access Finder folders, and organize Photos, Notes, Stocks, and more.

New symbols throughout macOS

New symbols in toolbars, sidebars, and controls bring clarity and consistency across apps, helping you immediately recognize where to click. When apps share common tasks — like viewing the inbox in Mail or Calendar — they share the same symbol. There are also localized versions of symbols with numbers, letters, and dates to match your system language.

Control Center

Control Center

Designed just for Mac, the new Control Center consolidates your favorite menu bar items into a single place to give you instant access to the controls you use most. Just click the Control Center icon in the menu bar and adjust Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirDrop, and other settings — without opening System Preferences.

Customize Control Center

Add controls for the apps and features you use most, like Accessibility or Battery.

Click for more options

Click to expand the menu. For example, click Display to see options for Dark Mode, Night Shift, True Tone, and AirPlay.

Pin to menu bar

Drag and pin your favorite menu items to the top of your menu bar for easy one-click access.

Notification Center

Updated Notification Center

A redesigned Notification Center puts all your notifications and widgets into a single, dedicated column. Notifications are automatically sorted by most recent, and redesigned Today widgets deliver information at a glance.

Interactive notifications

Do more with your notifications on Mac for Apple Podcasts, Mail, Calendar, and more. Simply click and hold the notification to take action or get more information. Reply to an email, listen to the latest podcast, and even expand a Calendar invitation to see where the event falls in your day.

Grouped notifications

Notifications are grouped by thread or app. Expand each group to see earlier notifications. You can also disable grouped notifications if you prefer to see them individually.

Redesigned widgets

Experience brand-new widgets and beautifully redesigned widgets for Calendar, Stocks, Weather, Reminders, Notes, and Podcasts. Widgets also come in different sizes, so you can pick the one that works best for you.

Customize widgets

Easily add new widgets to Notification Center by clicking Edit Widgets. Then customize the size to show the amount of information you want to see and drag it into your widget list.

Discover more third-party widgets

Discover new third-party widgets for Notification Center on the App Store.

Safari

Customizable start page

Customize the new start page to make it your own. You can set a background image and select which sections are displayed on the start page — including Favorites, Siri Suggestions, Reading List, iCloud Tabs, and even a Privacy Report.

Improved performance

Safari was already the fastest desktop browser — and now it’s even faster. Safari loads frequently visited sites 50 percent faster on average than Chrome.¹

Improved power efficiency

Safari is optimized specifically for Mac, so it’s more efficient than other browsers on macOS. Stream video for up to three hours longer and browse the web for up to one hour longer on a Mac notebook compared with Chrome or Firefox.²

Favicons in tabs

Default tab favicons help you easily identify open tabs at a glance.

See more tabs at once

The new tab bar design displays more tabs onscreen at once so you can quickly move between them.

Website previews

When you just want a peek at what’s behind a tab, hold the pointer over it to get a quick preview of the page.

Translation

Translate entire web pages in Safari.³ When you encounter a compatible page, just click the translation icon in the address field to translate into English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Russian, or Brazilian Portuguese.

Safari extensions on the App Store

An all-new extensions category on the App Store showcases Safari extensions with editorial spotlights and top charts, making it easier to discover great extensions from developers. All extensions are reviewed, signed, and hosted by Apple for your security.

WebExtensions API support

New support for the WebExtensions API and migration tools allows developers to bring Chrome extensions to Safari — letting you personalize your browsing experience with new Safari extensions from your favorite developers.

Grant extensions website access

Keep the websites you visit and tabs you use even more private. Safari asks you which websites a Safari extension can work with — and you can grant access for one day or all the time.

Privacy Report

Safari uses Intelligent Tracking Prevention to identify and prevent trackers from profiling or following you around the web. A new Privacy Report shows how Safari protects your browsing across every website you visit. Go to the Privacy Report from your Safari menu and you’ll get an in-depth overview of every cross-site tracker blocked over the last 30 days.

Privacy Report for each website

See the privacy practices for every website you visit. Just click the Privacy Report button in your Safari toolbar for a summary of all cross-site trackers being blocked by Intelligent Tracking Prevention.

Start page Privacy Report

Add a Privacy Report to your start page — so every time you open a new window or tab, you can see how Safari protects your privacy.

Password monitoring

Safari securely monitors your passwords, automatically keeping an eye out for any saved passwords that may have been involved in a data breach. If a breach is discovered, Safari helps you upgrade existing passwords and even generates secure passwords automatically. Safari keeps your data private and doesn’t reveal your password information to anyone — even Apple.

Import passwords and settings from Chrome

Easily import history, bookmarks, and saved passwords from Chrome into Safari.

Messages

Pin conversations

Pin your favorite conversations to the top of your list. New messages, Tapbacks, and typing indicators animate in right above the pin. And when there are unread messages in a group conversation, you’ll see the most recent participants circle around the pinned conversation.

Multiple pinned conversations

You can have up to nine pinned conversations that sync across Messages in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

Search

It’s easier than ever to search all your past messages for links, photos, and phrases. A new search experience for Messages organizes your results into links and photos and highlights matching terms. It also works great with keyboard shortcuts — just press Command-F to open.

Share your name and photo

Automatically share your name and photo when you start a conversation or when the other person responds in a message. Share with everyone, just your contacts, or not at all. You can even choose to use a Memoji, image, or monogram for your photo.

Group photos

Set an image for your group conversations using a photo, Memoji, or emoji. Group photos are automatically shared with all members of the group.

Mentions

Direct a message to an individual in a group conversation by typing the person’s name or using the @ sign. And choose to receive notifications only when you’re mentioned.

Inline replies

Messages allows you to reply directly to a specific message in a group conversation. See all related messages in their own view to easily keep track of a thread.

Message effects

Celebrate special moments with balloons, confetti, lasers, and more. Or send a message loudly or gently, or even slam it. Send a personal message with invisible ink that remains blurred until you swipe over it with your cursor.

#images

Find trending images and GIFs and quickly add them to any message. Discover popular memes when you open #image, or search by keyword to find images relevant to your conversation.

Memoji editor

Easily create and edit a Memoji that reflects you. Choose from a wide range of hairstyles, headwear, facial structures, and other features to create one of over a trillion possible combinations.

Memoji stickers

Express yourself with Memoji stickers. The stickers are automatically generated for your personalized Memoji character, making it quick and easy to share with friends.

Enhanced photo picker

Use the updated photo picker to quickly access and share your recent photos and albums.

Maps

Guides

Discover the best places to eat, shop, and explore in cities around the world with Guides created by brands you trust.⁴ Save Guides so you can easily get back to them later. And Guides update automatically when new places are added so you always have the latest recommendations.

Create your own guides

Create guides for all your favorite places, like “best pizzerias in Chicago,” or soon‑to‑be‑favorites, like “sites to see in Paris.“ Then share them with friends and family.

Look Around

Explore select cities with an interactive 3D experience that lets you pan 360 degrees and move smoothly through streets.

Cycling routes

Plan your cycling route right on your Mac.⁵ See the elevation for your ride, how busy a street is, and whether there are steep inclines or stairs along the way. When you’re ready to ride, send your route directly to your iPhone.

Electric vehicle routing

When you’re planning a trip with an electric vehicle, Maps automatically adds charging stops along your route and accounts for charging time when calculating the ETA.⁶ Add your electric vehicle on iPhone, and Maps will keep track of the current charge and charger type to help you plan the best route.

Indoor maps

Browse detailed indoor maps of major airports and shopping centers around the world. Find out which restaurants are past security at the airport, where the nearest restroom is, or where your favorite store is at the mall.

Live updates for shared ETA

When friends send you a shared ETA, you can get live progress updates on the map so you’ll know when they’re expected to arrive.

New maps available in more countries

Detailed new maps are coming to more countries later this year, including Canada, Ireland, and the UK. See detailed roads, buildings, parks, marinas, beaches, airports, and more.

Congestion zones

Major cities like London and Paris have congestion zones to help reduce traffic in dense areas. Maps lets you see congestion zone tolls and even helps route you around them.⁷

License plate restrictions

For cities in China that limit driving through dense urban areas, you can see if you have access based on your vehicle’s eligibility.⁸ Enter your license plate number to find out whether you can go through the city or need to reroute. License plate information is stored securely in Maps and never leaves your device.

Privacy

Privacy information on the App Store

A new section on each app’s page on the App Store will help you understand the privacy practices of the app before you download it.⁹ It's similar to the way nutrition labels help you understand what’s in food before you buy it.

Self-reported privacy practices

Developers self-report their app privacy practices on the App Store.⁹ See the types of data their app might collect — like usage data, contact information, or location — and whether that data is shared with third parties.

Displayed in a simple format

Just as nutrition labels are convenient and easy to read, an app’s privacy information on the App Store is displayed in a consistent, simple format.⁹ This lets you quickly and easily understand the app’s privacy practices.

Software Updates

Faster updates

Once macOS Big Sur is installed, software updates begin in the background and complete faster than before — so it’s easier than ever to keep your Mac up to date and secure.

Signed system volume

macOS Big Sur introduces a cryptographically signed system volume that protects against malicious tampering. It also means that your Mac knows the exact layout of your system volume, allowing it to begin software updates in the background while you work.

AirPods

Automatic device switching

AirPods automatically switch between active devices paired to the same iCloud account — making it even easier to use your AirPods with your Apple devices.¹⁰ A pop-up banner shows which device is playing audio. Automatic device switching works for all Apple and Beats headphones featuring the Apple H1 headphone chip.

Apple Arcade

Friends playing recommendations

See Apple Arcade games that are popular with your Game Center friends right from the Apple Arcade tab and game pages.

Achievements

Visit Apple Arcade game pages to see your achievement progress and explore the goals and milestones you can unlock in games.

Continue playing

Launch the games you’ve recently played across your devices directly from the Apple Arcade tab.

See all games and filter

Browse the entire Apple Arcade catalog. Sort and filter by release date, updates, category, controller support, and more.

Game Center in-game dashboard

The in-game dashboard showcases you and your friends’ game progress at a glance. Quickly access your Game Center profile, achievements, leaderboards, and more from within your game.

Coming soon

Get a sneak peek at upcoming Apple Arcade games and download them as soon as they’re released.

Battery

Optimized Battery Charging

Optimized Battery Charging is designed to reduce the wear on your battery and improve its lifespan by ensuring that your Mac notebook is fully charged when unplugged. Optimized Battery Charging learns your daily charging routine and activates only when your Mac predicts that it will be connected to a charger for an extended period of time.

Battery usage history

Battery usage history displays graphs of battery level and usage for the past 24 hours and the past 10 days.

FaceTime

Sign language prominence

FaceTime now detects when a participant is using sign language and makes the person prominent in a Group FaceTime call.

Family Sharing

Share third-party app subscriptions

App developers can make in-app purchases and subscriptions from the App Store available for sharing among family members, so everyone gets access with a single App Store purchase.

Home

Home status

A new visual status at the top of the Home app gives you a summary of accessories that require your attention, have important status changes to share, or can be quickly controlled.

Adaptive Lighting for smart light bulbs

Light bulbs that change color can be automatically adjusted throughout the day to maximize comfort and productivity.¹¹ Ease into morning with warmer colors, stay focused midday with cooler colors, and wind down at night by removing blue light.

Face Recognition for video cameras and doorbells

In addition to person, animal, and vehicle detection, security cameras can identify people you’ve tagged in the Photos app for richer activity notifications.¹¹ Easily tag people, and choose to be notified based on the person.

Activity Zones for video cameras and doorbells

With HomeKit Secure Video, you can define Activity Zones within a camera’s view to capture video or receive notifications only when motion is detected in those areas.¹¹

Music

Listen Now

The new Listen Now tab is designed for playing and discovering your favorite music, artists, interviews, and mixes all in one place. Listen Now starts with a summary of your Top Picks across your music interests. As you play, Apple Music¹² learns what you love and provides new suggestions.

Improved search

An all-new search experience showcases the best music for the genres and activities you love. Get more helpful suggestions as you type and additional results to help you find what you’re looking for.

Notes

Best Macos Apps

Collapsible Pinned section

Collapse or expand your pinned notes list.

Top Hits in search

Top Hits appear at the top of your search results in Notes and surface the most relevant results — making it easier to find what you need.

Quick styles

Access additional text styles and formatting options with a click of the Aa button.

Enhanced scanning

Continuity Camera has never been better. Use your iPhone or iPad to capture sharper scans that are more precisely autocropped, and have them automatically transferred to your Mac.

Photos

Expanded video editing capabilities

Adjustments, filters, and cropping are now supported for video editing so you can rotate, increase exposure, or even apply filters to your videos.

Expanded photo editing capabilities

Now you can apply the Vibrance effect to photos and adjust the intensity of filters and Portrait Lighting effects.

Improved Retouch tool

The Retouch tool now uses advanced machine learning to remove blemishes, dust specks, and other objects from a photo.

Easy, fluid navigation

Zoom in and out to quickly get to the photos and videos you’re looking for in views across Photos — including Albums, Media Types, Import, Places, and more.

Add context to photos and videos with captions

View and edit captions, previously called descriptions, to add context to your photos and videos in the Info pane. With iCloud Photos enabled, captions sync seamlessly across all your devices, including captions you add on your iOS or iPadOS device.

Memories enhancements

Enjoy a more relevant selection of photos and videos in Memories, a larger selection of music tracks that automatically adapt to the length of your Memory movie, and enhanced video stabilization when playing Memory movies.

Podcasts

Listen Now

Listen Now makes it even easier to find what to play next. Easily resume the next episode in your queue from a more focused Up Next. Enjoy a new section devoted to helping you discover the latest episodes in shows you follow. And browse hand-picked episode recommendations.¹³

Reminders

Assign reminders

Assign reminders to people you share lists with and they’ll get a notification. It’s great for splitting up tasks and knowing who’s responsible for what so nobody forgets.

Smart suggestions for dates and locations

Reminders automatically suggests dates, times, and locations for a reminder based on similar reminders you’ve created in the past.

Personalized lists with emoji

Personalize the appearance of your lists with emoji and newly added symbols.

Reminder suggestions from Mail

When you’re corresponding with someone in Mail, Siri recognizes possible reminders and makes suggestions for you to create them.

Organize smart lists

Customize your smart lists in the Reminders app. You can easily rearrange smart lists or hide them.

New keyboard shortcuts

Easily navigate your lists and smart lists, and quickly move dates of reminders to today, tomorrow, or next weekend.

Improved search

Find the right reminders by searching for people, locations, and even detailed notes you’ve added.

Spotlight

Improved performance

Spotlight is more optimized for speed. Results appear faster than ever, as soon as you start typing.

Streamlined list of results

Spotlight presents all your results in a streamlined list, making results easier to digest so you can get to the app, website, or document you need even faster.

Support for Quick Look

With support for Quick Look in Spotlight, you can access a full-size, scrollable preview of almost any document or website. You can rotate, crop, and mark up images, sign PDFs, or trim media files — without launching an app.

Integrated in Find menus

Spotlight technology now powers the Find menu in apps like Safari, Pages, Keynote, and more.

Siri

Web answers

Siri can now help you find answers to a broader set of questions using information from across the web. Ask questions like “How do hybrid cars work?” or “What causes seasons?” and Siri helps you find the answer you’re looking for.¹⁴

Voice Memos

Folders

Folders let you organize your Voice Memos recordings.

Smart Folders

Smart Folders automatically group Apple Watch recordings, recently deleted recordings, and Favorites — making it even easier to stay organized.

Favorites

Easily mark recordings as Favorites so you can quickly access them later.

Enhance Recording

Automatically reduce background noise and room reverb with a single click.

Weather

Next-hour precipitation

In the medium-size and large Weather widgets, view a minute-by-minute chart that shows the intensity of rain or snow over the coming hour. Available for the U.S.

Significant shifts

The Weather widget indicates when the weather will be much warmer, colder, or wetter in the next day.

Severe weather

The Weather widget displays government alerts about certain severe weather events including tornados, winter storms, flash floods, and more. Available for the U.S., Europe, Japan, Canada, and Australia.

International Features

New bilingual dictionaries

New bilingual dictionaries include French–German, Indonesian–English, Japanese–Simplified Chinese, and Polish–English.

Enhanced predictive input for Chinese and Japanese

Enhanced predictive input for Chinese and Japanese results in more accurate and contextual predictions.

New fonts for India

New fonts for India include 20 new document fonts. In addition, 18 existing fonts have been upgraded with more weights and italics to give you greater choice.

Localized message effects in Messages for India

When you send a greeting in one of 23 Indian local languages, Messages will add a corresponding message effect to help you celebrate the moment. For example, send “Happy Holi” in Hindi, and Messages automatically adds confetti to accompany the greeting.