Version of the macOS operating system | |
Developer | Apple Inc. |
---|---|
OS family | |
Source model | Closed, with open source components |
General availability | October 7, 2019 [1] |
Latest release | 10.15.7 Security Update 2022-005 [2] (19H2026) (July 20, 2022 ) [±] |
Update method | Software Update |
Platforms | x86-64 |
Kernel type | Hybrid (XNU) |
License | APSL and Apple EULA |
Preceded by | macOS Mojave |
Succeeded by | macOS Big Sur |
Official website | www.apple.com/macos/catalina at the Wayback Machine (archived November 9, 2020) |
Tagline | The power of Mac. Taken further. |
Support status | |
Unsupported as of November 30, 2022. Finder is still able to download driver updates to sync to newer devices. |
Part of a series on |
macOS |
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macOS Catalina (version 10.15) is the sixteenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. It is the successor to macOS Mojave and was announced at WWDC 2019 on June 3, 2019 and released to the public on October 7, 2019. Catalina is the first version of macOS to support only 64-bit applications and the first to include Activation Lock. [3] [1] It is also the last version of macOS to have the major version number of 10; its successor, Big Sur, released on November 12, 2020, is version 11. [4] [5] In order to increase web compatibility, Safari, Chromium and Firefox have frozen the OS in the user agent running in subsequent releases of macOS at 10.15.7 Catalina. [6] [7] [8]
The operating system is named after Santa Catalina Island, which is located off the coast of southern California.
macOS Catalina is the final version of macOS that supports the Unibody MacBook Pro, as its successor, macOS Big Sur, drops support for its mid-2012 and final model.
All standard configuration Macs that supported macOS Mojave support macOS Catalina. 2010 to 2012 Mac Pros, which could run Mojave only with a GPU upgrade, are no longer supported. [1] Catalina requires 4 GB of memory, an increase over the 2 GB required by Lion through Mojave. [9] [10]
It is possible to install Catalina on many older Macintosh computers that are not officially supported by Apple. This requires using a patch to modify the install image. [11]
Catalyst is a new software-development tool that allows developers to write apps that can run on macOS, iOS and iPadOS. Apple demonstrated several ported apps, including Jira and Twitter (after the latter discontinued its macOS app in February 2018). [12] [13] [14]
An upgrade from Kexts. System extensions avoid the problems of Kexts. There are 3 kinds of System extensions: Network Extensions, Endpoint Security Extensions, and Driver Extensions. System extensions run in userspace, outside of the kernel. [15] [16] Catalina will be the last version of macOS to support legacy system extensions. [17] [18]
A replacement for IOKit device drivers, driver extensions are built using DriverKit. DriverKit is a new SDK with all-new frameworks based on IOKit, but updated and modernized. It is designed for building device drivers in userspace, outside of the kernel. [19] [16]
Mac apps, installer packages, and kernel extensions that are signed with a Developer ID must be notarized by Apple to run on macOS Catalina. [20]
Activation Lock helps prevent the unauthorized use and drive erasure of devices with an Apple T2 security chip (2018, 2019, and 2020 MacBook Pro; 2020 5K iMac; 2018 MacBook Air, iMac Pro; 2018 Mac Mini; 2019 Mac Pro). [1] [21]
The system runs on its own read-only volume, separate from all other data on the Mac. [1]
Users can give detailed voice commands to applications. [22] On-device machine processing is used to offer better navigation. [1]
Sidecar allows a Mac to use an iPad (running iPadOS) as a wireless external display. With Apple Pencil, the device can also be used as a graphics tablet for software running on the computer. [13] [23] Sidecar requires a Mac with Intel Skylake CPUs and newer (such as the fourth-generation MacBook Pro), and an iPad that supports Apple Pencil. [24] [25]
The Game Controller framework adds support for two major console game controllers: the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 and the Xbox One controller. [26] [27] [28] [29]
A number of under-the-hood changes were made to Time Machine, the backup software. For example, the manner in which backup data is stored on network-attached devices was changed, and this change is not backwards-compatible with earlier versions of macOS. [30] Apple declined to document these changes, but some of them have been noted. [30]
iTunes is replaced by separate Music, Podcasts, TV and Books apps, in line with iOS. iOS device management is now conducted via Finder. [31] [32] The TV app on Mac supports Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR10 on MacBooks released in 2018 or later, while 4K HDR playback is supported on Macs released in 2018 or later when connected to a compatible display. [13]
Find My Mac and Find My Friends are merged into an application called Find My.
The Notes application was enhanced to allow better management of checklists and the ability to share folders with other users. The application version was incremented from 4.6 (in macOS 10.14 Mojave) to 4.7.
Among other visual and functional overhauls, attachments can be added to reminders and Siri can intelligently estimate when to remind the user about an event. [1]
The Voice Memos application, first ported from iOS to the Mac in macOS 10.14 Mojave as version 2.0, was incremented to version 2.1.
macOS Catalina exclusively supports 64-bit applications. 32-bit applications no longer run (including all software that utilizes the Carbon API as well as QuickTime 7 applications, image, audio and video codecs). Apple has also removed all 32-bit-only apps from the Mac App Store. [33]
Z shell (executable "zsh") is the default login shell and interactive shell in macOS Catalina, [34] replacing Bash, the default shell since Mac OS X Panther in 2003. [35] Bash continues to be available in macOS Catalina, along with other shells such as csh/tcsh and ksh.
Dashboard has been removed in macOS Catalina. [36]
The ability to add Backgrounds in Photo Booth was removed in macOS Catalina.
The command-line interface GNU Emacs application was removed in macOS Catalina.
Built-in support for Perl, Python 2.7 and Ruby are included in macOS for compatibility with legacy software. [37] Future versions of macOS will not include scripting language runtimes by default, possibly requiring users to install additional packages. [38]
Legacy AirDrop for connecting with Macs running Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion and Mavericks, or 2011 and older Macs has been removed. [39]
Support for legacy Safari extensions such as uBlock Origin, and WebSQL has been removed in Safari 13. [40] [41]
Ars Technica reported that macOS Catalina contained a critical privilege escalation vulnerability, which resulted in a backdoor being installed if users visited a Hong Kong pro-democracy website. The vulnerability was reported to Apple in August 2021 and patched in a Catalina update in September, but it had already been patched by Apple in macOS Big Sur 11.2, released 234 days earlier on February 1. Security experts have criticized Apple for not patching critical known vulnerabilities in older versions and for not being transparent about older versions only receiving some, but not all, security patches. The latest major release of Apple's operating systems (macOS, iOS, and others) receive all security updates. [42] [43] [44]
Catalina received favorable reviews on release for some of its features. [45] However, some critics found the OS version distinctly less reliable than earlier versions. [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] The broad addition of user-facing security measures (somewhat analogous to the addition of User Account Control dialog boxes with Windows Vista a decade earlier) was criticized as intrusive and annoying. [48] [51]
Version | Build | Date | Darwin version | Release Notes | Standalone download |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
10.15 | 19A583 | October 7, 2019 | 19.0.0 | Original Software Update release | |
19A602 | October 15, 2019 | Supplemental update | |||
19A603 | October 21, 2019 | Revised Supplemental update | |||
10.15.1 | 19B88 | October 29, 2019 | 19.0.0 xnu-6153.41.3~29 | About the macOS Catalina 10.15.1 Update | macOS 10.15.1 Update |
10.15.2 | 19C57 | December 10, 2019 | 19.2.0 xnu-6153.61.1~20 | About the macOS Catalina 10.15.2 Update | macOS 10.15.2 Update |
19C58 | |||||
10.15.3 | 19D76 | January 28, 2020 | 19.3.0 xnu-6153.81.5~1 | About the macOS Catalina 10.15.3 Update | macOS 10.15.3 Update |
10.15.4 | 19E266 | March 24, 2020 | 19.4.0 xnu-6153.101.6~15 | About the macOS Catalina 10.15.4 Update | macOS 10.15.4 Update |
19E287 | April 8, 2020 | Supplemental update | macOS 10.15.4 Supplemental Update | ||
10.15.5 | 19F96 | May 26, 2020 | 19.5.0 xnu-6153.121.1~7 | About the macOS Catalina 10.15.5 Update | macOS 10.15.5 Update |
19F101 | June 1, 2020 | 19.5.0 xnu-6153.121.2~2 | Supplemental update | macOS 10.15.5 Supplemental Update | |
10.15.6 | 19G73 | July 15, 2020 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.1~9 Jul 5 00:43:10 PDT 2020 | About the macOS Catalina 10.15.6 Update | macOS 10.15.6 Update |
19G2021 | August 12, 2020 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.1~1 Jun 18 20:49:00 PDT 2020 | Supplemental update | macOS 10.15.6 Supplemental Update | |
10.15.7 | 19H2 | September 24, 2020 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.2~1 Mon Aug 31 22:12:52 PDT 2020 | About the macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Update | macOS 10.15.7 Update |
19H4 | October 27, 2020 | ||||
19H15 | November 5, 2020 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.2.2~1 Thu Oct 29 22:56:45 PDT 2020 | Supplemental update | macOS 10.15.7 Supplemental Update | |
19H114 | December 14, 2020 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.10~1 Tue Nov 10 00:10:30 PST 2020 | About the security content of Security Update 2020-001 | Security Update 2020-001 (Catalina) | |
19H512 | February 1, 2021 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.16~1 Tue Jan 12 22:13:05 PST 2021 | About the security content of Security Update 2021-001 | Security Update 2021-001 (Catalina) | |
19H524 | February 9, 2021 | Supplemental Update | macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Supplemental Update 2 | ||
19H1030 | April 26, 2021 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.28.1~1 Mon Apr 12 20:57:45 PDT 2021 | About the security content of Security Update 2021-002 | Security Update 2021-002 (Catalina) | |
19H1217 | May 24, 2021 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.33~1 Thu May 6 00:48:39 PDT 2021 | About the security content of Security Update 2021-003 | Security Update 2021-003 (Catalina) | |
19H1323 | July 21, 2021 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.35~1 Thu Jun 22 19:49:55 PDT 2021 | About the security content of Security Update 2021-004 | Security Update 2021-004 (Catalina) | |
19H1417 | September 13, 2021 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.40~1 Tue Aug 24 20:28:00 PDT 2021 | About the security content of Security Update 2021-005 | Security Update 2021-005 (Catalina) | |
19H1419 | September 23, 2021 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.40.1~1 Thu Sep 16 20:58:47 PDT 2021 | About the security content of Security Update 2021-006 | Security Update 2021-006 (Catalina) | |
19H1519 | October 25, 2021 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.43~1 Tue Oct 12 18:34:05 PDT 2021 | About the security content of Security Update 2021-007 | Security Update 2021-007 (Catalina) | |
19H1615 | December 13, 2021 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.50~1 Sun Nov 14 19:58:51 PST 2021 | About the security content of Security Update 2021-008 | Security Update 2021-008 (Catalina) | |
19H1713 | January 26, 2022 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.51~3 Thu Jan 13 01:26:33 PST 2022 | About the security content of Security Update 2022-001 | Security Update 2022-001 (Catalina) | |
19H1715 | February 14, 2022 | Security Update 2022-002 | Security Update 2022-002 (Catalina) | ||
19H1824 | March 14, 2022 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.59~1 Tue Feb 15 21:39:11 PST 2022 | About the security content of Security Update 2022-003 | Security Update 2022-003 (Catalina) | |
19H1922 | May 16, 2022 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.62~1 Mon Apr 18 21:50:40 PDT 2022 | About the security content of Security Update 2022-004 | Security Update 2022-004 (Catalina) | |
19H2026 | July 20, 2022 | 19.6.0 xnu-6153.141.66~1 Tue Jun 21 21:18:39 PDT 2022 | About the security content of Security Update 2022-005 | Security Update 2022-005 (Catalina) |
macOS, originally Mac OS X, previously shortened as OS X, is an operating system developed and marketed by Apple since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and laptop computers, it is the second most widely used desktop OS, after Microsoft Windows and ahead of all Linux distributions, including ChromeOS and SteamOS. As of 2024, the most recent release of macOS is macOS 15 Sequoia, the 21st major version of macOS.
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple. It is built into several of Apple's operating systems, including macOS, iOS, iPadOS and visionOS, and uses Apple's open-source browser engine WebKit, which was derived from KHTML.
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Calculator is a basic calculator application made by Apple Inc. and bundled with its macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS operating systems. It has three modes: basic, scientific, and programmer. The basic mode includes a number pad, buttons for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, as well as memory keys. Scientific mode supports exponents and trigonometric functions. The macOS version of Calculator also has a programmer mode that gives the user access to more options related to computer programming.
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OS X Mavericks is the 10th major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mavericks was announced on June 10, 2013, at WWDC 2013, and was released on October 22, 2013, worldwide.
OS X El Capitan is the twelfth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh. It focuses mainly on performance, stability, and security. Following the California location-based naming scheme introduced with OS X Mavericks, El Capitan was named after a rock formation in Yosemite National Park. El Capitan is the final version to be released under the name OS X. OS X El Capitan received far better reviews than Yosemite.
tvOS is an operating system developed by Apple Inc. for the Apple TV, a digital media player. In the first-generation Apple TV, Apple TV Software was based on Mac OS X. Starting with the second generation, the software is based on the iOS operating system and has many similar frameworks, technologies, and concepts.
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macOS High Sierra is the fourteenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. macOS High Sierra was announced at the WWDC 2017 on June 5, 2017 and was released on September 25, 2017. The name "High Sierra" refers to the High Sierra region in California. Its name signified its goal to be a refinement of the previous macOS version, macOS Sierra, focused on performance improvements and technical updates rather than features. This makes it similar to previous macOS releases Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion and El Capitan. Among the apps with notable changes are Photos and Safari.
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