MacOS Sequoia

Last updated

macOS Sequoia
Version of the macOS operating system
MacOS Sequoia Logo 2024.svg
Screenshot of macOS Sequoia.png
Screenshot of macOS Sequoia
Developer Apple
OS family
Source model Closed, with open source components
Initial releaseSeptember 16, 2024;4 months ago (2024-09-16)
Latest release 15.3 [1] (January 27, 2025;0 days ago (2025-01-27)) [±]
Latest preview 15.3 RC [2] (January 21, 2025;6 days ago (2025-01-21)) [±]
Update method Apple Software Update
Platforms x86-64 (Intel-based)
ARM64 (Apple silicon)
Kernel type Hybrid (XNU)
License Proprietary software with open-source components and content licensed with APSL
Preceded by macOS Sonoma
Official website www.apple.com/macos/macos-sequoia/
TaglineSharp as a Mac. [3]
Support status
Supported. Drops support for all MacBook Airs released in 2018 and 2019.

macOS Sequoia (version 15) is the twenty-first and current major release of Apple's macOS operating system, the successor to macOS Sonoma. It was announced at WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024. [4] In line with Apple's practice of naming macOS releases after landmarks in California, it is named after Sequoia National Park, located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. [5]

Contents

The first developer beta was released on June 10, 2024. [6] The first public beta was released on July 15, 2024. [7] It was released on September 16, 2024. [8] Sequoia was the first macOS version released on the same day as a new iOS version. [9]

Development

macOS Sequoia was announced by Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 10, 2024. [4] It was announced alongside iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and watchOS 11. [10] 8 developer betas and 6 public betas were released.

Features

macOS Sequoia introduced several new features and improvements, mainly focused on productivity:

Supported hardware

macOS Sequoia supports Macs with Apple silicon and those with Intel's Xeon W and 8th-generation Coffee Lake chips or later. A Mac with an M1 chip or later is required to use Apple Intelligence. macOS Sequoia supports every Mac that supports macOS Sonoma, with the exception of the 2018–2019 MacBook Air models with Amber Lake chips. Similar to Sonoma, the 2019 iMac is the only supported Intel Mac that lacks a T2 security chip. macOS Sequoia is the first version of macOS to drop support for a Mac with a T2 security chip.

The following devices are compatible with macOS Sequoia: [3]

Unofficial support

By using patch tools such as OpenCore Legacy Patcher, macOS Sequoia can be unofficially installed on earlier models that are officially unsupported. Such models date back to the 2009 Mac Mini, 2008 MacBook Pro and 2007 iMac (after a Penryn CPU upgrade). [14]

This does not apply to the 2018-2019 MacBook Air due to the T2 Security Chip preventing unauthorized macOS software to run on those devices.

Release history

The first developer beta of macOS Sequoia was released on June 10, 2024. As with macOS Sonoma, the Sequoia developer betas are available to anyone with an Apple Developer account, without needing a developer subscription.

Previous releaseCurrent releaseCurrent beta releaseSecurity response
macOS Sequoia releases
VersionBuildRelease date Darwin version
15.024A335September 16, 2024 [15] 24.0.0
xnu-11215.1.10~2
Mon Aug 12 20:52:31 PDT 2024
15.0.124A348October 3, 202424.0.0
xnu-11215.1.12~1
Tue Sep 24 23:39:07 PDT 2024
15.124B83October 28, 202424.1.0
xnu-11215.41.3~2
Thu Oct 10 21:00:32 PDT 2024
24B208324.1.0
xnu-11215.41.3~3
Thu Oct 10 21:06:57 PDT 2024
15.1.124B91November 19, 202424.1.0
xnu-11215.41.3~13
Thu Nov 14 18:15:21 PST 2024
24B2091
15.224C101December 11, 202424.2.0
xnu-11215.61.5~2
Fri Dec 6 19:01:59 PST 2024
15.324D60January 27, 202524.3.0
xnu-11215.81.4~3
Thu Jan 2 20:24:06 PST 2025

See Apple's official release notes, and official security update contents.

See also

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References

  1. Clover, Juli (January 27, 2025). "Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.3 With Genmoji". MacRumors . Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  2. Clover, Juli (January 21, 2025). "Apple Seeds macOS Sequoia 15.3 Release Candidate to Developers". MacRumors . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  3. 1 2 "macOS Sequoia Preview". Apple. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Apple's AI plans, iOS 18, and more at WWDC 2024". The Verge . June 10, 2024. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  5. Terech, Kristina; Hanson, Matt; Saxena, Muskaan (June 7, 2024). "macOS 15 Sequoia: launch date, latest news, rumors, and everything we know". TechRadar. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  6. "Apple Releases First Betas of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, tvOS 18, watchOS 11, and visionOS 2". MacRumors. June 10, 2024. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  7. "Apple Releases First macOS Sequoia Public Beta With iPhone Mirroring and More". MacRumors. July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  8. "Apple Launches macOS Sequoia With iPhone Mirroring, Passwords App, Window Tiling Updates and More". MacRumors. September 16, 2024. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  9. "macOS Sequoia Release Likely to Be the Earliest in Years". MacRumors. September 8, 2024. Retrieved January 21, 2025.
  10. "WWDC24 Highlights". Apple Newsroom (Press release). Retrieved December 18, 2024.
  11. Lawler, Richard (June 21, 2024). "Apple may delay AI features in the EU because of its big tech law". The Verge . Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  12. Warren, Tom (June 7, 2023). "Apple's new Proton-like tool can run Windows games on a Mac". The Verge. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  13. "Apple Intelligence Preview". Apple. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  14. OpenCore Legacy Patcher - https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/releases/1.0.0 Archived October 5, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  15. "macOS Sequoia 15 Release Notes".
Preceded by macOS 15 Sequoia
2024
Succeeded by
None