MacOS Sierra

Last updated

macOS Sierra
Version of the macOS operating system
MacOS Sierra wordmark.svg
MacOS Sierra Desktop.png
macOS Sierra desktop
Developer Apple Inc.
OS family
Source model Closed, with open source components
General
availability
September 20, 2016;8 years ago (2016-09-20)
Latest release 10.12.6 (16G2136) [2] / September 26, 2019;5 years ago (2019-09-26)
Update method Mac App Store
Platforms x86-64
Kernel type Hybrid (XNU)
License APSL and Apple EULA
Preceded by OS X El Capitan
Succeeded by macOS High Sierra
Official website macOS - Apple at the Wayback Machine (archived August 30, 2017)
TaglineWhat can your Mac do now? Just ask.
Support status
Obsolete, unsupported as of September 2019. iTunes is no longer being updated, but is able to download driver updates to sync to newer devices. [3] Drops support for Macs released from mid 2007 to mid 2009.

macOS Sierra (version 10.12) [4] is the thirteenth major release of macOS (formerly known as OS X and Mac OS X), Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. The name "macOS" stems from the intention to unify the operating system's name with that of iOS, watchOS and tvOS. Sierra is named after the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California and Nevada. Specifically, Lone Pine Peak is the location for macOS Sierra's default wallpaper. [5] Its major new features concern Continuity, iCloud, and windowing, as well as support for Apple Pay and Siri.

Contents

The first beta of macOS Sierra was released to developers shortly following the 2016 WWDC keynote on June 13, 2016. The first public-beta release followed on July 7, 2016. It was released to end users on September 20, 2016, as a free upgrade through the Mac App Store [6] and it was succeeded by macOS High Sierra on September 25, 2017.

System requirements

macOS Sierra requires at least 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage space and is designed to run on the following products: [7]

Sierra dropped support for various Macs released from mid 2007 to mid 2009, the first version of macOS since OS X Mountain Lion, released in 2012, to do so. [8] Support for Xserve was also dropped in Sierra.

Workarounds for unsupported systems

Developers have created workarounds to install macOS Sierra on some Mac computers that are no longer officially supported as long as they are packed with a CPU that supports SSE4.1. [9] This requires using a patch to modify the install image. [10]

Changes

A demonstration of Siri on macOS Sierra Beta Siri for macOS Sierra Demo.png
A demonstration of Siri on macOS Sierra Beta

Reinstallation

Following the download of macOS Sierra (10.12) from the Mac App Store, the installer does not show under a user's "Purchased" tab in the Mac App Store app. Users can still re-download the Sierra installer by visiting the macOS Sierra page on the Mac App Store. [38]

Reception

macOS Sierra has received generally positive reviews. Users and critics have praised its functionality, including the addition of Siri and support for Apple Pay in Safari. [39] Macworld gave it 4.5 stars out of 5. [40] Engadget gave it a rating of 87 out of 100 praising the new features such as Siri integration, Universal Clipboard, and Apple Pay while criticizing the unreliability of Auto Unlock, that "Siri isn't always smart enough", and that some of the Messages features are only available on iOS 10. [41] Developers of apps that rely on the PDFKit library built into macOS have complained that radical changes to PDFKit introduced in Sierra are causing instability and potential data corruption. [42]

Release history

VersionBuildRelease date Darwin versionRelease notesStandalone download
10.1216A323September 20, 201616.0.0Original Mac App Store release
10.12.116B2555October 24, 201616.1.0 About the macOS Sierra 10.12.1 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.1 Update
16B2657October 27, 2016
10.12.216C67December 13, 201616.3.0 About the macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Update
macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Combo Update
16C68December 14, 2016
10.12.316D32January 23, 201716.4.0 About the macOS Sierra 10.12.3 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.3 Update
macOS Sierra 10.12.3 Combo Update
10.12.416E195March 27, 201716.5.0 About the macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Update
macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Combo Update
10.12.516F73May 15, 201716.6.0 About the macOS Sierra 10.12.5 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.5 Update
macOS Sierra 10.12.5 Combo Update
16F2073June 5, 2017
10.12.616G29July 19, 201716.7.0 About the macOS Sierra 10.12.6 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.6 Update
macOS Sierra 10.12.6 Combo Update
16G1036October 31, 2017 About the security content of Security Update 2017-001 Sierra Security Update 2017-001 Sierra
16G1114December 6, 2017 About the security content of Security Update 2017-002 Sierra Security Update 2017-002 Sierra
16G1212January 23, 2018 About the security content of Security Update 2018-001 Sierra Security Update 2018-001 Sierra
16G1314March 29, 2018 About the security content of Security Update 2018-002 Sierra Security Update 2018-002 Sierra
16G1408June 1, 2018 About the security content of Security Update 2018-003 Sierra Security Update 2018-003 Sierra
16G1510July 9, 2018 About the security content of Security Update 2018-004 Sierra Security Update 2018-004 Sierra
16G1618October 30, 2018 About the security content of Security Update 2018-005 Sierra Security Update 2018-005 Sierra
16G1710December 5, 2018 About the security content of Security Update 2018-006 Sierra Security Update 2018-006 Sierra
16G1815January 22, 2019 About the security content of Security Update 2019-001 Sierra Security Update 2019-001 Sierra
16G1917March 25, 2019 About the security content of Security Update 2019-002 Sierra Security Update 2019-002 Sierra
16G1918March 29, 2019 About the security content of Security Update 2019-002 Sierra Security Update 2019-002 Sierra
16G2016May 14, 2019 About the security content of Security Update 2019-003 Sierra Security Update 2019-003 Sierra
16G2127July 22, 2019 About the security content of Security Update 2019-004 Sierra Security Update 2019-004 Sierra
16G2128July 29, 2019 About the security content of Security Update 2019-004 Sierra Security Update 2019-004 Sierra
16G2136September 26, 2019 About the security content of Security Update 2019-005 Sierra Security Update 2019-005 Sierra

Timeline of Mac operating systems

Timeline of Mac operating systems
ARM architecture familyx86PowerPC68kMacBook Air (Apple silicon)iMac ProRetina MacBook ProMacBook AirApple–Intel architecturePower Mac G5Power Mac G4iMac G3Power MacintoshMacintosh QuadraMacintosh PortableMacintosh SE/30Macintosh IIMacintosh PlusMacintosh 128KmacOS SequoiamacOS SonomamacOS VenturamacOS MontereymacOS Big SurmacOS CatalinamacOS MojavemacOS High SierramacOS SierraOS X El CapitanOS X YosemiteOS X MavericksOS X Mountain LionMac OS X LionMac OS X Snow LeopardMac OS X LeopardMac OS X TigerMac OS X PantherMac OS X 10.2Mac OS X 10.1Mac OS X 10.0Mac OS X Server 1.0Mac OS X Public BetaA/UXA/UXA/UXMacWorks XLMacWorks XLSun RemarketingMacWorks XLMac OS 9Mac OS 9Mac OS 9Mac OS 8Mac OS 8Mac OS 8Mac OS 8System 7System 7System 7System 7System 6Classic Mac OSClassic Mac OSClassic Mac OSClassic Mac OSSystem 1Finder (software)Finder (software)Finder (software)Finder (software)Finder (software)Finder (software)Finder (software)MacOS Sierra

References

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  2. "About the security content of macOS Mojave 10.14.6 Supplemental Update 2, Security Update 2019-005 High Sierra, and Security Update 2019-005 Sierra". Apple Support. September 26, 2019. Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  3. "Home". iTunes.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2006. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  4. "Download - Apple Developer". Apple Developer. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
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  7. "How to get macOS Sierra". Apple . Archived from the original on September 24, 2016. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
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  10. "macOS Sierra Patch Tool". dosdude1.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
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  14. "macOS Sierra: Apps Gain Safari-Style Tabs". Archived from the original on January 26, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
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  23. "How to Use Read Receipts on the iPhone and Mac". TekRevue. Archived from the original on December 30, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
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  27. Trouton, Rich (September 21, 2016). "macOS Sierra's /Volumes folder is no longer world-writable". Der Flounder. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
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  31. "Xcode Release Notes". Apple Developer. May 29, 2018. Section "Xcode 8.3". Archived from the original on August 23, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2018. OS X 10.11 was the last major release of macOS that supported the previously deprecated garbage collection runtime. Applications or features that depend upon garbage collection may not function properly or will not launch in macOS Sierra. Developers should use Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) or manual retain/release for memory management instead. (20589595)
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  33. Siracusa, John (July 25, 2012). "OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: the Ars Technica review". Ars Technica. At section "Objective-C enhancements". Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
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  41. Wollman, Dana (September 20, 2016). "macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year". Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  42. "Sierra PDF Problems Get Worse in 10.12.2". Tidbits. January 2, 2017. Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
Preceded by macOS 10.12 (Sierra)
09/2016
Succeeded by