| Version of themacOS operating system | |
 | |
 Screenshot of the macOS Catalina desktop indark mode | |
| Developer | Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| OS family | |
| Source model | Closed, withopen source components |
| General availability | October 7, 2019; 5 years ago (2019-10-07)[1] |
| Latest release | 10.15.7 Security Update 2022-005[2] (19H2026) (July 20, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-07-20)) [±] |
| Update method | Software Update |
| Platforms | x86-64 |
| Kernel type | Hybrid (XNU) |
| License | APSL and AppleEULA |
| Preceded by | macOS Mojave |
| Succeeded by | macOS Big Sur |
| Official website | www.apple.com/macos/catalina at theWayback 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. | |
macOS Catalina (version 10.15) is the sixteenthmajor release ofmacOS,Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system forMacintosh computers. It is the successor tomacOS Mojave and was announced atWWDC 2019 on June 3, 2019 and released to the public on October 7, 2019. Catalina is the first version of macOS to support only64-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 andFirefox 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 afterSanta Catalina Island, which is located off the coast ofsouthern California.
macOS Catalina is the final version of macOS that supports theUnibody MacBook Pro, as its successor, macOS Big Sur, drops support for its mid-2012 and final model.
All standard configuration Macs that supportedmacOS Mojave support macOS Catalina. 2010 to 2012Mac Pros, which could run Mojave only with aGPU upgrade, are no longer supported.[1] Catalina requires 4 GB of memory, an increase over the 2 GB required byLion through Mojave.[9][10]
It is unofficially possible to install macOS Catalina on many older Macintosh computers that are not officially supported by Apple. This requires using a patch to modify the install image. (dosdude1)'s Catalina Patcher is an example of those tools, which can be used to Install Catalina on machines between 2008 and 2011.[11]
Catalyst is a new software-development tool that allows developers to write apps that can run on macOS,iOS andiPadOS. Apple demonstrated several ported apps, includingJira andTwitter (after the latter discontinued its macOS app in February 2018).[12][13][14]
An upgrade fromKexts. 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 anApple T2 security chip (2018, 2019, and 2020MacBook Pro; 2020 5KiMac; 2018MacBook Air,iMac Pro; 2018Mac Mini; 2019Mac 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 aniPad (runningiPadOS) as a wireless external display. WithApple Pencil, the device can also be used as agraphics tablet for software running on the computer.[13][23] Sidecar requires a Mac with IntelSkylake CPUs and newer (such as thefourth-generation MacBook Pro), and an iPad that supports Apple Pencil.[24][25]
The Game Controller framework adds support for two major console game controllers: thePlayStation 4'sDualShock 4 and theXbox One controller.[26][27][28][29]
A number of under-the-hood changes were made toTime 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 separateMusic,Podcasts,TV andBooks apps, in line withiOS.iOS device management is now conducted viaFinder.[31][32] The TV app on Mac supportsDolby Atmos,Dolby Vision, andHDR10 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 andFind My Friends are merged into an application calledFind My.
TheNotes 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 supports64-bit applications.32-bit applications no longer run (including all software that utilizes theCarbon API as well as QuickTime 7 applications, image, audio and video codecs). Apple has also removed all 32-bit-only apps from theMac App Store.[33]
Z shell (executable "zsh") is the default login shell and interactive shell in macOS Catalina,[34] replacingBash, the default shell sinceMac OS X Panther in 2003.[35] Bash continues to be available in macOS Catalina, along with other shells such ascsh/tcsh andksh.
Dashboard has been removed in macOS Catalina.[36]
The ability to add Backgrounds inPhoto Booth was removed in macOS Catalina.
The command-line interfaceGNU Emacs application was removed in macOS Catalina.
Built-in support forPerl,Python 2.7 andRuby 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]
LegacyAirDrop for connecting with Macs runningMac OS X Lion,Mountain Lion andMavericks, or 2011 and older Macs has been removed.[39]
Support for legacy Safari extensions such asuBlock Origin, andWebSQL has been removed in Safari 13.[40][41]
Ars Technica reported that macOS Catalina contained a criticalprivilege escalation vulnerability, which resulted in abackdoor 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 ofUser Account Control dialog boxes withWindows 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) |
Voice Control lets users control the entire device with spoken commands and specialized tools, while Siri is an intelligent assistant that lets users ask for information and complete everyday tasks using natural language. Voice Control offers comprehensive capabilities such as voice gestures, name and number labels, grid overlays, text editing commands, and deep customization, while Siri assists with setting reminders, making appointments, looking up directions, and learning game scores.
Scripting language runtimes such as Python, Ruby, and Perl are included in macOS for compatibility with legacy software. Future versions of macOS won't include scripting language runtimes by default, and might require you to install additional packages.
| Preceded by | macOS 10.15 (Catalina) 2019 | Succeeded by |
