macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a
Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
operating system developed and marketed by
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's
Mac computers
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
. Within the market of desktop and laptop computers it is the
second most widely used desktop OS, after
Microsoft Windows and ahead of
ChromeOS
ChromeOS, sometimes stylized as chromeOS and formerly styled as Chrome OS, is a Linux-based operating system designed by Google. It is derived from the open-source ChromiumOS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as its principal user interfa ...
.
macOS succeeded the
classic Mac OS, a
Mac operating system
Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc.
In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded "M ...
with nine releases from 1984 to 1999. During this time, Apple cofounder
Steve Jobs had left Apple and started another company,
NeXT, developing the
NeXTSTEP platform that would later be acquired by Apple to form the basis of macOS.
The first desktop version,
Mac OS X 10.0, was released in March 2001, with its first update, 10.1, arriving later that year. All releases from
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and after are
UNIX 03 certified, with an exception for
OS X 10.7 Lion. Apple's other operating systems (
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
iPadOS
iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for its iPad line of tablet computers. It is a rebranded variant of iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones, renamed to reflect the diverging features of the two product ...
,
watchOS
watchOS is the operating system of the Apple Watch, developed by Apple Inc. It is based on iOS, the operating system used by the iPhone, and has many similar features. It was released on April 24, 2015, along with the Apple Watch, the only d ...
,
tvOS
tvOS (formerly known as Apple TV Software) 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, ...
,
audioOS) are derivatives of macOS.
A prominent part of macOS's original
brand identity was the use of
Roman numeral X, pronounced "ten" as in Mac OS X and also the
iPhone X
The iPhone X (Roman numeral "X" pronounced "ten", also known as iPhone 10) is a smartphone designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is part of the 11th generation of the iPhone. Available for pre-order from October 27, 2017, it was re ...
, as well as
code naming each release after species of
big cat
The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus ''Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard.
Despite enormous differences in size, various cat species are quite similar ...
s, or places within
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
.
Apple shortened the name to "OS X" in 2011 and then changed it to "macOS" in 2016 to align with the branding of Apple's other operating systems,
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
watchOS
watchOS is the operating system of the Apple Watch, developed by Apple Inc. It is based on iOS, the operating system used by the iPhone, and has many similar features. It was released on April 24, 2015, along with the Apple Watch, the only d ...
, and
tvOS
tvOS (formerly known as Apple TV Software) 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, ...
. After sixteen distinct
versions of macOS 10,
macOS Big Sur
macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020, and was released to the publi ...
was presented as version 11 in 2020,
macOS Monterey was presented as version 12 in 2021, and
macOS Ventura
macOS Ventura (version 13) is the nineteenth and current major release of macOS, Apple's desktop operating system for Mac computers. The successor to macOS Monterey, it was announced at WWDC 2022 on June 6, 2022, and launched on October 24, 2 ...
was presented as version 13 in 2022.
macOS has supported three major processor architectures, beginning with
PowerPC-based Macs in 1999. In 2006, Apple
transitioned to the Intel architecture with a line of
Macs using Intel Core processors. In 2020, Apple began the
Apple silicon transition, using self-designed,
64-bit ARM-based
Apple M1
Apple M1 is a series of ARM-based systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) designed by Apple Inc. as a central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) for its Mac desktops and notebooks, and the iPad Pro and iPad Air tablets. The M1 c ...
processors on the latest
Macintosh computers.
History
Development
The heritage of what would become macOS had originated at
NeXT, a company founded by
Steve Jobs following his departure from Apple in 1985. There, the
Unix-like NeXTSTEP operating system was developed, before being launched in 1989. The
kernel
Kernel may refer to:
Computing
* Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems
* Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution
* Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming
* Kernel method, in machine learn ...
of NeXTSTEP is based upon the
Mach kernel
Mach () is a kernel developed at Carnegie Mellon University by Richard Rashid and Avie Tevanian to support operating system research, primarily distributed and parallel computing. Mach is often considered one of the earliest examples of a microk ...
, which was originally developed at
Carnegie Mellon University, with additional kernel layers and low-level
user space
A modern computer operating system usually segregates virtual memory into user space and kernel space. Primarily, this separation serves to provide memory protection and hardware protection from malicious or errant software behaviour.
Kernel ...
code derived from parts of
BSD. Its
graphical user interface was built on top of an
object-oriented GUI toolkit
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inst ...
using the programming language.
Throughout the early 1990s, Apple had tried to create a "next-generation" OS to succeed its
classic Mac OS through the
Taligent
Taligent Inc. (a portmanteau of "talent" and "intelligent") was an American software company. Based on the Pink object-oriented operating system conceived by Apple in 1988, Taligent Inc. was incorporated as an Apple/IBM partnership in 1992, and ...
,
Copland and
Gershwin projects, but all were eventually abandoned. This led Apple to purchase
NeXT in 1996, allowing NeXTSTEP, then called
OPENSTEP
OpenStep is a defunct object-oriented application programming interface (API) specification for a legacy object-oriented operating system, with the basic goal of offering a NeXTSTEP-like environment on non-NeXTSTEP operating systems. OpenStep was ...
, to serve as the basis for Apple's next generation operating system.
This purchase also led to Steve Jobs returning to Apple as an interim, and then the permanent CEO, shepherding the transformation of the programmer-friendly OPENSTEP into a system that would be adopted by Apple's primary market of home users and creative professionals. The project was first code named "
Rhapsody
Rhapsody may refer to:
* A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time
** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry
Computer software
* Rhapsody (online music service), an online m ...
" and then officially named Mac OS X.
Mac OS X
Mac OS X was originally presented as the tenth major version of Apple's operating system for
Macintosh computers; until 2020, versions of macOS retained the major version number "10". The letter "X" in Mac OS X's name refers to the number 10, a
Roman numeral, and Apple has stated that it should be pronounced "ten" in this context. However, it is also commonly pronounced like the letter "X".
Previous Macintosh operating systems (versions of the
classic Mac OS) were named using
Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals are the ten numerical digits: , , , , , , , , and . They are the most commonly used symbols to write Decimal, decimal numbers. They are also used for writing numbers in other systems such as octal, and for writing identifiers ...
, as with
Mac OS 8
Mac OS 8 is an operating system that was released by Apple Computer on July 26, 1997. It includes the largest overhaul of the classic Mac OS experience since the release of System 7, approximately six years before. It places a greater emphasis o ...
and
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the ninth major release of Apple Inc., Apple's classic Mac OS operating system which was succeeded by macOS, Mac OS X (renamed to OS X in 2011 and macOS in 2016) in 2001. Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "T ...
.
As of 2020 and 2021, Apple reverted to
Arabic numeral
Arabic numerals are the ten numerical digits: , , , , , , , , and . They are the most commonly used symbols to write decimal numbers. They are also used for writing numbers in other systems such as octal, and for writing identifiers such as ...
versioning for successive releases,
macOS 11 Big Sur
macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020, and was released to the public ...
and
macOS 12 Monterey, as they have done for the
iPhone 11
The iPhone 11 is a smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the 13th generation of iPhone, succeeding the iPhone XR, and was unveiled on September 10, 2019 alongside the iPhone 11 Pro at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple ...
and
iPhone 12
The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini (stylized and marketed as iPhone 12 mini) are a range of smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the fourteenth-generation, "affordable flagship" iPhones, succeeding the iPhone 11. ...
following the
iPhone X
The iPhone X (Roman numeral "X" pronounced "ten", also known as iPhone 10) is a smartphone designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is part of the 11th generation of the iPhone. Available for pre-order from October 27, 2017, it was re ...
.
The first version of Mac OS X,
Mac OS X Server 1.0, was a transitional product, featuring an interface resembling the
classic Mac OS, though it was not compatible with software designed for the older system. Consumer releases of Mac OS X included more
backward compatibility
Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especially i ...
. Mac OS applications could be rewritten to run natively via the
Carbon API; many could also be run directly through the
Classic Environment
This is a list of macOS built-in apps and system components.
Applications
App Store
The Mac App Store is macOS's digital distribution platform for macOS apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. based on the iOS version, the platform was an ...
with a reduction in performance.
The consumer version of Mac OS X was launched in 2001 with
Mac OS X 10.0. Reviews were variable, with extensive praise for its sophisticated, glossy
Aqua interface, but criticizing it for sluggish performance.
With Apple's popularity at a low, the maker of
FrameMaker
Adobe FrameMaker is a document processor designed for writing and editing large or complex documents, including structured documents. It was originally developed by Frame Technology Corporation, which was bought by Adobe.
Overview
FrameMaker ...
,
Adobe Inc., declined to develop new versions of it for Mac OS X.
''
Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
'' columnist
John Siracusa, who reviewed every major OS X release up to 10.10, described the early releases in retrospect as 'dog-slow, feature poor' and Aqua as 'unbearably slow and a huge resource hog'.
Apple rapidly developed several new releases of Mac OS X. Siracusa's review of version 10.3,
Panther
Panther may refer to:
Large cats
*Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis''
**'' Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards.
*** Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in So ...
, noted "It's strange to have gone from years of uncertainty and
vaporware
In the computer industry, vaporware (or vapourware) is a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is late or never actually manufactured nor officially cancelled. Use of the word has broade ...
to a steady annual supply of major new operating system releases."
Version 10.4,
Tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
, reportedly shocked executives at
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
by offering a number of features, such as fast file searching and improved graphics processing, that Microsoft had spent
several years struggling to add to
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
with acceptable performance.
As the operating system evolved, it moved away from the
classic Mac OS, with applications being added and removed.
Considering music to be a key market, Apple developed the
iPod
The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...
music player and music software for the Mac, including
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
and
GarageBand
GarageBand is a line of digital audio workstations developed by Apple Inc. for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or podcasts. GarageBand is developed by Apple for macOS, and was once part of the iLife software s ...
.
Targeting the consumer and media markets, Apple emphasized its new "digital lifestyle" applications such as the
iLife suite, integrated home entertainment through the
Front Row media center and the
Safari
A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...
web browser. With increasing popularity of the internet, Apple offered additional online services, including the .Mac,
MobileMe and most recently
iCloud
iCloud is a Personal cloud, cloud service from Apple Inc. launched on October 12, 2011 as a successor to MobileMe. , the service had an estimated 850 million users, up from 782 million users in 2016.
iCloud enables users to sync their data to t ...
products. It later began selling third-party applications through the
Mac App Store
The App Store (also known as the Mac App Store) is a digital distribution platform for macOS apps, often referred to as Mac apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010, at Apple's "Back to the Mac" ...
.
Newer versions of Mac OS X also included modifications to the general interface, moving away from the striped gloss and transparency of the initial versions. Some applications began to use a
brushed metal appearance, or non-pinstriped title bar appearance in version 10.4. In Leopard, Apple announced a unification of the interface, with a standardized gray-gradient window style.
In 2006, the first
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
Macs released used a specialized version of
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.
A key development for the system was the announcement and release of the
iPhone from 2007 onwards. While Apple's previous
iPod
The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...
media players used a
minimal operating system, the iPhone used an operating system based on Mac OS X, which would later be called "iPhone OS" and then
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
. The simultaneous release of two operating systems based on the same frameworks placed tension on Apple, which cited the iPhone as forcing it to delay
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
However, after Apple opened the iPhone to third-party developers its commercial success drew attention to Mac OS X, with many iPhone software developers showing interest in Mac development.
In 2007,
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard was the sole release with
universal binary
The universal binary format is, in Apple parlance, a format for executable files that run natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64 or ARM64-based Macintosh computers. The format originated on NeXTStep as " Multi ...
components, allowing installation on both Intel Macs and select
PowerPC Macs. It is also the final release with PowerPC Mac support.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) is the seventh major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.
Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. ...
was the first version of Mac OS X to be built exclusively for Intel Macs, and the final release with 32-bit Intel Mac support. The name was intended to signal its status as an iteration of Leopard, focusing on technical and performance improvements rather than user-facing features; indeed it was explicitly branded to developers as being a 'no new features' release.
Since its release, several OS X or macOS releases (namely
OS X Mountain Lion
OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8) is the ninth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mountain Lion was released on July 25, 2012, for purchase and download through Apple's Mac Ap ...
,
OS X El Capitan
OS X El Capitan ( ) () is the twelfth major release of macOS (named OS X at the time of El Capitan's release), Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh. It focuses mainly on performance, stability, and security. Following ...
,
macOS High Sierra
macOS High Sierra (version 10.13) 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. ...
, and
macOS Monterey) follow this pattern, with a name derived from its predecessor, similar to the '
tick–tock model
Tick–tock was a production model adopted in 2007 by chip manufacturer Intel. Under this model, every microarchitecture change (tock) was followed by a die shrink of the process technology (tick). It was replaced by the process–architecture– ...
' used by Intel.
In two succeeding versions,
Lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
and
Mountain Lion
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...
, Apple moved some applications to a highly
skeuomorphic
A skeuomorph (also spelled skiamorph, ) is a derivative object that retains ornamental design cues (attributes) from structures that were necessary in the original. Skeuomorphs are typically used to make something new feel familiar in an effort t ...
style of design inspired by contemporary versions of iOS while simplifying some elements by making controls such as scroll bars fade out when not in use.
This direction was, like brushed metal interfaces, unpopular with some users, although it continued a trend of greater animation and variety in the interface previously seen in design aspects such as the
Time Machine
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
backup
In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "back up", w ...
utility, which presented past file versions against a swirling nebula, and the glossy translucent
dock
A dock (from Dutch language, Dutch ''dok'') is the area of water between or next to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore) or such structures themselves. The ex ...
of
Leopard
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...
and
Snow Leopard
The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a Felidae, felid in the genus ''Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia, Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red ...
.
In addition, with
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Apple ceased to release separate
server
Server may refer to:
Computing
*Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients
Role
* Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...
versions of Mac OS X, selling server tools as a separate downloadable application through the Mac App Store. A review described the trend in the server products as becoming "cheaper and simpler... shifting its focus from large businesses to small ones."
OS X
![The OS X Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/The_OS_X_Logo.svg)
In 2012, with the release of
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, the name of the system was officially shortened from Mac OS X to OS X, after the
previous version shortened the system name in a similar fashion a year prior. That year, Apple removed the head of OS X development,
Scott Forstall
Scott James Forstall (born 1969) is an American software engineer, known for leading the original software development team for the iPhone and iPad, and Broadway producer, known for co-producing the Tony award-winning '' Fun Home'' and '' Eclips ...
, and design was changed towards a more minimal direction.
Apple's new user interface design, using deep color saturation, text-only buttons and a minimal, 'flat' interface, was debuted with
iOS 7
iOS 7 is the seventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 6. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013, and was released on September 18 o ...
in 2013. With OS X engineers reportedly working on iOS 7, the version released in 2013,
OS X 10.9 Mavericks, was something of a transitional release, with some of the skeuomorphic design removed, while most of the general interface of Mavericks remained unchanged.
The next version,
OS X 10.10 Yosemite, adopted a design similar to
iOS 7
iOS 7 is the seventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 6. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013, and was released on September 18 o ...
but with greater complexity suitable for an interface controlled with a mouse.
From 2012 onwards, the system has shifted to an annual release schedule similar to that of
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
. It also steadily cut the cost of updates from Snow Leopard onwards, before removing upgrade fees altogether from 2013 onwards.
Some journalists and third-party software developers have suggested that this decision, while allowing more rapid feature release, meant less opportunity to focus on stability, with no version of OS X recommendable for users requiring stability and performance above new features.
Apple's 2015 update,
OS X 10.11 El Capitan, was announced to focus specifically on stability and performance improvements.
macOS
![MacOS logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/MacOS_logo.svg)
In 2016, with the release of
macOS 10.12 Sierra, the name was changed from OS X to macOS to align it with the branding of Apple's other primary operating systems:
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
watchOS
watchOS is the operating system of the Apple Watch, developed by Apple Inc. It is based on iOS, the operating system used by the iPhone, and has many similar features. It was released on April 24, 2015, along with the Apple Watch, the only d ...
, and
tvOS
tvOS (formerly known as Apple TV Software) 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
Apple File System
Apple File System (APFS) is a proprietary file system developed and deployed by Apple Inc. for macOS Sierra (10.12.4) and later, iOS 10.3 and later, tvOS 10.2 and later, watchOS 3.2 and later, and all versions of iPadOS. It aims to fix c ...
(APFS) was announced at Apple's annual
Worldwide Developers Conference
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is usually held at Apple Park in California. The event is usually used to showcase new software and technologies in t ...
(WWDC) in June 2016 as a replacement for
HFS+
HFS Plus or HFS+ (also known as Mac OS Extended or HFS Extended) is a journaling file system developed by Apple Inc. It replaced the Hierarchical File System (HFS) as the primary file system of Apple computers with the 1998 release of Mac OS 8.1 ...
, which had been criticized as dated.
macOS 10.13 High Sierra, released in 2017, turned on APFS by default for SSDs.
Its successor,
macOS 10.14 Mojave
macOS Mojave ( ; version 10.14) is the fifteenth software versioning, major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. Mojave was announced at Apple's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Worldwide Devel ...
, was released in 2018, adding a dark user interface option and a
dynamic wallpaper setting.
It was succeeded by
macOS 10.15 Catalina in 2019, which replaces
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
with separate apps for different types of media, and introduces the Catalyst system for porting iOS apps.
In 2020, Apple previewed
macOS 11 Big Sur
macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020, and was released to the public ...
at the WWDC 2020. This was the first increment in the primary version number of macOS since the release of
Mac OS X Public Beta
The Mac OS X Public Beta (internally code named "Kodiak") was the first publicly available version of Apple Computer's Mac OS X (now named macOS) operating system to feature the Aqua user interface. It was released to the public on September 1 ...
in 2000; updates to macOS 11 were given 11.x numbers, matching the version numbering scheme used by Apple's other operating systems. Big Sur brought major changes to the UI and was the first version to run on the ARM instruction set. The new numbering system was continued in 2021 with
macOS 12 Monterey, and 2022 with
macOS 13 Ventura.
Architecture
At macOS's core is a
POSIX
The Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) is a family of standards specified by the IEEE Computer Society for maintaining compatibility between operating systems. POSIX defines both the system- and user-level application programming interf ...
-compliant operating system built on top of the
XNU kernel
Kernel may refer to:
Computing
* Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems
* Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution
* Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming
* Kernel method, in machine learn ...
,
with standard Unix facilities available from the
command line interface
A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...
. Apple has released this family of software as a
free and
open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
operating system named
Darwin. On top of Darwin, Apple layered a number of components, including the
Aqua
Aqua is the Latin word for water. It is used in many words which relate to water, such as aquatic life. In English, it may also refer to:
Arts
* Aqua (color), a greenish-blue color
Business
* Aqua (skyscraper), an 82-story residential skysc ...
interface and the
Finder, to complete the
GUI
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
-based operating system which is macOS.
With its original introduction as Mac OS X, the system brought a number of new capabilities to provide a more stable and reliable platform than its predecessor, the
classic Mac OS. For example,
pre-emptive multitasking
In computing, preemption is the act of temporarily interrupting an executing task, with the intention of resuming it at a later time. This interrupt is done by an external scheduler with no assistance or cooperation from the task. This preempt ...
and
memory protection
Memory protection is a way to control memory access rights on a computer, and is a part of most modern instruction set architectures and operating systems. The main purpose of memory protection is to prevent a process from accessing memory that ha ...
improved the system's ability to run multiple applications simultaneously without them interrupting or corrupting each other. Many aspects of macOS's architecture are derived from
OPENSTEP
OpenStep is a defunct object-oriented application programming interface (API) specification for a legacy object-oriented operating system, with the basic goal of offering a NeXTSTEP-like environment on non-NeXTSTEP operating systems. OpenStep was ...
, which was designed to be portable, to ease the transition from one platform to another. For example,
NeXTSTEP was ported from the original
68k-based NeXT workstations to
x86
x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was introd ...
and other architectures before NeXT was purchased by Apple,
and OPENSTEP was later ported to the
PowerPC architecture as part of the
Rhapsody project.
Prior to macOS High Sierra, and on drives other than
solid state drives
A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It is ...
(SSDs), the default
file system
In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...
is
HFS+
HFS Plus or HFS+ (also known as Mac OS Extended or HFS Extended) is a journaling file system developed by Apple Inc. It replaced the Hierarchical File System (HFS) as the primary file system of Apple computers with the 1998 release of Mac OS 8.1 ...
, which it inherited from the classic Mac OS. Operating system designer
Linus Torvalds
Linus Benedict Torvalds ( , ; born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish software engineer who is the creator and, historically, the lead developer of the Linux kernel, used by Linux distributions and other operating systems such as Android. He also c ...
has criticized HFS+, saying it is "probably the worst file system ever", whose design is "actively corrupting user data". He criticized the
case insensitivity of file names, a design made worse when Apple extended the file system to support
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
.
The
Darwin subsystem in macOS manages the file system, which includes the Unix
permissions layer. In 2003 and 2005, two
Macworld
''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...
editors expressed criticism of the permission scheme; Ted Landau called misconfigured permissions "the most common frustration" in macOS, while Rob Griffiths suggested that some users may even have to
reset permissions every day, a process which can take up to 15 minutes. More recently, another Macworld editor, Dan Frakes, called the procedure of repairing permissions vastly overused. He argues that macOS typically handles permissions properly without user interference, and resetting permissions should only be tried when problems emerge.
The architecture of macOS incorporates a layered design:
the layered frameworks aid rapid development of applications by providing existing code for common tasks. Apple provides its own
software development
Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invol ...
tools, most prominently an
integrated development environment
An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source code editor, build automation tools a ...
called
Xcode
Xcode is Apple's integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS, used to develop software for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It was initially released in late 2003; the latest stable release is version 14.2, released on December 13, ...
. Xcode provides interfaces to
compiler
In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...
s that support several
programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
The description of a programming ...
s including
C,
C++
C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...
,
Objective-C
Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. Originally developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s, it was selected by NeXT for its NeXTS ...
, and
Swift
Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to:
* SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks
** SWIFT code
* Swift (programming language)
* Swift (bird), a family of birds
It may also refer to:
Organizations
* SWIFT, ...
. For the
Mac transition to Intel processors
Apple transitioned the CPUs of their Mac and Xserve computers from PowerPC to the x86 architecture from Intel.
The change was announced at the 2005 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) by then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who said Apple would gr ...
, it was modified so that developers could build their applications as a
universal binary
The universal binary format is, in Apple parlance, a format for executable files that run natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64 or ARM64-based Macintosh computers. The format originated on NeXTStep as " Multi ...
, which provides compatibility with both the Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macintosh lines. First and third-party applications can be controlled programmatically using the
AppleScript
AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. that facilitates automated control over scriptable Mac applications. First introduced in System 7, it is currently included in all versions of macOS as part of a package of system automa ...
framework, retained from the
classic Mac OS, or using the newer
Automator application that offers pre-written tasks that do not require programming knowledge.
Software compatibility
Apple offered two main
APIs to develop software natively for macOS:
Cocoa
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
and
Carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent
In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
. Cocoa was a descendant of APIs inherited from
OPENSTEP
OpenStep is a defunct object-oriented application programming interface (API) specification for a legacy object-oriented operating system, with the basic goal of offering a NeXTSTEP-like environment on non-NeXTSTEP operating systems. OpenStep was ...
with no ancestry from the
classic Mac OS, while Carbon was an adaptation of classic Mac OS APIs, allowing Mac software to be minimally rewritten to run natively on Mac OS X.
The Cocoa API was created as the result of a 1993 collaboration between
NeXT Computer and
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...
. This heritage is highly visible for Cocoa developers, since the "NS" prefix is ubiquitous in the framework, standing variously for NeXTSTEP or NeXT/
Sun. The official OPENSTEP API, published in September 1994, was the first to split the API between Foundation and ApplicationKit and the first to use the "NS" prefix.
Traditionally, Cocoa programs have been mostly written in
Objective-C
Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. Originally developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s, it was selected by NeXT for its NeXTS ...
, with Java as an alternative. However, on July 11, 2005, Apple announced that "features added to Cocoa in Mac OS X versions later than 10.4 will not be added to the Cocoa-Java programming interface." macOS also used to support the
Java Platform
Java is a set of computer software and specifications developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems, which was later acquired by the Oracle Corporation, that provides a system for developing application software and deploying it in a cro ...
as a "preferred software package"—in practice this means that applications written in Java fit as neatly into the operating system as possible while still being
cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software r ...
compatible, and that graphical user interfaces written in
Swing look almost exactly like native Cocoa interfaces. Since 2014, Apple has promoted its new programming language
Swift
Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to:
* SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks
** SWIFT code
* Swift (programming language)
* Swift (bird), a family of birds
It may also refer to:
Organizations
* SWIFT, ...
as the preferred language for software development on Apple platforms.
Apple's original plan with macOS was to require all developers to rewrite their software into the Cocoa APIs. This caused much outcry among existing Mac developers, who threatened to abandon the platform rather than invest in a costly rewrite, and the idea was shelved.
To permit a smooth transition from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X, the
Carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent
In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
Application Programming Interface
An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how t ...
(API) was created.
Applications written with Carbon were initially able to run natively on both classic Mac OS and Mac OS X, although this ability was later dropped as Mac OS X developed. Carbon was not included in the first product sold as Mac OS X: the little-used original release of
Mac OS X Server 1.0, which also did not include the Aqua interface. Apple limited further development of Carbon from the release of Leopard onwards and announced that Carbon applications would not run at 64-bit.
A number of macOS applications continued to use Carbon for some time afterwards, especially ones with heritage dating back to the classic Mac OS and for which updates would be difficult, uneconomic or not necessary. This included
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...
up to
Office 2016
Microsoft Office 2016 (First perpetual release of Office 16) is a version of the Microsoft Office productivity suite, succeeding both Office 2013 and Office for Mac 2011 and preceding Office 2019, which in turn was succeeded by Office 2021 f ...
, and Photoshop up to CS5.
Early versions of macOS could also run some classic Mac OS applications through the
Classic Environment
This is a list of macOS built-in apps and system components.
Applications
App Store
The Mac App Store is macOS's digital distribution platform for macOS apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. based on the iOS version, the platform was an ...
with performance limitations; this feature was removed from 10.5 onwards and all Macs using Intel processors.
Because macOS is
POSIX
The Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) is a family of standards specified by the IEEE Computer Society for maintaining compatibility between operating systems. POSIX defines both the system- and user-level application programming interf ...
compliant, many software packages written for the other
Unix-like systems including
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
can be recompiled to run on it, including much scientific and technical software.
Third-party projects such as
Homebrew,
Fink,
MacPorts
MacPorts, formerly DarwinPorts, is a package manager for macOS and Darwin. It is an open-source software project that aims to simplify the installation of other open source software. It's similar in function to Fink and the BSD ports collections ...
and
pkgsrc
pkgsrc (''package source'') is a package management system for Unix-like operating systems. It was forked from the FreeBSD ports collection in 1997 as the primary package management system for NetBSD. Since then it has evolved independently; in 19 ...
provide pre-compiled or pre-formatted packages. Apple and others have provided versions of the
X Window System
The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems.
X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wit ...
graphical interface which can allow these applications to run with an approximation of the macOS look-and-feel. The current Apple-endorsed method is the open-source
XQuartz
XQuartz is an open-source version of the X.Org X server, a component of the X Window System (X11, or shortened to simply X, and sometimes informally X-Windows) that runs on macOS. It formally replaced Apple's internal X11 app. The name "XQuart ...
project; earlier versions could use the
X11
The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems.
X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wi ...
application provided by Apple, or before that the
XDarwin
XDarwin is an obsolete X Window System (X11) display server for the Darwin operating system and early versions of Mac OS X. XDarwin allows one to use programs written for X11 on those operating systems.
XDarwin was ported by the XonX project, ...
project.
Applications can be distributed to Macs and installed by the user from any source and by any method such as downloading (with or without
code signing
Code signing is the process of digitally signing executables and scripts to confirm the software author and guarantee that the code has not been altered or corrupted since it was signed. The process employs the use of a cryptographic hash to v ...
, available via an Apple developer account) or through the
Mac App Store
The App Store (also known as the Mac App Store) is a digital distribution platform for macOS apps, often referred to as Mac apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010, at Apple's "Back to the Mac" ...
, a marketplace of software maintained by Apple through a process requiring the company's approval. Apps installed through the Mac App Store run within a
sandbox, restricting their ability to exchange information with other applications or modify the core operating system and its features. This has been cited as an advantage, by allowing users to install apps with confidence that they should not be able to damage their system, but also as a disadvantage due to blocking the Mac App Store's use for professional applications that require elevated privileges.
Applications without any code signature cannot be run by default except from a computer's administrator account.
Apple produces macOS applications. Some are included with macOS and some sold separately. This includes
iWork
iWork is an office suite of applications created by Apple Inc. for its macOS and iOS operating systems, and also available cross-platform through the iCloud website.
It includes the presentation application Keynote, the word processing and ...
,
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear editing, non-linear video editing software programs first developed by Macromedia, Macromedia Inc. and later Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro 10.6.4, runs on Macintosh, Mac computers power ...
,
Logic Pro
Logic Pro is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI music sequencer, sequencer software application for the macOS platform. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software developer C-Lab which ...
,
iLife, and the database application
FileMaker. Numerous other developers also offer
software for macOS.
In 2018, Apple introduced an application layer, codenamed Marzipan, to
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
iOS apps to macOS.
macOS Mojave included ports of four first-party iOS apps including
Home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
and
News
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
, and it was announced that the API would be available for third-party developers to use from 2019.
In 2019, in
macOS Catalina
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 publ ...
, the application layer was made available to third-party developers as
Mac Catalyst
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 pub ...
.
Hardware compatibility
List of macOS versions, the supported systems on which they run, and their RAM requirements
Tools such as
XPostFacto
{{Rewrite, date=June 2022
XPostFacto is an open source utility that enables the installation of PowerPC versions of Mac OS X up to Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger), and Darwin on some PowerPC-based Apple Macintosh systems that are not officially supporte ...
and patches applied to the installation media have been developed by third parties to enable installation of newer versions of macOS on systems not officially supported by Apple. This includes a number of pre-G3 Power Macintosh systems that can be made to run up to and including Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, all G3-based Macs which can run up to and including Tiger, and sub-867 MHz G4 Macs can run Leopard by removing the restriction from the installation DVD or entering a command in the Mac's
Open Firmware
Open Firmware is a standard defining the interfaces of a computer firmware system, formerly endorsed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It originated at Sun Microsystems, where it was known as OpenBoot, and has bee ...
interface to tell the Leopard Installer that it has a clock rate of 867 MHz or greater. Except for features requiring specific hardware such as graphics acceleration or DVD writing, the operating system offers the same functionality on all supported hardware.
As most Mac hardware components, or components similar to those, since the Intel transition are available for purchase, some technology-capable groups have developed software to install macOS on non-Apple computers. These are referred to as
Hackintoshes, a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[EULA
An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and restr ...](_blank)
(and is therefore unsupported by Apple technical support, warranties etc.), but communities that cater to personal users, who do not install for resale and profit, have generally been ignored by Apple. These self-made computers allow more flexibility and customization of hardware, but at a cost of leaving the user more responsible for their own machine, such as on matter of data integrity or security.
Psystar
Psystar Corporation was a company based in Miami, Florida, owned by Rudy and Robert Pedraza who sold "Open Computers" though one article claimed "Psystar, run by HyperMegaNet, based in Wolfsburg, Germany, currently ships to 23 destinations inclu ...
, a business that attempted to profit from selling macOS on non-Apple certified hardware, was sued by Apple in 2008.
PowerPC–Intel transition
![Steve Jobs Presentation 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Steve_Jobs_Presentation_1.jpg)
In April 2002, eWeek announced a rumor that Apple had a version of Mac OS X code-named
Marklar, which ran on
Intel x86
x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was intr ...
processors. The idea behind Marklar was to keep Mac OS X running on an alternative platform should Apple become dissatisfied with the progress of the
PowerPC platform. These rumors subsided until late in May 2005, when various media outlets, such as ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' and
CNET
''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...
, announced that Apple would unveil Marklar in the coming months.
On June 6, 2005, Steve Jobs announced in his keynote address at WWDC that Apple would be making the transition from PowerPC to
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
processors over the following two years, and that Mac OS X would support both platforms during the transition. Jobs also confirmed rumors that Apple had versions of Mac OS X running on Intel processors for most of its developmental life. Intel-based Macs would run a new recompiled version of OS X along with
Rosetta
Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...
, a
binary translation
In computing, binary translation is a form of binary recompilation where sequences of instructions are translated from a ''source'' instruction set to the ''target'' instruction set. In some cases such as instruction set simulation, the target ...
layer which enables software compiled for PowerPC Mac OS X to run on Intel Mac OS X machines.
The system was included with Mac OS X versions up to version 10.6.8.
Apple dropped support for Classic mode on the new Intel Macs. Third party emulation software such as
Mini vMac,
Basilisk II
Basilisk II is an emulator which emulates Apple Macintosh computers based on the Motorola 68000 series. The software is cross-platform and can be used on a variety of operating systems.
Christian Bauer (developer of a Mac 68k emulator ShapeShif ...
and
SheepShaver
SheepShaver is an open-source PowerPC Apple Macintosh emulator originally designed for BeOS and Linux. The name is a play on ShapeShifter, a Macintosh II emulator for AmigaOS (made obsolete by Basilisk II). The ShapeShifter and SheepShaver project ...
provided support for some early versions of Mac OS. A new version of Xcode and the underlying command-line compilers supported building
universal binaries that would run on either architecture.
PowerPC-only software is supported with Apple's official
binary translation
In computing, binary translation is a form of binary recompilation where sequences of instructions are translated from a ''source'' instruction set to the ''target'' instruction set. In some cases such as instruction set simulation, the target ...
software,
Rosetta
Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...
, though applications eventually had to be rewritten to run properly on the newer versions released for Intel processors. Apple initially encouraged developers to produce universal binaries with support for both PowerPC and Intel. PowerPC binaries suffer a performance penalty when run on Intel Macs through Rosetta. Moreover, some PowerPC software, such as kernel extensions and System Preferences plugins, are not supported on Intel Macs at all. Plugins for Safari need to be compiled for the same platform as Safari, so when Safari is running on Intel, it requires plug-ins that have been compiled as Intel-only or universal binaries, so PowerPC-only plug-ins will not work. While Intel Macs can run PowerPC, Intel, and universal binaries, PowerPC Macs support only universal and PowerPC builds.
Support for the PowerPC platform was dropped following the transition. In 2009, Apple announced at WWDC that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard would drop support for PowerPC processors and be Intel-only. Rosetta continued to be offered as an optional download or installation choice in Snow Leopard before it was discontinued with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
In addition, new versions of Mac OS X first- and third-party software increasingly required Intel processors, including new versions of iLife, iWork, Aperture and Logic Pro.
Intel–Apple silicon transition
![Apple M1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Apple_M1.jpg)
Rumors of Apple shifting Macs to the ARM processors used by iOS devices began circulating as early as 2011,
and ebbed and flowed throughout the 2010s. Rumors intensified in 2020, when numerous reports announced that the company would announce its shift to its custom processors at WWDC.
Apple officially announced its shift to
processors designed in-house on June 22, 2020, at WWDC 2020, with the transition planned to last for two years. The first release of macOS to support ARM is
macOS Big Sur
macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020, and was released to the publi ...
. Big Sur and later versions support
Universal 2 binaries, which are applications consisting of both Intel (
x86_64
x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging mo ...
) and Apple silicon (
AArch64
AArch64 or ARM64 is the 64-bit extension of the ARM architecture family.
It was first introduced with the Armv8-A architecture. Arm releases a new extension every year.
ARMv8.x and ARMv9.x extensions and features
Announced in October 2011, AR ...
) binaries; when launched, only the appropriate binary is run. Additionally, Intel binaries can be run on Apple silicon-based Macs using the
Rosetta 2
Rosetta is a dynamic binary translator developed by Apple Inc. for macOS, an application compatibility layer between different instruction set architectures. It enables a transition to newer hardware, by automatically translating software. The ...
binary translation
In computing, binary translation is a form of binary recompilation where sequences of instructions are translated from a ''source'' instruction set to the ''target'' instruction set. In some cases such as instruction set simulation, the target ...
software.
The change in processor architecture allows Macs with ARM processors to be able to run iOS and iPadOS apps natively.
Features
Aqua user interface
One of the major differences between the
classic Mac OS and the current macOS was the addition of
Aqua
Aqua is the Latin word for water. It is used in many words which relate to water, such as aquatic life. In English, it may also refer to:
Arts
* Aqua (color), a greenish-blue color
Business
* Aqua (skyscraper), an 82-story residential skysc ...
, a graphical user interface with water-like elements, in the first major release of Mac OS X. Every window element, text, graphic, or
widget is drawn on-screen using
spatial anti-aliasing
In digital signal processing, spatial anti-aliasing is a technique for minimizing the distortion artifacts (aliasing) when representing a high-resolution image at a lower resolution. Anti-aliasing is used in digital photography, computer graphics ...
technology.
ColorSync
This is a list of macOS built-in apps and system components.
Applications
App Store
The Mac App Store is macOS's digital distribution platform for macOS apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. based on the iOS version, the platform was an ...
, a technology introduced many years before, was improved and built into the core drawing engine, to provide color matching for
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...
and
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
professionals.
Also,
drop shadow
In graphic design and computer graphics, a drop shadow is a visual effect consisting of a drawing element which looks like the shadow of an object, giving the impression that the object is raised above the objects behind it. The drop shadow is of ...
s were added around windows and isolated text elements to provide a sense of depth. New interface elements were integrated, including sheets (
dialog box
The dialog box (also called dialogue box (non-U.S. English), message box or simply dialog) is a graphical control element in the form of a small window that communicates information to the user and prompts them for a response.
Dialog boxes ar ...
es attached to specific windows) and drawers, which would slide out and provide options.
The use of soft edges, translucent colors, and pinstripes, similar to the hardware design of the first
iMac
iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.
In it ...
s, brought more texture and color to the user interface when compared to what
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the ninth major release of Apple Inc., Apple's classic Mac OS operating system which was succeeded by macOS, Mac OS X (renamed to OS X in 2011 and macOS in 2016) in 2001. Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "T ...
and
Mac OS X Server 1.0's "
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
" appearance had offered. According to Siracusa, the introduction of Aqua and its departure from the then conventional look "hit like a ton of bricks."
Bruce Tognazzini
Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini (born 1945) is an American usability consultant and designer. He is a partner in the Nielsen Norman Group, which specializes in human-computer interaction. He was with Apple Computer for fourteen years, then with Sun ...
(who founded the original Apple Human Interface Group) said that the Aqua interface in
Mac OS X 10.0 represented a step backwards in usability compared with the original Mac OS interface.
Third-party developers started producing
skins for customizable applications and other operating systems which mimicked the Aqua appearance. To some extent, Apple has used the successful transition to this new design as leverage, at various times threatening
legal action
In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...
against people who make or distribute software with an interface the company says is derived from its
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
ed design.
Apple has continued to change aspects of the macOS appearance and design, particularly with tweaks to the appearance of windows and the menu bar. Since 2012, Apple has sold many of its Mac models with high-resolution
Retina displays, and macOS and its
APIs have extensive support for resolution-independent development on supporting high-resolution displays. Reviewers have described Apple's support for the technology as superior to that on Windows.
The
human interface guidelines published by Apple for macOS are followed by many applications, giving them consistent user interface and keyboard shortcuts. In addition, new services for applications are included, which include spelling and grammar checkers, special characters palette, color picker, font chooser and dictionary; these global features are present in every Cocoa application, adding consistency. The graphics system
OpenGL
OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardwa ...
composites windows onto the screen to allow hardware-accelerated drawing. This technology, introduced in version 10.2, is called
Quartz Extreme
Quartz Compositor is the display server (and at the same time the compositing window manager) in macOS. It is responsible for presenting and maintaining rasterized, rendered graphics from the rest of the Core Graphics framework and other render ...
, a component of
Quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
. Quartz's internal imaging model correlates well with the
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
(PDF) imaging model, making it easy to output PDF to multiple devices.
As a side result, PDF viewing and creating PDF documents from any application are built-in features. Reflecting its popularity with design users, macOS also has system support for a variety of professional video and image formats and includes an extensive pre-installed font library, featuring many prominent brand-name designs.
Components
The
Finder is a file browser allowing quick access to all areas of the computer, which has been modified throughout subsequent releases of macOS.
Quick Look
Quick Look is a quick preview feature developed by Apple Inc. which was introduced in its operating system Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The feature was announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Jun. 11, 2007.
While macOS's Finder has alway ...
has been part of the Finder since
version 10.5. It allows for dynamic previews of files, including videos and multi-page documents without opening any other applications.
Spotlight
Spotlight or spot light may refer to:
Lighting
* Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps
* Spotlight (theatre lighting)
* Spotlight, a searchlight
* Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types
Art, entertainment, an ...
, a file searching technology which has been integrated into the Finder since
version 10.4, allows rapid real-time searches of data files; mail messages; photos; and other information based on item properties (metadata) or content. macOS makes use of a
Dock
A dock (from Dutch language, Dutch ''dok'') is the area of water between or next to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore) or such structures themselves. The ex ...
, which holds file and folder shortcuts as well as minimized windows.
Apple added Exposé in
version 10.3 (called
Mission Control since
version 10.7), a feature which includes three functions to help accessibility between windows and desktop. Its functions are to instantly display all open windows as thumbnails for easy navigation to different tasks, display all open windows as thumbnails from the current application, and hide all windows to access the desktop.
FileVault
FileVault is a disk encryption program in Mac OS X 10.3 (2003) and later. It performs on-the-fly encryption with volumes on Mac computers.
Versions and key features
FileVault was introduced with Mac OS X Panther (10.3), and could only be ...
is optional encryption of the user's files with the 128-bit
Advanced Encryption Standard
The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), also known by its original name Rijndael (), is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001.
AES is a variant ...
(AES-128).
Features introduced in
version 10.4 include
Automator, an application designed to create an automatic workflow for different tasks;
Dashboard For business applications, see Dashboard (business).
A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel (IP), or fascia) is a control panel set within the central console of a vehicle or small aircraft. Usually located directly ahead of the driver ...
, a full-screen group of small applications called
desktop widget
A software widget is a relatively simple and easy-to-use software application or component made for one or more different software platforms.
A desk accessory or applet is an example of a simple, stand-alone user interface, in contrast with a ...
s that can be called up and dismissed in one keystroke; and
Front Row, a media viewer interface accessed by the
Apple Remote
The Apple Remote is a remote control introduced in October 2005 by Apple Inc. for use with a number of its products with infrared capability. It was originally designed to control the Front Row media center program on the iMac G5 and is compati ...
. Sync Services allows applications to access a centralized extensible database for various elements of user data, including calendar and contact items. The operating system then managed conflicting edits and data consistency.
All system icons are scalable up to 512×512 pixels as of
version 10.5 to accommodate various places where they appear in larger size, including for example the
Cover Flow view, a
three-dimensional
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal ...
graphical user interface included with
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
, the Finder, and other Apple products for visually skimming through files and digital media libraries via cover artwork. That version also introduced
Spaces, a
virtual desktop
In computing, a virtual desktop is a term used with respect to user interfaces, usually within the WIMP paradigm, to describe ways in which the virtual space of a computer's desktop environment is expanded beyond the physical limits of the s ...
implementation which enables the user to have more than one desktop and display them in an Exposé-like interface; an automatic backup technology called
Time Machine
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
, which allows users to view and restore previous versions of files and application data; and Screen Sharing was built in for the first time.
In more recent releases, Apple has developed support for
emoji
An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversat ...
characters by including the proprietary
Apple Color Emoji
Apple Color Emoji (stylized as AppleColorEmoji) is a color typeface used on Apple platforms such as iOS and macOS to display Emoji characters.
The inclusion of emoji in the iPhone and in the Unicode standard has been credited with promoting th ...
font.
Apple has also connected macOS with social networks such as
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
through the addition of share buttons for content such as pictures and text. Apple has brought several applications and features that originally debuted in
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
, its mobile operating system, to macOS in recent releases, notably the
intelligent personal assistant
An intelligent virtual assistant (IVA) or intelligent personal assistant (IPA) is a software agent that can perform tasks or services for an individual based on commands or questions. The term "chatbot" is sometimes used to refer to virtual ...
Siri
Siri ( ) is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer questio ...
, which was introduced in
version 10.12 of macOS.
Multilingual support
There are 39 system languages available in macOS for the user at the moment of installation; the system language is used throughout the entire operating system environment.
Input methods for typing in dozens of scripts can be chosen independently of the system language.
Recent updates have added increased support for
Chinese characters
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
and interconnections with popular social networks in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Updating methods
macOS can be updated using the Software Update settings pane in
System Settings or the
softwareupdate
command line
A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...
utility. Until
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, a separate
Software Update
A patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update, fix, or improve it. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, with such patches usually being called bugfixes or bug fixes. Patches ...
application performed this functionality. In Mountain Lion and later, this was merged into the
Mac App Store
The App Store (also known as the Mac App Store) is a digital distribution platform for macOS apps, often referred to as Mac apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010, at Apple's "Back to the Mac" ...
application, although the underlying update mechanism remains unchanged and is fundamentally different from the download mechanism used when purchasing an App Store application. In
macOS 10.14 Mojave
macOS Mojave ( ; version 10.14) is the fifteenth software versioning, major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. Mojave was announced at Apple's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Worldwide Devel ...
, the updating function was moved again to the Software Update settings pane.
Release history
ImageSize = width:350 height:550
PlotArea = width:200 height:530 left:50 bottom:10
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2023
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1997
ScaleMinor = unit:month increment:3 start:01/01/1997
PlotData=
bar:macos mark:(line,black) fontsize:10
at:24/10/2022 shift:(20,-2) text:" macOS 13 Ventura (24/10/2022)"
at:25/10/2021 shift:(20,-2) text:" macOS 12 Monterey (25/10/2021)"
at:12/11/2020 shift:(20,-2) text:"macOS 11 Big Sur
macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020, and was released to the public ...
(12/11/2020)"
at:07/10/2019 shift:(20,-2) text:" macOS 10.15 Catalina (07/10/2019)"
at:24/09/2018 shift:(20,-2) text:"macOS 10.14 Mojave
macOS Mojave ( ; version 10.14) is the fifteenth software versioning, major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. Mojave was announced at Apple's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Worldwide Devel ...
(24/09/2018)"
at:25/09/2017 shift:(20,-2) text:" macOS 10.13 High Sierra (25/09/2017)"
at:20/09/2016 shift:(20,-2) text:" macOS 10.12 Sierra (20/09/2016)"
at:30/09/2015 shift:(20,-2) text:" OS X 10.11 El Capitan (30/09/2015)"
at:16/10/2014 shift:(20,-2) text:" OS X 10.10 Yosemite (16/10/2014)"
at:22/10/2013 shift:(20,-2) text:" OS X 10.9 Mavericks (22/10/2013)"
at:25/07/2012 shift:(20,-2) text:" OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion (25/07/2012)"
at:20/07/2011 shift:(20,-2) text:" Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (20/07/2011)"
at:28/08/2009 shift:(20,-2) text:"Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) is the seventh major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.
Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. ...
(28/08/2009)"
at:26/10/2007 shift:(20,-2) text:" Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (26/10/2007)"
at:29/04/2005 shift:(20,-2) text:" Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (29/04/2005)"
at:24/10/2003 shift:(20,-2) text:"Mac OS X 10.3 Panther
Mac OS X Panther (version 10.3) is the fourth software versioning, major release of macOS, Apple Inc., Apple's desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X Jaguar and preceded Mac OS X Tiger. It was released on October 24, 2003.
S ...
(24/10/2003)"
at:24/08/2002 shift:(20,-2) text:"Mac OS X Jaguar, Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar (24/08/2002)"
at:25/09/2001 shift:(20,-2) text:"Mac OS X 10.1 Puma (25/09/2001)"
at:24/04/2001 shift:(20,-7) text:" Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah (24/04/2001)"
at:13/09/2000 shift:(20,-7) text:"Mac OS X Public Beta
The Mac OS X Public Beta (internally code named "Kodiak") was the first publicly available version of Apple Computer's Mac OS X (now named macOS) operating system to feature the Aqua user interface. It was released to the public on September 1 ...
Kodiak (13/09/2000)"
at:16/03/1999 shift:(20,2) text:" Mac OS X Server 1.0 Hera (16/03/1999)~Mac OS X Developer Preview (16/03/1999)"
at:31/08/1997 shift:(20,-2) text:"Rhapsody (operating system), Rhapsody Developer Release (31/08/1997)"
Timeline of versions
With the exception of
Mac OS X Server 1.0 and the original public beta, OS X versions were named after
big cat
The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus ''Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard.
Despite enormous differences in size, various cat species are quite similar ...
s until
OS X 10.9 Mavericks, when Apple switched to using
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
locations. Prior to its release, Mac OS X v10.0, Mac OS X 10.0 was code named "Cheetah" internally at Apple, and Mac OS X v10.1, Mac OS X 10.1 was code named internally as "Puma". After the immense buzz surrounding Mac OS X v10.2, Mac OS X 10.2, codenamed "Jaguar", Apple's product marketing began openly using the code names to promote the operating system. Mac OS X Panther, Mac OS X 10.3 was marketed as "Panther", Mac OS X Tiger, Mac OS X 10.4 as "Tiger", Mac OS X Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5 as "Leopard", Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6 as "Snow Leopard", Mac OS X Lion, Mac OS X 10.7 as "Lion", OS X Mountain Lion, OS X 10.8 as "Mountain Lion", and OS X Mavericks, OS X 10.9 as "Mavericks".
"Panther", "Tiger" and "Leopard" are registered as trademarks of Apple, but "Cheetah", "Puma" and "Jaguar" have never been registered. Apple has also registered "Lynx" and "Cougar" as trademarks, though these were allowed to lapse. Computer retailer Tiger Direct sued Apple for its use of the name "Tiger". On May 16, 2005, a US federal court in the Southern District of Florida ruled that Apple's use did not infringe on Tiger Direct's trademark.
Mac OS X Public Beta
On September 13, 2000, Apple released a $29.95 "preview" version of Mac OS X, internally codenamed Kodiak, to gain feedback from users.
The "PB", as it was known, marked the first public availability of the Aqua interface and Apple made many changes to the UI based on customer feedback. Mac OS X Public Beta expired and ceased to function in Spring 2001.
Mac OS X 10.0 (Cheetah)
On March 24, 2001, Apple released Mac OS X 10.0 (internally codenamed Cheetah).
The initial version was slow, incomplete,
and had very few applications available at launch, mostly from independent developers. While many critics suggested that the operating system was not ready for mainstream adoption, they recognized the importance of its initial launch as a base on which to improve.
Simply releasing Mac OS X was received by the Macintosh community as a great accomplishment,
for attempts to overhaul the Mac OS had been underway since 1996, and delayed by countless setbacks.
Mac OS X 10.1 (Puma)
Later that year on September 25, 2001, Mac OS X 10.1 (internally codenamed Puma) was released. It featured increased performance and provided missing features, such as DVD playback. Apple released 10.1 as a free upgrade CD for 10.0 users, in addition to the US$129 boxed version for people running
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the ninth major release of Apple Inc., Apple's classic Mac OS operating system which was succeeded by macOS, Mac OS X (renamed to OS X in 2011 and macOS in 2016) in 2001. Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "T ...
. It was discovered that the upgrade CDs were full install CDs that could be used with Mac OS 9 systems by removing a specific file; Apple later re-released the CDs in an actual stripped-down format that did not facilitate installation on such systems.
On January 7, 2002, Apple announced that Mac OS X was to be the default operating system for all Macintosh products by the end of that month.
Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar
On August 23, 2002, Apple followed up with Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, the first release to use its code name as part of the branding.
It brought great raw performance improvements, a sleeker look, and many powerful user-interface enhancements (over 150, according to Apple), including
Quartz Extreme
Quartz Compositor is the display server (and at the same time the compositing window manager) in macOS. It is responsible for presenting and maintaining rasterized, rendered graphics from the rest of the Core Graphics framework and other render ...
for compositing graphics directly on an ATI Technologies, ATI Radeon or Nvidia GeForce 2 Series, GeForce2 MX AGP-based video card with at least 16 MB of VRAM, a system-wide repository for contact information in the new Address Book (application), Address Book, and an instant messaging client named iChat. The Happy Mac which had appeared during the Mac OS startup sequence for almost 18 years was replaced with a large grey Apple logo with the introduction of Mac OS X v10.2.
Mac OS X 10.3 Panther
Mac OS X v10.3 Panther was released on October 24, 2003. It significantly improved performance and incorporated the most extensive update yet to the user interface. Panther included as many or more new features as Jaguar had the year before, including an updated Finder, incorporating a brushed-metal interface, Fast user switching, Exposé (Mac OS X), Exposé (Window manager),
FileVault
FileVault is a disk encryption program in Mac OS X 10.3 (2003) and later. It performs on-the-fly encryption with volumes on Mac computers.
Versions and key features
FileVault was introduced with Mac OS X Panther (10.3), and could only be ...
, Safari (web browser), Safari, iChat AV (which added videoconferencing, video conferencing features to iChat), improved
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
(PDF) rendering and much greater
Microsoft Windows interoperability. Support for some early G3 computers such as "beige" Power Macs and "WallStreet" PowerBooks was discontinued.
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger was released on April 29, 2005. Apple stated that Tiger contained more than 200 new features. As with Panther, certain older machines were no longer supported; Tiger requires a Mac with 256 MB and a built-in FireWire port.
Among the new features, Tiger introduced
Spotlight
Spotlight or spot light may refer to:
Lighting
* Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps
* Spotlight (theatre lighting)
* Spotlight, a searchlight
* Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types
Art, entertainment, an ...
,
Dashboard For business applications, see Dashboard (business).
A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel (IP), or fascia) is a control panel set within the central console of a vehicle or small aircraft. Usually located directly ahead of the driver ...
, Virtual folder, Smart Folders, updated Mail program with Smart Mailboxes, QuickTime 7, Safari (web browser), Safari 2,
Automator, VoiceOver, Core Image and Core Video. The initial release of the Apple TV used a modified version of Tiger with a different graphical interface and fewer applications and services. On January 10, 2006, Apple released the first Intel-based Macs along with the 10.4.4 update to Tiger. This operating system functioned identically on the PowerPC-based Macs and the new Intel-based machines, with the exception of the Intel release lacking support for the Classic environment.
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard was released on October 26, 2007. It was called by Apple "the largest update of Mac OS X". It brought more than 300 new features. Leopard supports both
PowerPC- and X86, Intel x86-based Macintosh computers; support for the G3 processor was dropped and the G4 processor required a minimum clock rate of 867 MHz, and at least 512 MB of Random-access memory, RAM to be installed. The single DVD works for all supported Macs (including 64-bit machines). New features include a new look, an updated Finder,
Time Machine
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
,
Spaces, Boot Camp (software), Boot Camp pre-installed,
full support for 64-bit applications (including graphical applications), new features in Mail (OS X), Mail and iChat, and a number of new security features. Leopard is an Single UNIX Specification, Open Brand UNIX 03 registered product on the Intel platform. It was also the first Berkeley Software Distribution, BSD-based OS to receive UNIX 03 certification.
Leopard dropped support for the
Classic Environment
This is a list of macOS built-in apps and system components.
Applications
App Store
The Mac App Store is macOS's digital distribution platform for macOS apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. based on the iOS version, the platform was an ...
and all Classic applications. It was the final version of Mac OS X to support the PowerPC architecture.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was released on August 28, 2009. Rather than delivering big changes to the appearance and end user functionality like the previous releases of , Snow Leopard focused on "under the hood" changes, increasing the performance, efficiency, and stability of the operating system. For most users, the most noticeable changes were: the disk space that the operating system frees up after a clean install compared to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, a more responsive
Finder rewritten in
Cocoa
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
, faster
Time Machine
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
backups, more reliable and user-friendly disk ejects, a more powerful version of the Preview application, as well as a faster Safari (web browser), Safari web browser. Snow Leopard only supported machines with Intel CPUs, required at least 1 GB of Random-access memory, RAM, and dropped default support for applications built for the
PowerPC architecture (
Rosetta
Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...
could be installed as an additional component to retain support for PowerPC-only applications).
Snow Leopard also featured new 64-bit computing, 64-bit technology capable of supporting greater amounts of Random-access memory, RAM, improved support for multi-core processors through Grand Central Dispatch, and advanced GPU performance with OpenCL.
The 10.6.6 update introduced support for the
Mac App Store
The App Store (also known as the Mac App Store) is a digital distribution platform for macOS apps, often referred to as Mac apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010, at Apple's "Back to the Mac" ...
, Apple's digital distribution platform for macOS applications.
OS X 10.7 Lion
OS X 10.7 Lion was released on July 20, 2011. It brought developments made in Apple's iOS, such as an easily navigable display of installed applications called Launchpad (Mac OS X), Launchpad and a greater use of multi-touch gestures, to the Mac. This release removed
Rosetta
Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...
, making it incompatible with PowerPC applications.
Changes made to the GUI include auto-hiding scrollbars that only appear when they are used, and
Mission Control which unifies Exposé, Spaces, Dashboard, and full-screen applications within a single interface. Apple also made changes to applications: they resume in the same state as they were before they were closed, similar to iOS. Documents auto-save by default.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion was released on July 25, 2012.
Following the release of Lion the previous year, it was the first of the annual rather than two-yearly updates to OS X (and later macOS), which also closely aligned with the annual iOS operating system updates. It incorporates some features seen in iOS 5, which include Game Center, support for iMessage in the new Messages (Apple), Messages messaging application, and Reminders as a to-do list app separate from iCal (which is renamed as Calendar, like the iOS app). It also includes support for storing
iWork
iWork is an office suite of applications created by Apple Inc. for its macOS and iOS operating systems, and also available cross-platform through the iCloud website.
It includes the presentation application Keynote, the word processing and ...
documents in
iCloud
iCloud is a Personal cloud, cloud service from Apple Inc. launched on October 12, 2011 as a successor to MobileMe. , the service had an estimated 850 million users, up from 782 million users in 2016.
iCloud enables users to sync their data to t ...
. Notification Center, which makes its debut in Mountain Lion, is a desktop version similar to the one in iOS 5.0 and higher. Application pop-ups are now concentrated on the corner of the screen, and the Center itself is pulled from the right side of the screen. Mountain Lion also includes more Chinese features including support for Baidu as an option for Safari (web browser), Safari search engine, Tencent QQ, QQ, 163.com and 126.com services for Mail (OS X), Mail, Address Book (application), Contacts and iCal, Calendar, Youku, Tudou and Sina Weibo are integrated into share sheets.
Starting with Mountain Lion, Apple software updates (including the OS) are distributed via the Mac App Store, App Store. This updating mechanism replaced the Apple Software Update utility.
OS X 10.9 Mavericks
OS X 10.9 Mavericks was released on October 22, 2013. It was a free upgrade to all users running Snow Leopard or later with a 64-bit Intel processor. Its changes include the addition of the previously iOS-only Apple Maps, Maps and Apple Books, iBooks applications, improvements to the Notification Center, enhancements to several applications, and many under-the-hood improvements.
OS X 10.10 Yosemite
OS X 10.10 Yosemite was released on October 16, 2014. It features a redesigned user interface similar to that of
iOS 7
iOS 7 is the seventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 6. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013, and was released on September 18 o ...
, intended to feature a more minimal, text-based 'flat' design, with use of translucency effects and intensely Colorfulness, saturated colors.
Apple's showcase new feature in Yosemite is Handoff, which enables users with iPhones running iOS 8.1 or later to answer phone calls, receive and send SMS messages, and complete unfinished iPhone emails on their Mac. As of OS X 10.10.3, Photos (Apple), Photos replaced iPhoto and Aperture (software), Aperture.
OS X 10.11 El Capitan
OS X 10.11 El Capitan was released on September 30, 2015. Similar to Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Apple described this release as emphasizing "refinements to the Mac experience" and "improvements to system performance". Refinements include public transport built into the Apple Maps, Maps application, GUI improvements to the Notes (Apple), Notes application, adopting San Francisco (2014 typeface), San Francisco as the system font for clearer legibility, and the introduction of System Integrity Protection.
The Metal (API), Metal API, first introduced in iOS 8, was also included in this operating system for "all Macs since 2012". According to Apple, Metal accelerates system-level rendering by up to 50 percent, resulting in faster graphics performance for everyday apps. Metal also delivers up to 10 times faster draw call performance for more fluid experience in games and pro apps.
macOS 10.12 Sierra
macOS 10.12 Sierra was released to the public on September 20, 2016. New features include the addition of
Siri
Siri ( ) is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer questio ...
, Optimized Storage, and updates to Photos, Messages, and iTunes.
macOS 10.13 High Sierra
macOS 10.13 High Sierra was released to the public on September 25, 2017. Like
OS X El Capitan
OS X El Capitan ( ) () is the twelfth major release of macOS (named OS X at the time of El Capitan's release), Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh. It focuses mainly on performance, stability, and security. Following ...
and
OS X Mountain Lion
OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8) is the ninth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mountain Lion was released on July 25, 2012, for purchase and download through Apple's Mac Ap ...
, High Sierra is a refinement-based update having very few new features visible to the user, including updates to Safari, Photos, and Mail, among other changes.
The major change under the hood is the switch to the
Apple File System
Apple File System (APFS) is a proprietary file system developed and deployed by Apple Inc. for macOS Sierra (10.12.4) and later, iOS 10.3 and later, tvOS 10.2 and later, watchOS 3.2 and later, and all versions of iPadOS. It aims to fix c ...
, optimized for the solid-state storage used in most new Mac computers.
macOS 10.14 Mojave
macOS 10.14 Mojave was released on September 24, 2018.
The update introduced a system-wide dark mode and several new apps lifted from iOS, such as Apple News. It was the first version to require a GPU that supports Metal. Mojave also changed the system software update mechanism from the App Store (where it had been since
OS X Mountain Lion
OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8) is the ninth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mountain Lion was released on July 25, 2012, for purchase and download through Apple's Mac Ap ...
) to a new panel in System Preferences. App updates remain in the App Store.
macOS 10.15 Catalina
macOS 10.15 Catalina was released on October 7, 2019.
Updates included enhanced voice control, and bundled apps for music, video, and podcasts that together replace the functions of iTunes, and the ability to use an iPad as an external monitor. Catalina officially dropped support for 32-bit applications.
macOS 11 Big Sur
macOS Big Sur
macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020, and was released to the publi ...
was announced during the WWDC keynote speech on June 22, 2020, and it was made available to the general public on November 12, 2020. This is the first time the major version number of the operating system has been incremented since the
Mac OS X Public Beta
The Mac OS X Public Beta (internally code named "Kodiak") was the first publicly available version of Apple Computer's Mac OS X (now named macOS) operating system to feature the Aqua user interface. It was released to the public on September 1 ...
in 2000. It brings AArch64, ARM support, new icons, and aesthetic Graphical user interface, user interface changes to the system.
macOS 12 Monterey
macOS Monterey was announced during the WWDC keynote speech on June 7, 2021 and released on October 25, 2021, introducing Universal Control (which allows input devices to be used with multiple devices simultaneously), Focus (which allows selectively limiting notifications and alerts depending on user-defined user/work modes), Shortcuts (a task automation framework previously only available on
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
and
iPadOS
iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for its iPad line of tablet computers. It is a rebranded variant of iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones, renamed to reflect the diverging features of the two product ...
expected to replace List of macOS components#Automator, Automator), a redesigned Safari (web browser), Safari Web browser, and updates and improvements to FaceTime.
macOS 13 Ventura
macOS Ventura
macOS Ventura (version 13) is the nineteenth and current major release of macOS, Apple's desktop operating system for Mac computers. The successor to macOS Monterey, it was announced at WWDC 2022 on June 6, 2022, and launched on October 24, 2 ...
was announced during the WWDC keynote speech on June 6, 2022 and released on October 24, 2022. It came with the redesigned System Preferences to a more
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
-like settings, and now with the new Weather and Clock app for Mac. Users can use an iPhone as a webcam for video conferencing.
Reception
Usage share
As of July 2016, macOS is the second-most-active general-purpose desktop client operating system used on the World Wide Web following
Microsoft Windows, with a 4.90% usage share according to statistics compiled by the Wikimedia Foundation. It is the second-most widely used desktop operating system (for web browsing), after Windows, and is estimated at five times the usage of
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
(which has 1.01%). Usage share generally continues to shift away from the desktop and toward mobile operating systems such as
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
and Android (operating system), Android.
Malware and spyware
In its earlier years, Mac OS X enjoyed a near-absence of the types of malware and spyware that have affected
Microsoft Windows users. macOS has a smaller usage share compared to Windows. Computer worm, Worms, as well as potential vulnerabilities, were noted in 2006, which led some industry analysts and anti-virus companies to issue warnings that Apple's Mac OS X is not immune to malware. Increasing market share coincided with additional reports of a variety of attacks. In early 2011, Mac OS X experienced a large increase in malware attacks, and malware such as Mac Defender, MacProtector, and MacGuard was seen as an increasing problem for Mac users. At first, the malware installer required the user to enter the administrative password, but later versions installed without user input. Initially, Apple support staff were instructed not to assist in the removal of the malware or admit the existence of the malware issue, but as the malware spread, a support document was issued. Apple announced an OS X update to fix the problem. An estimated 100,000 users were affected. Apple releases security updates for macOS regularly, as well as signature files containing signature-based detection, malware signatures for Xprotect, an anti-malware feature part of File Quarantine present since Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Promotion
As a device company, Apple has mostly promoted macOS to sell Macs, with promotion of macOS updates focused on existing users, promotion at Apple Store and other retail partners, or through events for developers. In larger scale advertising campaigns, Apple specifically promoted macOS as better for handling media and other home-user applications, and Get a Mac#North American campaign, comparing Mac OS X (especially versions Tiger and Leopard) with the heavy criticism
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
received for the long-awaited Windows Vista operating system.
See also
* Dock (macOS)
* Classic Mac OS (1984–2001)
* Comparison of BSD operating systems
* Comparison of operating systems
* List of operating systems
* List of Mac software
* Mac operating systems
References
External links
*
macOS Support– official support page
{{Authority control
MacOS, *
Macintosh operating systems, *
1999 software
Apple Inc. operating systems
Apple Inc. software
Computer-related introductions in 1999
Mach (kernel)
X86-64 operating systems
ARM operating systems
Unix variants
Object-oriented operating systems