hoakley Macs, Technology, Updates

Big Sur 11.1 is now available, with Security Updates for Catalina and Mojave

Apple has just released Big Sur version 11.1, together with security updates for Catalina and Mojave, which are now available through System Update.

Those users with MacBook Pro late 2013 and 2014 models which were excluded from installing 11.0.1 can now apparently upgrade safely to 11.1. Mr Macintosh reports that the installer now supports those models which experienced severe problems with the 11.0.1 upgrade.

Improvements listed by Apple include:

  • support for AirPods Max,
  • Apple TV gains a TV+ tab and more,
  • adds privacy information to items in the App Store,
  • new options for running iOS and iPadOS apps on M1 Macs,
  • supports editing of Apple ProRAW images in Photos,
  • adds the Ecosia search engine to Safari’s choices.

Bugs are fixed in:

  • QuickTime Player,
  • Bluetooth connection status display,
  • unlocking with Apple Watch,
  • trackpad scrolling speed,
  • use of LG UltraFine 5K displays with M1 Macs.

There’s a long list of security fixes, over 50 in total, with audio, FontParser, and ImageIO bugs particularly numerous. Of those, only two are kernel vulnerabilities in Big Sur, but there are several fixed in Catalina and Mojave, making these important security updates for those running older systems.

The Big Sur update installs MRT version 1.71 rather than the latest release. You should check that, once your Mac is back to normal running after the update, it also updates MRT back to version 1.72

The update to 11.1 weighs in at around 3.27 GB on Intel Macs, although M1 Macs seem to need almost another gigabyte at 4.2 GB.

At the same time, Apple has released Catalina Security Update 2020-001 and Mojave Security Update 2020-007. As expected, there are no more security updates expected for High Sierra, which is no longer supported.

Apple has now posted standalone installers for the Security Updates as follows:

However, Apple has stated that it doesn’t intend providing any standalone updates for Big Sur: see this article for details, and please complain if you want Apple to revert this decision.

I am very grateful to Charles @Chasapple for feeding me information as the evening has progressed.