Apple has released the next major version of macOS, Sonoma. As expected, this is offered through Software Update as an update rather than a full upgrade, so if your Mac is already running a recent version of Ventura, it won’t download the full Install macOS Sonoma app, but go straight into the update process. Please be careful!

Note that you can’t then use Software Update to update/upgrade a different copy of the system. If you want to do that, download the full installer app from the App Store, as that gives you the option of installing Sonoma to a boot volume group of your choice. Alternatively, you can start up in that Ventura system and run Software Update from there.

The update/upgrade is a 7.7 GB download for Apple silicon Macs, and around 5.06 GB on Intel Macs.

It comes with around 61 fixes for security vulnerabilities, detailed in its security release notes.

There are firmware updates all round: iBoot is updated to 10151.1.1, T2 models to 2020.0.1.0.0 (iBridge: 21.16.365.0.0,0), and Studio Displays to 17.0 (build 21A329). Safari is now version 17.0 (19616.1.27.211.1).

Worth noting:

• If you have Optimize Mac Storage turned off, Sonoma now enforces the rules as they should have been all along, and won’t let you evict files. This is a long-standing bug that has been fixed at last. As explained in the Help book for Cirrus, if you disable Optimize Mac Storage, then all your files stored in iCloud should also be stored locally. That’s good news for when you want to search them, or back them up. However, enforcement of this may come as a surprise to those who have come to rely on the bug.
• I’ve encountered one highly reputable security software suite that didn’t recognise Sonoma, and responded by disabling all outgoing network connections. Ensure that such software is either updated or disabled before presuming that your network connection has suffered failure. I have now uninstalled that suite.
• At least one major image editor fails to display graphics content on some Intel Macs, although it works fine on Apple silicon. This was a bit of a shock, but I’m sure it will be fixed very quickly.
• If Sonoma doesn’t seem to be working right, restart your Mac. If that doesn’t clear the problem, start it up in Safe mode, leave it a couple of minutes, and restart back in normal mode.
• If your Mac was running the second Release Candidate of Sonoma as a beta, then that’s identical to the full release, and won’t be upgraded. Similarly for Studio Display firmware.

Also released today is Safari 17.0 for Ventura and Monterey.

Last updated 2105 GMT 26 September 2023.