hoakley Macs, Technology, Updates

What has changed in the macOS Sonoma 14.1 update?

macOS Sonoma version 14.1 arrived rather earlier than I had expected, and is a substantial update, of just under 2 GB for Intel Macs and 3.5 GB for Apple silicon models. It brings firmware updates, that I hope are now common to macOS 13.6.1 and 12.7.1:

  • iBoot is updated to 10151.41.12
  • Intel T2 firmware is updated to 2020.41.1.0.0 (iBridge: 21.16.1069.0.0,0)

The macOS build number is 23B74.

Apple claims that Sonoma 14.1 fixes two bugs, one in which Location Services in System Settings might be reset, and the other that could prevent encrypted external drives from mounting. There are also two new features reported: Favourites in Music has been expanded and can be filtered, and warranty status for AirPods, Beats headphones and earbuds are now available in System Settings.

Security release notes are available here, where there are 33 fixes listed, including one in the kernel, and several in WebKit. None of the vulnerabilities fixed are reported as being known to be exploited, though.

Sonoma 14.1 also brings significant changes in support for older still and video cameras. Those that don’t use modern system extensions may stop working: Apple explains this in detail, complete with instructions on how to restore legacy camera support, in this article.

Bundled apps with significant changes in version or build number include:

  • App Store, build increment
  • Books, to version 6.1
  • FindMy, build increment
  • Freeform, to version 2.1
  • Home, build increment
  • Music, to version 1.4.1
  • News, to version 9.1
  • Safari, goes from 17.0 (19616.1.27.211.1 to 17.1 (19616.2.9.11.7)
  • Shortcuts, build increment
  • Stocks, to version 6.1
  • TV, to version 1.4.1
  • Screen Sharing, to version 4.1
  • Weather, to version 4.1.

Significant changes in version or build numbers seen in the /System/Library folder include:

  • Pro Display Calibrator, to version 2.0.1
  • Siri, to version 3301.3.1
  • AGX kernel extensions, version increments
  • AppleJPEGDriver kernel extension, version increment
  • ParavirtGPUMetal virtualisation support kernel extensions, major version increments
  • There’s a new AppleT6041MCC kernel extension, perhaps for forthcoming new hardware?
  • APFS is updated to version 2235.41.1
  • As usual, there are many Frameworks and Private Frameworks that are updated, including CloudKit and other iCloud frameworks, SwiftUI, and Virtualization.
  • There’s a new FindMyBluetooth Private Framework.

If you think you know what an Apple T6041 MCC is, then you could be half way to working out the new hardware Apple is going to announce next week.

The last time Apple released an x.1 update as early as this was in Catalina, when it squeezed in the x.2 update just before Christmas, on 10 December. So don’t be surprised if Apple repeats that this year, with Sonoma 14.2 being released before the end of 2023.