hoakley Macs, Technology, Updates

Apple has released macOS Sequoia 15.4, and 14.7.5, 13.7.5

Apple has just released the update to macOS Sequoia to bring it to version 15.4, and security updates for 14.7.5 and 13.7.5.

The Sequoia update for Apple silicon Macs is about 6.2 GB in size, and 3.9 GB for Intel models, making it one of the largest intermediate updates for some years. For Apple silicon Macs, the update to 14.7.5 is about 3.7 GB, and to 13.7.5 about 3.3 GB.

Among the changes listed by Apple for 15.4 are:

  • Adds Memory movies in Photos using AI.
  • Adds a Sketch Style option in Image Playground, in AI.
  • Adds Mail Categorisation.
  • Apple silicon Macs with an internal SD card reader now support SDUC cards larger than 2TB.
  • This should resolve problems with some M4 Macs being unable to launch Virtual Machines.
  • Content filter extensions correctly receive non-TCP/UDP network protocol traffic.
  • Finder no longer fails to copy some dataless files from SMB file shares.

Enterprise release notes are here.

Software Update settings will be automatically changed to enable future macOS updates to be downloaded and installed automatically: if you don’t want that, you’ll need to change that setting once your Mac boots in 15.4.

Security release notes are available for Sequoia, Sonoma and Ventura updates. There are a total of 131 vulnerabilities fixed in 15.4, which must be a record. None is reported as being suspected of exploitation in the wild, and the security updates for Sonoma and Ventura are almost as numerous.

Firmware updates include iBoot (Apple silicon) to version 11881.101.1, and T2 Macs to 2075.101.2.0.0 (iBridge 22.16.14248.0.0,0). The macOS build number is 24E248.

The new version of Safari in 15.4 is 18.4 (20621.1.15.11.10). APFS is updated to version 2332.101.1.

As so much has changed, I won’t be posting a separate article listing significant changes: it looks like pretty well everything has!

Just for reference, the Sequoia 15.0 major version upgrade from Sonoma was 6.6 GB for Apple silicon, and 4.9 GB for Intel – those aren’t that much larger than this ‘minor version update’.

Those intending to update Apple silicon Virtual Machines currently running 15.3.2 should be prepared for the 15.4 update to fail. I’ve tried with two VMs now, one with a fresh copy of 15.3.2, and both have failed early during installation with a kernel panic. However, 15.4 does install correctly from the latest IPSW image file. Older VMs with 14.7.4 and 13.7.4 do update correctly to 14.7.5 and 13.7.5 respectively.

Those who have experienced problems updating to 15.4, particularly on M1 Macs, may find that 15.4.1 works better.

[Last updated 2015 GMT 16 April 2025.]