Updated and republished for macOS 11.2.2; skip it unless you really really care about all the macOS releases. Originally published on November 14th, 2005.
Below the break is a table showing all major releases of macOS (previously Mac OS X) from the public beta through the latest public version, which is 11.2.2, as of February 25th, 2021—the 146th release in total.
MacOS is the direct successor to the classic Mac OS, the line of Macintosh operating systems with nine releases from 1984 to 1999. MacOS adopted the Unix kernel and inherited technologies developed between 1985 and 1997 at NeXT, the company that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs created after leaving Apple in 1985. 03 / 2001 – OS X 10.0. The history of macOS started with a bear, not a cat: in September of.
Note: Click the ⓘ symbol to read Apple's release notes for a given update.
The following was culled from Apple's support downloads page, and as such, some of the dates may be off just a bit. If you know for certain that something is incorrect, please let me know and I'll get it fixed. (Scroll to see all entries.)
Date | Version | Comments | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Feb 25 | 16 | 11.2.2 | 2.17 GB | ⓘ |
Feb 9 | 8 | 11.2.1 | 2.43 GB | ⓘ | |
Feb 1 | 49 | 11.2 | 3.25 GB | ⓘ | |
2020 | Dec 14 | 25 | 11.1 | 3.27 GB | ⓘ |
Nov 19 | 7 | 11.0.1 | 2.81 GB | ⓘ First general release of Big Sur | |
Nov 12 | 7 | 11.0 | 12.18 GB | ⓘBig Sur - 11.0 only shipped on M1 Macs | |
Nov 5 | 43 | 10.15.7 SU1 | 1.21 GB | ⓘ | |
Sep 23 | 42 | 10.15.7 | 2.86 GB | ⓘ | |
Aug 12 | 28 | 10.15.6 SU1 | 3.22GB GB | ⓘ | |
Jul 15 | 44 | 10.15.6 | 3.35 GB | ⓘ | |
Jun 1 | 6 | 10.15.5 SU1 | 1.59 GB | ⓘ | |
May 26 | 48 | 10.15.5 | 3.37 GB | ⓘ | |
May 21 | -- | 10.14.6 SU4 | 151 MB | Fixes a launch issue for certain 32-bit apps | |
Apr 8 | 15 | 10.15.4 SU1 | 1.38 GB | ⓘ | |
Mar 24 | 56 | 10.15.4 | 3.0 GB | ⓘ | |
Jan 28 | 49 | 10.15.3 | 3.0 GB | ⓘ | |
2019 | Dec 10 | 42 | 10.15.2 | 3.0 GB | ⓘ |
Oct 29 | 14 | 10.15.1 | 4.5 GB | ⓘ | |
Oct 15 | 8 | 10.15 SU1 | 985 MB | No info page | |
Oct 7 | 11 | 10.15 | 4.9 GB | ⓘCatalina - You need more permission! | |
Sep 26 | 31 | 10.14.6 SU3 | 1.32 GB | ⓘ | |
Aug 26 | 25 | 10.14.6 SU2 | 1.25 GB | ⓘ | |
Aug 1 | 10 | 10.14.6 SU1 | 949 MB | ⓘ | |
Jul 22 | 70 | 10.14.6 | 2.7 GB | ⓘ | |
May 13 | 49 | 10.14.5 | 2.5 GB | ⓘ | |
Mar 25 | 62 | 10.14.4 | 2.8 GB | ⓘ | |
Jan 22 | 48 | 10.14.3 | 2.0 GB | ⓘ | |
2018 | Dec 5 | 28 | 10.14.2 | 2.5 GB | ⓘ |
Nov 7 | 8 | 10.14.1 SU1 | 1.3 GB | ⓘ For 2018 MacBook Air | |
Oct 30 | 36 | 10.14.1 | 3.3 GB | ⓘ | |
Sep 24 | 27 | 10.14 | 5.2 GB | ⓘ Mojave - You need permission! | |
Aug 28 | 38 | 10.13.6 SU2 | 1.32 GB | ⓘ For 2018 Touch Bar MBP…again | |
Jul 24 | 15 | 10.13.6 SU1 | 1.31 GB | ⓘ For 2018 Touch Bar MBP | |
Jul 9 | 38 | 10.13.6 | 1.32 GB | ⓘ AirPlay 2 | |
Jun 1 | 64 | 10.13.5 | 2.12 GB | ⓘ Messages in iCloud | |
Mar 29 | 37 | 10.13.4 | 2.36 GB | ⓘ Sortable Safari bookmarks!! | |
Feb 20 | 28 | 10.13.3 SU | 40.4 MB | ⓘ Indian character/Messages crash fix | |
Jan 23 | 33 | 10.13.3 | 1.97 GB | ⓘ | |
Jan 8 | 33 | 10.13.2 SU | 633.6 MB | ⓘ Spectre and Meltdown fixes | |
2017 | Dec 6 | 36 | 10.13.2 | 2.08 GB | ⓘ |
Oct 31 | 26 | 10.13.1 | 1.47 GB | ⓘ | |
Oct 5 | 10 | 10.13 SU | 915 MB | ⓘ Addresses two security issues | |
Sep 25 | 68 | 10.13 | 4.8 GB | ⓘ High Sierra - Higher in the mountains? | |
Jul 19 | 65 | 10.12.6 | 1.98 GB | ⓘ | |
May 15 | 49 | 10.12.5 | 1.57 GB | ⓘ | |
Mar 27 | 63 | 10.12.4 | 1.56 GB | ⓘ Night Shift | |
Jan 23 | 41 | 10.12.3 | 1.05 GB | ⓘ | |
2016 | Dec 13 | 50 | 10.12.2 | 1.94 GB | ⓘ |
Oct 24 | 34 | 10.12.1 | 1.36 GB | ⓘ | |
Sep 20 | 64 | 10.12 | 4.77 GB | ⓘ Sierra - Still in the mountains. | |
Jul 18 | 63 | 10.11.6 | 759 MB | ⓘ | |
May 16 | 57 | 10.11.5 | 759 MB | ⓘ | |
Mar 20 | 61 | 10.11.4 | 1.58 GB | ⓘ | |
Jan 19 | 41 | 10.11.3 | 662 MB | ⓘ | |
2015 | Dec 9 | 49 | 10.11.2 | 1.4 GB | ⓘ |
Oct 21 | 21 | 10.11.1 | 1.19 GB | ⓘ | |
Sep 30 | 48 | 10.11 | 6.08 GB | ⓘ El Capitan - Go climb something! | |
Aug 13 | 44 | 10.10.5 | 1.02 GB | ⓘ | |
Jun 30 | 75 | 10.10.4 | 1.09 GB | ⓘ | |
Apr 16 | 8 | 10.10.3 SU | 1.8 MB | ⓘ Supplemental Update | |
Apr 8 | 71 | 10.10.3 | 1.52 GB | ⓘ Includes Photos app | |
Jan 27 | 71 | 10.10.2 | 544 MB | ⓘ | |
2014 | Nov 17 | 32 | 10.10.1 | 311 MB | ⓘ |
Oct 16 | 29 | 10.10 | 5.2 GB | ⓘ Yosemite - No surfers here. | |
Sep 17 | 79 | 10.9.5 | 139 MB | ⓘ | |
Jun 30 | 46 | 10.9.4 | 283 MB | ⓘ | |
May 15 | 79 | 10.9.3 | 461 MB | ⓘ | |
Feb 25 | 71 | 10.9.2 | 460 MB | ⓘ | |
2013 | Dec 16 | 55 | 10.9.1 | 243.4 MB | ⓘ |
Oct 22 | 19 | 10.9 | 5.3 GB | ⓘ Mavericks - All out of big cats! | |
Oct 3 | 21 | 10.8.5 SU | 19.6 MB | ⓘ Supplemental Update | |
Sep 12 | 100 | 10.8.5 | 273.7 MB | ⓘ | |
Jun 4 | 82 | 10.8.4 | 152.0 MB | ⓘ | |
Mar 14 | 161 | 10.8.3 | 249.0 MB | ⓘ | |
2012 | Oct 4 | 15 | 10.8.2 SU | 26.7 MB | ⓘ Supplemental Update |
Sep 19 | 27 | 10.8.2 | 665.5 MB | ⓘ | |
Aug 23 | 29 | 10.8.1 | 24.2 MB | ⓘ | |
Jul 25 | 77 | 10.8 | 4.1 GB | ⓘ Mountain Lion - App Store only | |
Oct 4 | 15 | 10.7.5 SU | 2.0 MB | ⓘ Supplemental Update | |
Sep 19 | 133 | 10.7.5 | 1.1 GB | ⓘ Released w/ 10.8.2 | |
May 9 | 98 | 10.7.4 | 692.7 MB | ⓘ | |
Feb 1 | 112 | 10.7.3 | 1.3 GB | ⓘ Only combo updater available | |
2011 | Oct 12 | 56 | 10.7.2 | 768.8 MB | ⓘ Now iCloud enabled |
Aug 17 | 29 | 10.7.1 | 79.3 MB | ⓘ | |
Jul 19 | 26 | 10.7 | 4.1 GB | ⓘ Lion - App Store only (USB stick later) | |
Jun 23 | 94 | 10.6.8 | 453.6 MB | ⓘ App Store readied for Lion | |
Mar 21 | 74 | 10.6.7 | 475 MB | ⓘ | |
Jan 6 | 57 | 10.6.6 | 143.6 MB | ⓘ Can you say 'App Store?' | |
2010 | Nov 10 | 148 | 10.6.5 | 644.5 MB | ⓘ |
Jun 15 | 78 | 10.6.4 | 607.2 MB | ⓘ | |
Mar 29 | 140 | 10.6.3 | 719.2 MB | ⓘ | |
2009 | Nov 9 | 60 | 10.6.2 | 473 MB | ⓘ |
Sep 10 | 13 | 10.6.1 | 71.5 MB | ⓘ | |
Aug 28 | 23 | 10.6 | 2.31 GB | ⓘ Snow Leopard - First Intel-only release | |
Aug 5 | 85 | 10.5.8 | 274 MB | ⓘ | |
May 12 | 148 | 10.5.7 | 442 MB | ⓘ | |
2008 | Dec 15 | 91 | 10.5.6 | 372 MB | ⓘ |
Sep 15 | 77 | 10.5.5 | 316 MB | ⓘ | |
Jun 30 | 33 | 10.5.4 | 88 MB | ⓘ | |
May 28 | 107 | 10.5.3 | 420 MB | ⓘ | |
Feb 11 | 88 | 10.5.2 | 343 MB | ⓘ Combo updater only | |
2007 | Nov 15 | 20 | 10.5.1 | 110 MB | ⓘ |
Oct 26 | 128 | 10.5 | 2.15 GB | ⓘ Leopard - First universal binary release | |
Nov 14 | 147 | 10.4.11 | 128 MB | ⓘ This '10' goes to '11' | |
Jun 20 | 99 | 10.4.10 | 72 MB | ⓘ | |
Mar 13 | 165 | 10.4.9 | 160 MB | ⓘ | |
2006 | Sep 29 | 94 | 10.4.8 | 206 MB | ⓘ |
Jun 27 | 85 | 10.4.7 | 133 MB | ⓘ | |
Apr 3 | 48 | 10.4.6 | 163 MB | ⓘ | |
Feb 14 | 35 | 10.4.5 | 16 MB | ⓘ | |
Jan 10 | 71 | 10.4.4 | 55 MB | ⓘ First Intel-capable release | |
2005 | Oct 31 | 111 | 10.4.3 | 97 MB | ⓘ |
Jul 12 | 57 | 10.4.2 | 44 MB | ⓘ | |
May 16 | 17 | 10.4.1 | 37 MB | ⓘ | |
Apr 29 | 14 | 10.4 | 1.78 GB | ⓘ Tiger | |
Apr 15 | 65 | 10.3.9 | 51.3 MB | ⓘ | |
Feb 9 | 56 | 10.3.8 | 26.6 MB | ⓘ | |
2004 | Dec 15 | 40 | 10.3.7 | 97 MB | ⓘ Combo updater only |
Nov 5 | 88 | 10.3.6 | 34 MB | ⓘ | |
Aug 9 | 75 | 10.3.5 | ??? | ⓘ | |
May 26 | 72 | 10.3.4 | 79 MB | ⓘ Combo updater only | |
Mar 15 | 89 | 10.3.3 | 70 MB | ⓘ Combo updater only | |
2003 | Dec 17 | 37 | 10.3.2 | 36.9 MB | ⓘ |
Nov 10 | 17 | 10.3.1 | 1.5 MB | ⓘ | |
Oct 24 | 21 | 10.3 | 1.54 GB | ⓘ Panther | |
Oct 3 | 57 | 10.2.8 | 40 MB | ⓘ | |
Sep 22 | 139 | 10.2.7 | ??? | Only for certain G5s/G4s | |
May 6 | 26 | 10.2.6 | 26 MB | ⓘ | |
Apr 10 | 56 | 10.2.5 | 81.9 MB | ⓘ | |
Feb 13 | 56 | 10.2.4 | 76 MB | ⓘ | |
2002 | Dec 19 | 38 | 10.2.3 | 51 MB | ⓘ |
Nov 11 | 54 | 10.2.2 | 24.4 MB | ⓘ | |
Sep 18 | 26 | 10.2.1 | 16.3 MB | ⓘ Update not available? | |
Aug 23 | 79 | 10.2 | 1.03 GB | ⓘ Jaguar | |
Jun 5 | 47 | 10.1.5 | 45.1 MB | ⓘ Combo updater only | |
Apr 19 | 57 | 10.1.4 | 1.7 MB | ⓘ | |
Feb 21 | 62 | 10.1.3 | 16 MB | ⓘ | |
2001 | Dec 21 | 37 | 10.1.2 | 29.2 MB | ⓘ |
Nov 14 | 50 | 10.1.1 | 13.8 MB | ⓘ | |
Sep 25 | 95 | 10.1 | 989 MB | ⓘ Puma | |
Jun 22 | 44 | 10.0.4 | 12 MB | ⓘ | |
May 9 | 8 | 10.0.3 | 15 MB | ⓘ | |
May 1 | 15 | 10.0.2 | 15 MB | Released but replaced (see comments) | |
Apr 16 | 23 | 10.0.1 | 4 MB | ⓘ | |
Mar 24 | 192 | 10.0 | 659 MB | ⓘ Cheetah | |
2000 | Sep 13 | -- | 10.0β | 676 MB | ⓘ Public Beta |
Note: The Days column reflects the number of days between releases.
Some entries may appear out of chronological order (i.e. 10.5 is shown on Oct 26, but above Nov 14 for 10.4.11). This is to keep the version numbers in the proper order, even when an older OS received an update after a major new release came out. This has happened a few times over the years.
Some random notes, updated from the original post:
- Starting with the Public Beta and up through 11.2.2, there have been 146 macOS releases, both major and minor. This figure includes the one odd macOS X release: 10.2.7. This version was only for the then-new PowerMac G5 and the flat panel iMac G4, and was never generally released.
- As of February 25th, 2021 (11.2.2's release date), it's been 7,470 days since the Public Beta was released. So on average, we've seen some sort of update every 51.2 days.
- The shortest time period between any two releases is six days, which is how quickly the 10.15.5 Supplemental Update 1 came out after the 10.15.5 release.
- The longest time period between any two minor releases is 165 days, which was how long we waited for the 10.4.9 update. (Tecnically, it's actually the 192 day interval between the Mac OS X Public Beta and version 10.0, but I'm counting from the official 10.0 release.)
- The smallest update was 10.3.1, at only 1.5MB. The largest (non-combo, non-main OS release) update was 10.15.1 at 5.3GB.
- The '???' entry for Size on a given release indicates I was unable to find the size. Feel free to contact me if you can help replace any of the '???' entries.
And now, gratuitous graphics…
Releases by version number
Releases by year
A special 'thank you!' goes to Mr. Ziebell (for providing some size values on very-old minor updates), and to Benton Quest (for providing size info on all the major releases up through Snow Leopard). See Benton's comment below if you want a nicely detailed history of those early releases.
Related Posts:
OS X is a modern operating system that combines the power and stability of UNIX-based operating systems with the simplicity and elegance of the Macintosh. For years, power users and developers have recognized the strengths of UNIX and its offshoots. While UNIX-based operating systems are indispensable to developers and power users, consumers have rarely been able to enjoy their benefits because of the perceived complexity. Instead consumers have lived with a generation of desktop computers that could only hope to achieve the strengths that UNIX-based operating systems have had from the beginning.
This chapter is for anyone interested in an overview of OS X—its lineage and its open source core, called Darwin. Here you will find background information about OS X and how your application fits in.
The Family Tree
Although this document covers the basic concepts in bringing UNIX applications to OS X, it is by no means comprehensive. This section is provided to give you a hint on where to look for additional documentation by outlining how OS X came to be. Knowing a little about the lineage of OS X will help you to find more resources as the need arises.
• BSD
Part of the history of OS X goes back to Berkeley Software Distributions (BSD) UNIX of the late seventies and early eighties. Specifically, it is based in part on BSD 4.4 Lite. On a system level, many of the design decisions are made to align with BSD-style UNIX systems. Most libraries and utilities are from FreeBSD (http://www.freebsd.org/), but some are derived from NetBSD (http://www.netbsd.org/). For future development, OS X has adopted FreeBSD as a reference code base for BSD technology. Work is ongoing to more closely synchronize all BSD tools and libraries with the FreeBSD-stable branch.
• Mach
Although OS X must credit BSD for most of the underlying levels of the operating system, OS X also owes a major debt to Mach. The kernel is heavily influenced in its design philosophy by Carnegie Mellon's Mach project. The kernel is not a pure microkernel implementation, since the address space is shared with the BSD portion of the kernel and the I/O Kit.
• NEXTSTEP
In figuring out what makes OS X tick, it is important to recognize the influences of NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP in its design. Apple's acquisition of NeXT in 1997 was a major key in bringing OS X from the drawing board into reality. Many parts of OS X of interest to UNIX developers are enhancements and offshoots of the technology present in NEXTSTEP. From the file system layer to the executable format and from the high-level Cocoa API to the kernel itself, the lineage of OS X as a descendant of NEXTSTEP is evident.
• Earlier Version of the Mac OS
Although it shares its name with earlier versions of the Mac OS, OS X is a fundamentally new operating system. This does not mean that all that went before has been left out. OS X still includes many of the features that Mac OS 9 and earlier versions included. Although your initial port to OS X may not use any of the features inherited from Mac OS 9, as you enhance the application, you might take advantage of some of the features provided by technologies like ColorSync or the Carbon APIs. Mac OS 9 is also the source of much of the terminology used in OS X.
OS X and Darwin
The word Darwin is often used to refer to the underpinnings of OS X. In fact, in some circles OS X itself is rarely mentioned at all. It is important to understand the distinction between the two—how they are related and how they differ.
Darwin is the core of the OS X operating system. Although Darwin can stand alone as an independent operating system, it includes only a subset of the features available in OS X. Figure 1-1 shows how Darwin is related to OS X as a whole. Adobe premiere pro cs6 for mac kickass.
Mac Os 9 History
Darwin is an open source project. With it, you as a developer gain access to the foundation of OS X. Its openness also allows you to submit changes that you think should be reflected in OS X as a whole. Darwin has been released as a separate project that runs on PowerPC-based Macintosh computers as well as x86-compatible computers. Although it could be considered a standalone operating system in its own right, many of the fundamental design decisions of Darwin are governed by its being embedded within OS X. In bringing your applications to the platform, you should target OS X version 10.1.4 (Darwin 5.4) or later.
OS X itself is not an Open Source project. As you can see from Figure 1-1, there are many parts of OS X that are not included in the Open Source Darwin components. Part of your job while porting is deciding where your application will fit in OS X.
If you are a developer whose tool is a command-line tool (or has a useful subset that is a command-line tool), you can, of course, simply port your application as a command-line tool or service, which is usually not that complicated. By doing this you gain a small benefit, in that it is now available to OS X users who are familiar with the UNIX command-line environment. You will not be able to market it to OS X users as a whole though, since many users do not even know how to access the command line on their computers.
The basic steps in porting a UNIX application to OS X typically include:
Port to the command line.
Provide a graphical user interface (GUI).
What Macintosh Users Expect
In bringing your UNIX application to OS X, you are entering a world where great emphasis is placed on user interactions. This brings you many opportunities and benefits as a developer, but also some responsibilities.
Benefits of Porting to OS X
Porting to OS X has three primary benefits:
stable long-term customer base
good inroad into education
powerful developer tools
Bringing UNIX applications to OS X can be very profitable if done correctly. Well-designed Macintosh applications of years past are the standards of today. PhotoShop, Illustrator, and Excel are all applications that first made their name on the Macintosh. Now is the time to win the hearts of Macintosh users with the next great application. In a word, possibly millions of paying customers!
Macintosh users are willing to spend their money on great applications because they know that Apple strives to give them a high-quality user environment. Apple developers are known for providing great applications for that environment.
For years, Apple has been known for its commitment to education. OS X targets the education market for developers and is an ideal platform for learning for students. With its standards-based technologies as well as home-grown technologies, you have an ideal platform for use in educational application deployment and development.
OS X also provides benefits in a development environment. Apple strives for standards first, then it adds that little bit that makes it better on a Mac. As a developer, you have access to many of the development tools and environments that you have on other platforms, like Java, OpenGL, POSIX libraries, and the BSD TCP/IP stack, but you also have built-in benefits like the Apache Web server on every computer, the Cocoa object-oriented development environment, a PDF-based display system (Quartz), Kerberos, QuickTime, a dynamic core audio implementation, and a suite of world-class developer tools. By adding a native OS X front end to your application, you can achieve a cost-effective new deployment platform with minimal additional development effort.
OS X adds tremendous value both to you and your customers on a standards-based operating system.
Responsibilities of Porting to OS X
Swift
Along with benefits come responsibilities. If you have decided to make a full-featured Mac app, here are some guidelines to keep in mind.
C
An OS X user should never have to resort to the command line to perform any task in an application with a graphical user interface. This is especially important to remember since the BSD user environment may not even be installed on a user's system. The libraries and kernel environment are of course there by default, but the tools may not be.
If you are making graphical design decisions, you need to become familiar with the OS X Human Interface Guidelines, available from the Apple developer website. These are the standards that Macintosh users expect their applications to live up to. Well-behaved applications from Apple and third-party developers give the Macintosh its reputation as the most usable interface on the planet.
The responsibilities boil down to striving for an excellent product from a user's perspective. OS X gives you the tools to make your applications shine.
Cached
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