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macOS Big Sur

macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth major release of macOS, Apple's operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020,[4] and was released to the public on November 12, 2020.[5][4][6]

"macOS 11" redirects here. For macOS 10.11, see OS X El Capitan.

Developer

Closed, with open source components

November 12, 2020 (2020-11-12)[1]

11.7.10 (20G1427)[2] (September 11, 2023 (2023-09-11)) [±]

Proprietary software with open-source components

www.apple.com/macos/big-sur at the Wayback Machine (archived 2021-10-18)

Doing it all, in new ways.

Big Sur is the successor to macOS Catalina, and was succeeded by macOS Monterey, which was released on October 25, 2021. The release of Big Sur was the first time the major version number of the operating system had been incremented since the Mac OS X Public Beta in 2000.


For the first time since OS X Yosemite 6 years earlier, macOS Big Sur features a user interface redesign. It features new blurs to establish a visual hierarchy, along with making icons more square and UI elements more consistent. Other changes include a revamp of the Time Machine backup mechanism, the control center from iOS 7, among other things. It is also the first macOS version to support Macs with ARM-based processors. To mark the transition, the operating system's major version number was incremented, for the first time since 2001, from 10 to 11.[7][8] The operating system is named after the coastal region of Big Sur in the Central Coast of California, continuing the naming trend of California locations that began with OS X Mavericks.


macOS Big Sur is the final version of macOS that supports Macs with Nvidia graphics cards, specifically the 15-inch dual graphics late 2013 and mid 2014 MacBook Pro models, as its successor, macOS Monterey, drops support for those models.

Development history[edit]

Providing some indication as to how the pre-release operating system may have been viewed internally at Apple during its development cycle, documentation accompanying the initial beta release of macOS Big Sur referred to its version as "10.16", and when upgrading from prior versions of macOS using the Software Update mechanism to early beta releases, the version referred to was "10.16".[9] An exception to this was the Developer Transition Kit, which always reported the system version as "11.0".[9] macOS Big Sur started reporting the system version as "11.0" on all Macs as of the third beta release.


To maintain backwards compatibility, macOS Big Sur identified itself as 10.16 to legacy software and in the browser user agent.[10]

(Mid 2014 or later)

iMac

(2017)

iMac Pro

(Early 2015 or later)

MacBook

(Mid 2013 or later)

MacBook Air

(Late 2013 or later)

MacBook Pro

(Late 2014 or later)

Mac Mini

(Late 2013 or later)

Mac Pro

(only up to Big Sur 11.3 beta 2[12])

Developer Transition Kit

Unlike macOS Catalina, which supported every standard configuration Mac that Mojave supported, Big Sur drops support for various Macs released in 2012 and early 2013. Big Sur runs on the following Macs:[11]


By using patch tools, macOS Big Sur can be installed on earlier computers that are officially unsupported, such as the 2012 iMac and the 2012 MacBook Pro.[13] Using these methods, it is possible to install macOS Big Sur on computers as old as a 2008 MacBook Pro and iMac and 2009 Mac Mini.[14]

Changes[edit]

Design[edit]

macOS Big Sur refreshes the design of the user interface, described by Apple as the biggest change since the introduction of Mac OS X.[5] Its changes include translucency in various places, a new abstract wallpaper for the first time and a new color palette. All standard apps, as well as the Dock and the Menu Bar, are redesigned and streamlined, and their icons now have square shapes like iOS and iPadOS apps, and are distinctly more round.[15] Compared to iOS, Big Sur's icons include more shading and highlights to give a three-dimensional appearance. Its aesthetic has been described as "neumorphism", a portmanteau of new and skeuomorphism.[16][17] System sounds are redone as well.


The new OS also brings further integration with Apple's SF Symbols, enabling easier use by third-party developers as UI elements for their applications through AppKit, SwiftUI, and Catalyst, which makes it possible to unify third party applications with the existing Apple-made design language.[18]

A new "nutrition label" section dedicated to the data and information an app collects, also featured in the iOS App Store

A new extensions category for

Safari

Third party Notification Center widgets, similar to those also added in iOS and iPadOS 14.

The ability to share in-app purchases and subscriptions on the Mac via Family Sharing

iCloud

Calculator Notification Center Widget

[39]

Option to toggle Font Smoothing in System Preferences

Support in Safari for AdBlock plugins like

uBlock Origin

Removed the option not to have a clock in the menu bar.

Criticism[edit]

The rollout of Big Sur came with several problems.[40] Upgrading to the initial public release of Big Sur (version 11.0.1) bricked some computers, rendering them unusable. Many of these were 2013 and 2014 MacBook Pros, though problems were also observed on a 2019 MacBook Pro and an iMac from the same year.[41][42][43] The initial rollout also disrupted Apple's app notarization process, causing slowdowns even on devices not running Big Sur.[44] Users also reported that the update was slow or even might fail to install.[45] macOS Catalina and Big Sur apps were taking a long time to load because of Gatekeeper issues.[46]


The issues with the COVID-19 pandemic meant it was hard for users to visit an Apple Store to get their machines fixed.[47] Shortly afterwards, Apple released a series of steps explaining how these Macs could be recovered.[48]


Certain Apple applications running on early versions of Big Sur were reported to bypass firewalls, raising privacy and security concerns.[49][50] This was addressed with the release of macOS Big Sur 11.2, which removed the whitelist for built-in programs.[51][52] Conversely, security experts have reported that Big Sur will check an application's certificate every time it is run, degrading system performance. There have been reports that the operating system sends a hash back to Apple of every program run and when it was executed.[53] Apple responded that the process is part of efforts to protect users from malware embedded in applications downloaded outside of the Mac App Store.[53]


Some users have reported problems connecting external displays to Macs running Big Sur 11.1 and 11.2.[54]


When upgrading Macs from 10.13, 10.14 and 10.15 to Big Sur the upgrade process could become stuck for seemingly unclear reasons. Only a full system restore from backup would solve this problem. In October 2021, a solution became known that required removal of up to several hundred thousand excess temporary files in the system folders. The problem was fixed in December 2021 in the Big Sur 11.6.2 Full installer.[55]

Vulnerability[edit]

In 2021, there were reports of two pieces of malware that infected macOS and include both x86-64 and ARM64 code. The first one was detected in early 2021.[56] The second one, Silver Sparrow, was detected on nearly 30,000 Macs in February 2021.[57][58][59]

at the Wayback Machine (archived October 18, 2021) – official site

macOS 11 Big Sur