On September 16th 2024, Apple released macOS Sequoia for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, after having been announced June 10th the same year. This version of macOS is named after the national park in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, continuing the theme of California locations. Up close and thematically, this is very much the macOS we have grown familiar with since Big Sur.

This version of macOS is mostly focused on productivity, including some new additions to macOS such as the passwords app, Apple Intelligence (AS Macs only, macOS 15.1+), window tiling, a revamped Siri, and iPhone mirroring.

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Apple Intelligence is a new major feature – the ability of macOS to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. It draws on personal context to give you content/answers that are most helpful/relevant to you. Siri has richer language understanding, Genmoji creates images, and there are new writing tools.

Background replacements are also now included in FaceTime, and presenter preview lets you set the stage and “preview” what you will share in video calling apps before actually sharing. Safari now can quickly pull up relevant info from a site with a smarter redesigned reader, you have more control over web video, and there is a brand new standalone passwords app.

The messages app receives new ways to “play” with text, adding a whole lot of expressiveness. You can now also schedule-send messages with “send later”. Maps receive topographic maps with trail networks, allow you to save hikes for offline access, and there’s a new feature which allows you to create your own routes. Notes now has live audio transcription, math notes (such as number crunching, evaluating expressions, assigning variables. etc;), as well as highlighting too.

AirPods gain some hands-free Siri interactions, AirPods Pro gain Voice Isolation an personalized Spatial Audio for gaming. The calculator has updated basic/scientific tools like history and unit conversions. The calendar now lets you create, view, edit and complete reminders from within the app. Photos has new organization tools, Weather has more detailed info such as “Feels like” temperatures, and the home app adds electric use/rate features among other things.

What You Need To Know

• Apple Intelligence is an Apple Silicon-only feature.
• You can’t run this at all on a 2018 or 2019 MacBook Air.
• If you have an unsupported Mac, most 2008 Macs and later can be patched. The 2007 iMac is the oldest machine that can run current versions of macOS, but requires a CPU upgrade to T9300/T9500.
• Apple Intelligence is re-enabled when updating, it must be turned back off again.
• Apple strongly stepped up the security requirements at the expense of the user. It is now a multi-step process to open an unsigned app for the first time. You now no longer have the option to allow apps that “aren’t notarized”.

System Requirements

There is a comprehensive list available on Apple’s website, but it is also available below. Below is a list of the oldest models supported by Sequoia. Although no RAM amount is specified as a requirement, we recommend you run with at least 16 GB of RAM instead of 8 GB for smooth operation. 8 GB will get you by and get the computer to boot the OS. It is also strongly recommended to avoid running this OS off of a hard drive as it would be quite slow – if your Mac shipped with a hard drive and it is at all possible to swap for an SSD, do it.

• MacBook Pro: 2018
• MacBook Air: 2020
• iMac: 2019, iMac Pro
• Mac mini: 2018
• Mac Studio: 2022
• Mac Pro: 2019

Versions

• 15.0 (build 24A335), Darwin 24.0.0, September 16th, 2024
  • Initial official release. This is the first version of Sequoia out in the open.
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• 15.0.1 (build 24A348), Darwin 24.0.0, October 3rd, 2024
  • Bug fix release. A bug would cause messages to crash when a shared Apple Watch face was sent in the messages app. Apple also made compatibility improved for 3rd part security software.
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• 15.1 (build 24B83), Darwin 24.1.0,  October 28th, 2024
  • First version of macOS to feature Apple Intelligence. Added: Drag and drop support for iPhone mirroring, new safari look and feel, new AirPods features.
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• 15.1.1 (build 24B91), Darwin 24.1.0,  November 19th, 2024
  • Security update. (build 24B2091) was for M4 Macs released around this time.
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• 15.2 (build 24C101), Darwin 24.2.0, December 11th, 2024
  • Feature update: ChatGPT integration into Apple Intelligence, New image playground, but Genmoji not yet available.
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• 15.3 (build 24D60), Darwin 24.3.0, January 26th, 2024
  • Introduces Genmoji
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• 15.3.1 (build 24D70), Darwin 24.3.0, February 10th, 2025
  • Security update.
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• 15.3.2 (build 24D2082), Darwin 24.3.0, March 11th, 2025
  • Security update.
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• 15.4 (Beta build 25E5238a), March 17th, 2025
  • A new design for the mail app, and brings mail categorization to Mac.
  • Apple brings “proximity pairing” to the Mac, like how it works on the iPhone already.
  • Will require iOS device to be on iOS 18.4 for it to work with macOS 15.4 proximity pair
  • Create images in image playground using sketch style
  • More languages supported in Apple Intelligence
  • New option to create memory movies in the Photos app
  • If you happen to use Apple News+ there is a new dedication section.
  • News+ Food has different reviews/editorials about places to eat, recipes, etc;
  • New emojis
  • New App download behavior
  • Previously when stopping an App download in the Mac App Store, the download would be erased and ceased altogether. Now the download is paused and may be resumed. To delete downloaded data or app, go to launchpad and delete the partial download.
  • “Software update” page changes slightly in System Preferences.
  • New “Your Mac is up to date” banner and icon in Software Update.
  • Beta 2/3 fixes virtualization issues for M4 chip users which installed and used 15.4 beta 1.

Unsupported Macs

OpenCore is a boot loader used to inject and patch data in memory, instead of on disk. This allows for a near-native experience on unsupported Macs, and allows macOS Sequoia to be installed on Macs which otherwise couldn’t run it. There are some caveats to running an OS on an unsupported Mac, but the team of people over at OCLP are hard at work to make sure everything runs smoothly! There are some things you should know before you decide whether or not Sequoia OCLP is right for you: See OpenCore website.

• The 2018 and 2019 MacBook Airs cannot be patched due to the T2’s lack of communication when booting through OpenCore. The timeout causes a Kernel Panic, according the website.
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• Mac Pro 3,1 – 5,1 models with more than 4 cores will KP so Opencore auto-disables them.
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• You will need a USB hub with USB 2.0 for the following Macs and older, as USB 1.1 support was removed in Ventura:
  • iMac10,x and older
  • Macmini4,1 and older
  • MacBook7,1 and older
  • MacBookAir3,1 and older
  • MacPro5,1 and older
  • Xserve 3,1 and older
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• There are legacy Metal and non-metal graphics drivers in OCLP and this will determine in part your user experience.
  • See: Legacy Metal (Intel HD 4000 and later)
  • See: Non Metal (Most 2008-2011 Macs)