How to Update Your macOS
With every new release of macOS, comes a new set of features and updates that can help improve your Mac experience. Here's a quick guide on how you can update your software to take advantage of all the new features.
Letting Your Mac Update Automatically (Recommended)
One of the easiest ways to keep your Mac up-to-date is to set it up so that updates install automatically. That way, you'll never have to worry about whether or not you're running the latest version of macOS—your Mac will take care of it for you in the background. Here's how to turn on automatic updates:
- Open System Preferences from the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen.
- Click on Software Update.
- Select "Automatically keep my Mac up to date."
- You can also choose how often your Mac checks for updates and whether or not to download beta updates (updates that are still in testing but are generally stable enough for everyday use). It's up to you whether or not you want to install beta updates; if you're not sure, just leave the default settings as-is.
- Click Install Now to install any pending updates that your Mac has downloaded in the background.
- You may be prompted to enter your password during the installation process; this is normal and is just a security measure to make sure that only authorized changes are being made to your system files.
- Once the update has been installed, restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
Updating Manually from the App Store (For Power Users)
If you prefer more control over when and how your software gets updated, you can update manually from the App Store instead. This method requires a bit more work on your part, but it gives you complete control over when—and if—you install an update on your machine:
- Open the App Store from the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen, or by clicking this link: https://www.apple./ca/mac/app-store/.
- Click on Updates in the left sidebar; if there are any updates available for macOS or any other apps installed on your Mac, they will show up here.
- To update macOS, click on Update next to macOS Catalina in the list of available updates; this will download and install the latest version of macOS 13 onto your computer
- Once macOS 13 has been installed, restart your computer for changes to take effect
Checking for Updates More Frequently
If you prefer more control over when and how your software gets updated, you can update manually from the App Store instead. This method requires a bit more work on your part, but it gives you complete control over when—and if—you install an update on your machine:
- Open the App Store from the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen, or by clicking this link: https://www.apple./ca/mac/app-store/.
- Click on Updates in the left sidebar; if there are any updates available for macOS or any other apps installed on your Mac, they will show up here
- To update macOS, click on Update next to macOS Catalina in the list of available updates; this will download and install the latest version of macOS 13 onto your computer
- Once macOS 13 has been installed, restart your computer for changes to take effect
Checking for Updates More Frequently
If you want App Store checks for new updates more often than once per week, you can change that setting as well:
- Open System Preferences from → System Preferences or by clicking this link:http://wwwcdnsassets/images/sysprefsicon
- Click on App Store
- Under Automatic Updates, select one of the three options:
- Download Newly Available Updates in Background: This will allow App Store to check for and download newly available app and system updates in the background without interrupting whatever else you're doing with your computer
- Install App Updates: This will allow automatic installation as soon as they are downloaded
- Download Available Updates: This will notify you when a new app or system updates are available, but won't automatically download or install them.
This setting can be changed at any time; if you change it while there are already downloads pending, those downloads will either be paused (if Download Newly Available Updates was unchecked) or installed immediately (if Install App Updates was checked).
Updating macOS is pretty easy thanks to automatic updates, but if you want more control over when those happen then you can follow these steps to update manually through the App Store instead! Either way, keeping current with software updates is always a good idea since they often include important bug fixes and security patches—so make sure to stay up-to-date! And if you ever need any help with anything related to Apple products or services—don't hesitate to get in touch with us at TechMonk today! We're always happy to help out!