“Apple will begin pushing macOS Sierra as an automatic download beginning on Monday [October 10th],” Jake Smith reports for ZDNet. “macOS Sierra will download in the background and prompt users to install the update, when convenient, Apple confirmed to The Loop.”
“The update will download when it makes sense and only for Macs that support Sierra and have enough storage space,” Smith reports. “Users can turn off the automatic updates in App Store preferences, and they can be manually deleted.”
Read more in the full article here.
“macOS Sierra will only auto download on computers that have automatic downloads enabled,” Jim Dalrymple reports for The Loop.
“This process is not new on Macs or iOS,” Dalrymple reports. “Auto downloads have been available for some time now and its a feature I’ve had enabled on all of my devices.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you are subject to bandwidth caps or otherwise concerned, you can turn off auto updates in System Preferences > App Store > check/uncheck to enable/disable the desired functions for updates.
So, I’m going to get a crapload of customers coming in saying their critical 3rd-party software no longer works. Wonderful.
Deal with it. Move on.
Do you work for Microsoft, trondude? Sounds like it.
Anyone else wondering why Mike and trondude are arguing over quicklapper’s misunderstanding of what the word “download” means?
Pro tip: download is not the same as “install.”
quicklapper, I’m not sure how you think that a big file sitting waiting for people to update could possibly break 3rd party software. Those people already could have decided to update without this. The only difference now is it will happen faster if they click “Install.”
Krioni, I know the meaning of “download” very well and I know exactly what to do about this. On the other hand, just about all my clients are not very technical. They are normal run-of-the-mill Mac users who, if asked to install an update from Apple, automatically do it. I have had many, many long-time as well as new Mac users ask me to revert their OS to an earlier version after rushing to update and this is before Apple’s new policy. Understand?
I don’t see the huge deal here. You have advance warning and I’m assuming you also have a list of your clients. Why not email them now warning them to check that their apps will work with Sierra and not to install it if they are in doubt?
Only those customers who have enabled the opt-in feature at System Preferences > App Store > Automatically check for updates > Install OS X Updates, and also tell the upgrade to install when prompted.
Automatic download does not mean automatic installation. The user still needs to agree to the installation as they always have.
yep. Great for service business !
Over the last 4 years I’ve upgraded to a new OS X four times and ALL went quickly and smoothly. Everything always worked including all devices, add ons and even Windows 7 under parallels has worked flawlessly.
This is in direct constrast to my over twenty year experience with Microsoft Windows major “upgrades”. Every major upgrade was an all day frustrating hassle. The change in our office from win 3.1 to win 95 went so badly that I avoided win 95/98 ect and went straight to win nt/xp. Our office machines are STILL on win 7 32 bit. That is how bad it is.
Using the iMac is a great experience. Come on Apple upgrade the hardware, I’ll buy another one.
I suppose i depends on your definition of smoothly.
I tend to skip releases of Apple OSes now just like I did with Windows — because every release adds new incompatibilities that I just don’t need to deal with in order to say I have the latest OS.
Apple does intentionally or uncaringly make changes that breaks old software that I own and that is still competitive for what we need to do. That doesn’t sit well with me.
Also, since Apple has been too distracted to keep its Mac lineup fresh, why upgrade the OS? A newer OS isn’t going to make old hardware faster. On the contrary, with all of Apple’s phoning home and iCloud everywhere, the distractions and interruptions are just annoying. So they are now all turned off in order to attempt to return to a state closer to Apple’s best effort, Snow Leopard.
Not a fan of this at all. Some people use macs at work..and it’s bad enough I get prompts to update pages, etc.
Doesn’t bother me at all since I leave System Preferences > App Store > Automatically check for updates > Install OS X Updates disabled on all of my machines. I’m in full control.
yes you are… but Apple chooses to enable ALL those upgrade options on a default install with no notification. Apple could open that system preference post install so non-savy users at least know what decisions are made for them.
I just did a clean install of El Capitan the other day and “Install OS X Updates” was not enabled.
first the caching server, now this.
And in a related topic I have a question: Is there a way to stop the automatic download of IOS updates? On my devices I have toggled off “automatic downloads” in the iTunes & App Store. However, that doesn’t seem to stop IOS updates from downloading when available. Usually, this is not a problem. However, when I recently was in South Africa, IOS 10 downloaded to my devices without my realizing it. Bandwidth there is quite expensive relative to the amount allotted. $30 for 4Gb.
only way I have found so far is to keep the device full. I really wish they would not do that or give us control over when and what connection.
at least you get the option whether to install it or not. I was using Windows 10 and it wouldn’t let me shutdown or restart the machine without installing the update short of just turning the power off. I don’t think its a good idea to shove a system update down user’s throats as there are legitimate reasons for not wanting to update.
To the author of this article: This is BS! Apple is NOT PUSHING ANYONE to update their Mac’s OS! IF you had your family’s computers set up right in the first place then you would not need Watchman or any other monitoring! Quit trying to be a Windows PC I.T. Clown and all your family’s Macs will be fine without your help.