macOS Software Updates in System Preferences

macOS Mojave, Apple added a new software update in the system preferences. Let’s take a look at software updates in system preferences. Let’s go to my Mac. Now in the past, before Mac iOS Mojave, any updates for your Mac, including updates for apps that you’ve downloaded from the Mac App store and any Mac updates, were found in the App Store. If you had any updates for your Mac, it could be operating system updates. It could be updated for any apps that you’ve downloaded through the App Store. You found them in the Mac app store, let’s go and open this up. You’re going to see that they completely redesigned it, but we still have updates over here. These updates now only include apps that have been downloaded through the app store. They no longer include any updates for the Mac operating system.

If you have any updates for apps that you’ve downloaded through the app store, you’ll find them in this section. Now I do not have any updates here, but I can see what has been recently updated. If I had any updates, I’d be able to see them here and update them. Now, where do we find our updates for the Mac itself, the MacOS? Well, we have a new system preference in our system preferences. It’s called software update. Let’s take a look at it. I’m going to close out of the app store here, and now I’m going to go to system preferences. This is where we have all the default preferences for the Mac. I click on it, and it opens up. We have a new preference pane. These are all called preference panes. You’re going to see; I have software update. This is new in macOS Mojave.

When I click on it, it’s going to check to see if there are any updates. You’re going to see it’s checking for updates. If there’s an update, it’ll tell you that there’s an update. If not, it’ll let you know that your Mac is up to date. Now we do have a few settings for this. You’re going to see we have advanced in the lower right-hand corner. I click on it and now what I can do is I can have it automatically check for updates. If you’d like to check for updates manually, you want to deselect this. I can have it download new updates when available. When it downloads them, it does not install them. It only downloads them. If you want to install your updates, you go to our next option, install macOS updates.

If you want it to be completely automatic, what you need to do is you need to make sure that you have to download new updates when available and install macOS updates. Below that, we also have install app updates from the App Store. Remember how I went to the App Store, and I saw those updates, and those updates were made about two days ago? That’s because I have this selected. macOS Mojave or the App Store automatically updated those apps. If you want to update your third-party apps manually, in other words, you want to go to the app store and update them yourself, then what you want to make sure you do is deselect this.

Our last option here is to install system data files and security updates. What does this mean? Well, if you go and deselect install macOS updates, it’s not going to install any major updates, but what it will still do when you have system files and security updates, it will still update any security updates. Even if you don’t want your Mac to update the macOS automatically, I would still highly recommend leaving this on. What this will do is it will not install any major updates, but what it will do is it will install any security updates, which you always want to have up to date.

That’s how we update our software in macOS Mojave.