Photos in High Sierra now has all the adjustment tools easily accessible on the side panel. Lori Grunin/CNET Now that they're free, operating system updates are often just as much about fixing the underlying plumbing of a device as they are about adding new and notable features. That's largely the case with MacOS 10.13, otherwise known as High Sierra. For the most part, don't expect jaw-dropping changes or totally new interfaces. Instead, you get new features such as Safari's autoplay blocking, the ability to edit iPhone's Live Photos in Photos, and really fast file copying on SSDs. On the other hand, that means no sea-changes to your existing workflows, and some nice quality-of-experience enhancements if you're a big user of those applications.
Jun 4, 2018 - Here's everything you need to know about macOS High Sierra, including the latest version, issues and fixes.
Performance is virtually identical, at least on an up-to-date MacBook Pro (13-inch). File moves are instantaneous under both High Sierra and Sierra, but copies of large files (like a 4.3GB ISO image) are instantaneous on AFS, the updating disk file system that's now default for anyone who doesn't have a Fusion drive or an old spinning hard drive. That's really important if you work with video and other massive-file generating tools.
Battery life seems to be slightly better - we got about 30 minutes more. But it also turns out that High Sierra breaks one of our benchmarks.
1:59 Just hours before the High Sierra update become available for download, a Keychain security vulnerability in MacOS. In response, Apple said the following: 'MacOS is designed to be secure by default, and Gatekeeper warns users against installing unsigned apps, like the one shown in this proof of concept, and prevents them from launching the app without explicit approval. We encourage users to download software only from trusted sources like the Mac App Store, and to pay careful attention to security dialogs that MacOS presents.' Apple did not provide a timeline for a possible fix. However, because the vulnerability is said to affect High Sierra and previous versions of MacOS, waiting to update won't make you any safer.
Should I update? TL;DR Yes, if you answer any of these affirmatively:. You're paranoid about security. Some say that the update is essential in order to get a complete set of security fixes, but it's not like Apple is going to keep Sierra unpatched. Enterprises are running even older versions and they'll continue to be patched. But if you think the potential security advantages outweigh the possibility of running into application issues, then update. Your system has an SSD, not a Fusion Drive or HDD.
You've updated your iPhone or iPad to iOS 11 and shoot photos and videos with the new file formats. You're a big Photos user. You have a complicated family to manage with iCloud.
You've been screaming for the specific capabilities added in those particular applications Updating will also get you the latest security fixes (the Keychain exploit above notwithstanding). That said, my standard recommendation is to wait at least a month before updating and let the early birds find the most glaring problems and glitches, which are generally handled by followup point upgrades. Want a more detailed look at what you need to know about High Sierra? It's a free upgrade that works on 2010 and later Macs High Sierra has the same requirements as Sierra, so if you're running that now the answer's yes.
If you never updated to Sierra, check out. (If your Mac was built in the last seven or eight years, you should be good to go.) It flips the switch on overdue architectural changes There's a lot going on under the hood to lay the groundwork for future enhancements, though much of their benefit doesn't appear at the moment. When it comes down to it, many of them Apple really couldn't put off. In order to be able to work with iOS 11's new file encodings - the HEIF (photos) and HEVC/H.265 (video) which allow for better compression to save space on your iPhone - Apple had to update MacOS to understand them.
The successor to the ancient HFS+ file system, Apple File System (AFS), was rolled out last year, but with High Sierra became the default. At the very least, AFS' 64-bit addressing is essential to the upcoming iMac Pro for many reasons, not the least of which is the ability to support that system's configuration with a 4TB SSD and higher. Plus, SSDs have different failure characteristics than hard disk drives - one bad bit and buh-bye - so the file system needs different types of redundancies and checks for reliability.
And the company's Metal graphics programming interface really needed the Metal 2 update for several reasons, such as helping Apple overcome its reputation as a VR no-show and creating an efficient way to develop for both iOS and MacOS. To compete with Windows-based gaming laptops and mobile workstations, most which don't concern themselves with the thinness to the extent Apple prizes, the company had to add the ability to connect to an external GPU; we won't even see those until mid-2018. Most notably, though, without Metal 2 those pricey iMac Pros would be all dressed up with 18 CPU cores and Radeon Vega GPU but have nowhere to go. AFS is a big win - for SSD owners In addition to the aforementioned reasons AFS is necessary, it also theoretically improves performance and security.
That's always a nice perk. But despite having over a year to work out the kinks with AFS, Apple rolled out High Sierra with a big caveat: AFS will only work with SSDs for now. You shouldn't use it for HDD+SSD Fusion drives and regular HDDs (spinning hard disks).
Don't even think about it. When High Sierra went final, beta testers who had converted non-SSDs to AFS were greeted with a mind-bending list of instructions for banishing AFS from their systems.
HDD-supporting AFS is definitely coming, but we don't know when. But it means the systems which need the performance boost the most don't get it yet. It also means you can't use it on most drives used for backup, so no performance boost there. On the other hand, if you do have a system with an SSD, AFS delivers noticeably better speed, at least for same-disk file copies for GB-size files, and security that's probably worth the update now rather than later.
Check your essential apps for compatibility before updating Architectural changes like a new file system or changes to permissions - yup, there are changes to SKEL (Secure Kernel Extension Loading) aka Gatekeeper - may make it difficult or impossible to install some applications in the beginning. Luckily, seems to still work.
So make sure your most prized third-party applications will install before you commit. (Your currently installed ones should remain installed.) For instance, I use to run Windows and that won't be fully compatible until October. Update for Photos.
Or not As I mentioned earlier, if you plan to take advantage of the extra space savings offered by the new photo and video file formats, you'll have to update to MacOS to be able to view or edit them on your Mac. You don't have to, though; if you prefer to keep it compatible, just go into Settings/Camera/Formats on your iPhone and change it from 'High Efficiency' to 'Most Compatible.'
If you're a big Photos user, Apple has certainly improved the organization and editing interfaces to make using the software more streamlined, and added the same Loop, Bounce and Long Exposure effects for Live Photos that you've got on iOS 11. (Unfortunately, on the bigger-than-phone-size screen of a computer, it's easier to see how the effects degrade the quality.) And now Photos has an extensions interface where other companies can serve up projects for creating books, cards, calendars and so on.
All stuff you could do before, but now from within Photos. And it will happily tell you that the book you just laid out will cost $120.
Want Safari 11? You don't need High Sierra The latest version of Safari has some really nice features, implemented in a way I wish other browsers would - you can set default zoom levels on a per-site basis and quickly get to those per-site settings right from the main menu, for example, and the Intelligent Tracking Prevention (which expires third-party cookies used to track you across the web after 24 hours) is an easy way to take a basic step toward more privacy. And of course there's the ability to block autoplay videos as long as they make noise.
Apple claims it's also faster, and it might be when measured in milliseconds, but in practice I really don't notice much of a difference bouncing back between that and Chrome. Updates to Safari and iTunes hit the Mac earlier this month as separate downloads. On the other hand, some capabilities of Safari 11 do require High Sierra, however, most notably accelerated streaming HEVC video playback. But there isn't a lot of that content available yet to stream. There are a smattering of other changes If you don't already use one of the myriad services available for collaborative editing - Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, Microsoft OneDrive and so on - Apple now offers basic file sharing with real-time updates. It also enables the 'universal clipboard,' which is essentially the same thing but across nearby devices you've got logged into the same account (sort of like Airdrop), but it's hard to tell what's new.
And it makes it easier to manage your family plan. But the rest could have easily been slipstreamed into Sierra without fanfare. Do you use the Touch Bar? Apple has made some 'enhancements' to its operation. I put 'enhancements' in quotation marks because some of them don't really feel like it. For instance, you can now flick the brightness and volume controls instead of sliding them.
But flicking properly doesn't feel a lot faster or easier than just pressing and sliding. The expanded color picker options look pretty, but to use them you have to constantly look away from the screen.
Top Hits in Mail search results? Split screen message editing in full screen? A more compact message store? Hell yeah, at least for the few, the proud, the Apple Mail users. FaceTime Live Photos (to capture something on the other end of the call)?
More of an iOS perk. The ability to pin Notes and use tables? Big news for Notes users. For more details, here's a.
Editors' note, 7:24 p.m. PT: This story has been updated several times since its original publication at 10 a.m. PT to incorporate news of a MacOS security issue, Apple's response and the resulting download recommendations.
Several months after Apple officially released their latest operating system update, the macOS High Sierra, to the public some of its users are still experiencing different types of problems and errors. While Apple is known for developing and offering top-notch software and hardware, performance issues cannot be totally avoided. Fortunately, there’s a solution for every macOS high sierra problem you might be experiencing right now. Here are some of the top masOS High Sierra problems and how to fix them.
Mac Won’t Start After Upgrading To macOS High Sierra If your Mac is not starting an OS upgrade, do not worry because it is not an OS-exclusive problem. This was also one of the main reported problems when El Capitan was released and that users had and have been encountering this before.
When your Mac refuses to boot up after installing High Sierra, you can try an NVRAM or PRAM reset. NVRAM (non-volatile RAM) and PRAM (parameter RAM) are small RAMs that store particular Mac settings. Modern Macs have NVRAM while older models have PRAM. When you turn off your computer, these RAMs do not fully shut down as they are powered by a separate battery or capacitor in the motherboard.
When they become corrupted, they are likely to prevent your Mac from booting up. The only way to stop them from doing so is to reset them. To help you boot your Mac from scratch, here’s how you can reset the NVRAM or PRAM:. Press the Power button while pressing down on Option, Command, P, and R keys all at the same time. Wait until the second startup sound or chime before releasing the buttons altogether. Once your NVRAM or PRAM resets, consider launching Disk Utility to scan for other problems that may be preventing your Mac from starting up.
Similarly, you can use a third-party tool like to easily and quickly look for problems to get rid of them. MacOS High Sierra Slows Down or Freezes Randomly If you just finished installing High Sierra, give your Mac some time to adjust and configure itself. If it’s still too slow or if it freezes randomly, try restarting. If this doesn’t do anything, you’d want to know what’s making it slow.
To do this, launch Activity Monitor, which can be found in the Applications folder. Pay attention to apps eating up the CPU space, then force quit individual apps. You might also need to delete system caches, which are temporary files left by programs. Over time, they can pile up and cause software conflicts.
To clear cache folders manually, follow these steps:. Go to Finder Go menu. Click on Go to Folder.
Type in /Library/Caches. Press Return/Enter. Go through each folder to clean out the files inside them. Note: Do not delete the folders, only the files.
When you are done deleting old cache files, rename /Library/Caches to /Library/Caches. Note that some cache files might still be needed to run certain programs properly, so be careful as to which cache files you need to delete. If you don’t want to do this manually and make a huge mistake, use a3rd party tool to do the job for you with just one click of a button. Apps Freeze and Crash After Upgrading to macOS High Sierra Apple has completely moved from 32-bit apps to the 64-bit structure with the High Sierra release. While most app developers have already prepared for the change, there are those who are yet to keep up.
If an app repeatedly freezes and crashes after you installed macOS High Sierra, check if an update is available for it. If there is, go ahead and update the app. Re-setting the app might help, but if not, you may need to uninstall it. Uninstalling applications on Mac is quite complicated, though.
Mac doesn’t have that one-click uninstall button like Windows. You’ll need to go through different folders to delete certain files before an app is removed. And even after all that, some junk files are left behind and an easy way to completely get rid of problematic apps and their associated files is to uninstall them using tools such as Outbyte MacRepair.
Slow Wi-Fi on macOS High Sierra Nowadays, you’d rarely find anyone who doesn’t rely on wireless connectivity especially when it concerns the Internet that is why a slow net speed is a no-no. This is especially true if you’re using Macs which are designed to be the best of its class.
Resetting current Wi-Fi settings can help solve the problem. To do this, here are the steps:.
Launch Finder. Press Command + Shift + G. Type in the following: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/. Within the directory, select all files with the.plist file extension, then move them to the Trash. Now, restart your Mac and router for the changes to apply.
When your Mac comes back to life, it will create a fresh set of available Wi-Fi connections and settings. Have you encountered any of these problems and found their effective solutions? Are there other errors you need help with?
Let us know in the comments below.