macOS Catalina 10.15.1 is now available with opt-in Siri review, support for AirPods Pro

Posted:
in General Discussion edited February 2020
An update to macOS Catalina has just been released, in time to support the use of Apple's new AirPods Pro with Macs.

Apple's current iMac
Apple's current iMac


Following its third beta release to developers last week, Apple has now brought out macOS Catalina 10.15.1. While chiefly an incremental upgrade, this edition does add small changes, and it is also required for users who buy Apple's new AirPods Pro.

Alongside support for the new noise-cancelling AirPods Pro, macOS 10.15.1 also brings support for use of AMD Navi RDNA graphics cards in eGPU enclosures.

Among software improvements, 10.15.1 adds new some new features to Photos. It's now possible to filter by Favorites, Edited, Photos, Videos or Keywords in an All Photos view.

Users can now also use View, Metadata, Titles to edit titles and filenames.

There are new emoji which brings macOS Catalina up to date with those recently added to iOS and iPadOS. Over 70 are included or updated, including animals, food, activities, new accessibility emoji, gender-neutral emoji, and skin tone selection for couple emoji.

And there is also a new screen asking users to choose whether or not to allow Apple to review audio of Siri requests. This follows the addition of a similar request on iOS, and is part of Apple's recent changes regarding privacy and data safety.

Users can elect to delete their Siri and Dictation history, via Siri settings.

The Home app has been updated with support for HomeKit Secure Video, enabling the private capture, storage, and viewing of encrypted video from security cameras. The feature also able to detect people, animals, and vehicles, to help users with determining events that happen in videos.

HomeKit-enabled routers can be set to control how other HomeKit accessories communicate within the home, as well as enabling or denying Internet access for each. The Home app also adds support for AirPlay 2-enabled speakers in scenes and automations.

Users can install the 4.49-gigabyte update by going to System Preferences then Software Update. After it checks for updates and shows one is available, users can click Update Now to start the download.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 44
    JanNLJanNL Posts: 327member
    Better to wait a few days before updating?  ;)
    wallym
  • Reply 2 of 44
    JanNL said:
    Better to wait a few days before updating?  ;)
    That’s what I’m thinking...
  • Reply 3 of 44
    After my HomePod update yesterday, I think I'm going to hold off on this one a bit..
  • Reply 4 of 44
    neilmneilm Posts: 985member
    The counter-argument to that is that with Catalina we're already into Terra Incognita, so updates are likely to be more beneficial than risky. Or at least so we may hope...

    Downloading it as we speak.
    edited October 2019 mwhitewatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 44
    I wonder if they fixed the incredibly buggy Finder in 10.15.0. It's completely unusable.
    edited October 2019
  • Reply 6 of 44
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    I'll let you know what happens.  I'm doing mine right now... if it's okay, I'll do my other two Macs as well.

    The only update that really screwed me was the last 10.14.6 update.  It's what forced me to upgrade to Catalina.  I do a lot of semi-pro photography and I use Lightroom/Photoshop.  The update caused a display-corruption where my exported files would have halos on photos with a lot of blacks.  The company that makes my monitor-calibration product confirmed this with Apple, Apple was not making any promises to fix it as Catalina was right around the corner.  It was resolved in Catalina.

    I'm hesitant after that... but Catalina has been good so far.  The 10.15.1 I'm crossing fingers will be welcomed.  I'm just not ready just yet to update the workstation that I use for my photography.
    edited October 2019 philboogiewatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 44
    davgregdavgreg Posts: 1,036member
    Catalina is mostly good excepting GameCenter will not stay turned off/logged out. If you launch a game that uses Game Center it pops up a sign in and does not remember if you signed it out. I see nowhere to turn it off that actually works- including System Prefs.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 44
    I swear these downloads are getting SLOWER and SLOWER
    JonInAtllenny491
  • Reply 9 of 44
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    kansasr said:
    I swear these downloads are getting SLOWER and SLOWER
    I haven't had an issue with speed until this one. I'm about 1.5 hours in with another hour to go.
    JonInAtl
  • Reply 10 of 44
    PaulLPaulL Posts: 2unconfirmed, member
    This download is positively GLACIAL in speed.
    JonInAtl
  • Reply 11 of 44
    neilm said:
    The counter-argument to that is that with Catalina we're already into Terra Incognita, so updates are likely to be more beneficial than risky.
    Definitely. The rule of thumb is, maybe don't install the .0 release, but once you're on that train, keep updating.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 44
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,717member
    Soli said:
    kansasr said:
    I swear these downloads are getting SLOWER and SLOWER
    I haven't had an issue with speed until this one. I'm about 1.5 hours in with another hour to go.
    Apple probably should have staggered these updates a bit better.  That said, I don't think they could wait because they all add support for AirPods Pro.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 44
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    I wonder if they fixed the incredibly buggy Finder in 10.15.0. It's completely unusable.
    Unstable how? Updated to Catalina day 1 and no issues. Running update now.  
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 44
    JanNLJanNL Posts: 327member
    Soli said:
    kansasr said:
    I swear these downloads are getting SLOWER and SLOWER
    I haven't had an issue with speed until this one. I'm about 1.5 hours in with another hour to go.
    Same here, started 2 hours ago, still busy downloading (with 3 hours to go)... (with ± 500Mb download ISP)
    edited October 2019 watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 44
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    I wonder if they fixed the incredibly buggy Finder in 10.15.0. It's completely unusable.

    I've been using Catalina for several hours every single day since launch, and spend most of the time in the finder, and have had exactly zero issues. But sure, whatever you say, "completely unusable". 
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 44
    kansasr said:
    I swear these downloads are getting SLOWER and SLOWER

    I think this one is a record. For the first time since 2006 I can’t download the update for almost 3 hours. Yesterday it took less than a minute to download iOS 13.2
  • Reply 17 of 44
    mwhitemwhite Posts: 287member
    Soli said:
    kansasr said:
    I swear these downloads are getting SLOWER and SLOWER
    I haven't had an issue with speed until this one. I'm about 1.5 hours in with another hour to go.
    Downloaded and installed in less than a hour, works fine for me.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 44
    mwhitemwhite Posts: 287member
    Downloaded and installed in less than a hour.
  • Reply 19 of 44
    mwhitemwhite Posts: 287member
    JanNL said:
    Soli said:
    kansasr said:
    I swear these downloads are getting SLOWER and SLOWER
    I haven't had an issue with speed until this one. I'm about 1.5 hours in with another hour to go.
    Same here, started 2 hours ago, still busy downloading (with 3 hours to go)... (with ± 500Mb download ISP)
    Less than a hour with 45 Mb download ISP at the same time updating my watch series 1 and watching prime show...
    edited October 2019 watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 44
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    I wonder if they fixed the incredibly buggy Finder in 10.15.0. It's completely unusable.
    What the heck does "completely unusable" even mean?  I use it every day and have had zero problems with it.  Care to explain?
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
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