MacOS Mojave


macOS Mojave is the fifteenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. Mojave was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 4, 2018, and was released to the public on September 24, 2018. The operating system's name refers to the Mojave Desert and is part of a series of California-themed names that began with OS X Mavericks. It succeeded macOS High Sierra and was followed by macOS Catalina.
macOS Mojave brings several iOS apps to the desktop operating system, including Apple News, Voice Memos, and Home. It also includes a much more comprehensive "dark mode", and is the final version of macOS to support 32-bit application software.
Mojave was well received and was supplemented by point releases after launch.

Overview

macOS Mojave was announced on June 4, 2018, at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California. Apple pitched Mojave, named after the California desert, as adding "pro" features that would benefit all users. The developer preview of the operating system was released for developers the same day, followed by a public beta on June 26. The retail version of 10.14 was released on September 24. It was followed by several point updates and supplemental updates. The most recent security update was on March 24, 2020.

System requirements

Mojave requires a GPU that supports Metal, and the list of compatible systems is more restrictive than the previous version, macOS High Sierra. Compatible models are the following Macintosh computers running OS X Mountain Lion or later:
macOS Mojave requires at least 2GB of RAM as well as 12.5GB of available disk space to upgrade from OS X El Capitan, macOS Sierra, or macOS High Sierra, or 18.5GB of disk space to upgrade from OS X Yosemite and earlier releases. Some features are not available on all compatible models.

Changes

System updates

macOS Mojave deprecates support for several legacy features of the OS. The graphics frameworks OpenGL and OpenCL are still supported by the operating system, but will no longer be maintained; developers are encouraged to use Apple's Metal library instead.
OpenGL is a cross-platform graphics framework designed to support a wide range of processors. Apple chose OpenGL in the late 1990s to build support for software graphics rendering into the Mac, after abandoning QuickDraw 3D. At the time, moving to OpenGL allowed Apple to take advantage of existing libraries that enabled hardware acceleration on a variety of different GPUs. As time went on, Apple has shifted its efforts towards building its hardware platforms for mobile and desktop use. Metal makes use of the homogenized hardware by abandoning the abstraction layer and running on the "bare metal". Metal reduces CPU load, shifting more tasks to the GPU. It reduces driver overhead and improves multithreading, allowing every CPU thread to send commands to the GPU.
macOS does not natively support Vulkan, the Khronos group's official successor to OpenGL. The MoltenVK library can be used as a bridge, translating most of the Vulkan 1.0 API into the Metal API.
Continuing the process started in macOS High Sierra, which issued warnings about compatibility with 32-bit applications, Mojave issues warnings when opening 32-bit apps that they will not be supported in future updates. In macOS Mojave 10.14, this alert appears once every 30 days when launching the app, as macOS 10.15 will not support 32-bit applications.
When Mojave is installed, it will convert solid-state drives, hard disk drives, and Fusion Drives, from HFS Plus to APFS. On Fusion Drives using APFS, files will be moved to the SSD based on the file's frequency of use and its SSD performance profile. APFS will also store all metadata for a Fusion Drive's file system on the SSD.
New data protections require applications to get permission from the user before using the Mac camera and microphone or accessing system data like user Mail history and Messages database.

Removed features

Mojave removes integration with Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, and Flickr, which was added in OS X Mountain Lion.
The only supported Nvidia graphics cards are the Quadro K5000 and GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition.

Applications

Mojave features changes to existing applications as well as new ones. Finder now has metadata preview accessed via View > Show Preview, and many other updates, including a Gallery View that lets users browse through files visually. After a screenshot is taken, as with iOS, the image appears in the corner of the display. The screenshot software can now record video, choose where to save files, and be opened via + +.
Safari's Tracking Prevention features now prevent social media "Like" or "Share" buttons and comment widgets from tracking users without permission. The browser also sends less information to web servers about the user's system, reducing the chance of being tracked based on system configuration. It can also automatically create, autofill, and store strong passwords when users create new online accounts; it also flags reused passwords so users can change them.
A new Screenshot app was added to macOS Mojave to replace the Grab app. Screenshot can capture a selected area, window or the entire screen as well as screen record a selected area or the entire display. The Screenshot app is located in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder, as was the Grab app. Screenshot can also be accessed by pressing ++.

FaceTime

macOS 10.14.1, released on October 30, 2018, adds Group FaceTime, which lets users chat with up to 32 people at the same time, using video or audio from an iPhone, iPad or Mac, or audio from Apple Watch. Participants can join in mid-conversation.

App Store

The Mac App Store was rewritten from the ground up and features a new interface and editorial content, similar to the iOS App Store. A new 'Discover' tab highlights new and updated apps; Create, Work, Play and Develop tabs help users find apps for a specific project or purpose.

iOS apps ported to macOS

Four new apps are ported to macOS Mojave from iOS, with Apple implementing a subset of UIKit on the desktop OS. Third-party developers would be able to port iOS applications to macOS in 2019.
With Home, Mac users can control their HomeKit-enabled accessories to do things like turn lights off and on or adjust thermostat settings. Voice Memos lets users record audio, and access them from iPhone, iPad or Mac. Stocks delivers curated market news alongside a personalized watchlist, with quotes and charts.

User interface

Dark mode and accent colors

Mojave introduces "Dark Mode", a Light-on-dark color scheme that darkens the user interface to make content stand out while the interface recedes. Users can choose dark or light mode when installing Mojave, or any time thereafter from System Preferences.
Apple's built-in apps support Dark Mode. App developers can implement Dark mode in their apps via a public API.
A limited dark mode that affected only the Dock, menu bar, and drop-down menus was previously introduced in OS X Yosemite.

Desktop

, a feature introduced in Mac OS X Leopard, now lets users group desktop files into groups based on file attributes such as file kind, date last opened, date modified, date created, name and tags. This is accessed via View > Use Stacks.
macOS Mojave features a new Dynamic Desktop that automatically changes specially made desktop backgrounds to match the time of day.

Dock

The Dock has a space for recently used apps that have not previously been added to the Dock.

Preferences

macOS update functionality has been moved back to System Preferences from the Mac App Store. In OS X Mountain Lion, system and app updates moved to the App Store from Software Update.

Reception

Mojave was generally well received by technology journalists and the press. The Verges Jacob Kastrenakes considered Mojave a relatively minor update, but Kastrenakes and Jason Snell thought the release hinted at the future direction of macOS. In contrast, Ars Technicas Andrew Cunningham felt that "Mojave feels, if not totally transformative, at least more consequential than the last few macOS releases have felt." Cunningham highlighted productivity improvements and continued work on macOS's foundation.
TechCrunch’s Brian Heater dubbed Mojave "arguably the most focused macOS release in recent memory", playing an important role in reassuring professional users that it was still committed to them.
Mojave's new features were generally praised. Critics welcomed the addition of Dark Mode.

Release history

VersionBuildDateDarwinRelease NotesStandalone download
10.1418A391September 24, 201818.0.0Original Mac App Store release
10.14.118B75October 30, 201818.2.0
xnu-4903.221.2~2
10.14.118B2107October 30, 2018Added support for the new Vega GPUs in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air
10.14.118B3094October 30, 2018Added support for the new Vega GPUs in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air
10.14.218C54December 5, 201818.2.0
xnu-4903.231.4~2

10.14.318D42January 22, 201918.2.0
xnu-4903.241.1~4

10.14.318D43January 25, 201918.2.0
xnu-4903.241.1~4

10.14.318D109February 7, 201918.2.0
xnu-4903.241.1~4
10.14.418E226March 25, 201918.5.0
xnu-4903.251.3~3

10.14.418E227March 25, 201918.5.0
xnu-4903.251.3~3

10.14.518F132May 13, 201918.6.0
xnu-4903.261.4~2

10.14.618G84July 22, 201918.7.0
xnu-4903.270.47~4

10.14.618G87August 1, 201918.7.0
xnu-4903.270.47~4		Addressed the Wake from Sleep bug, which caused Macs not waking from sleep properly.
10.14.618G95August 26, 201918.7.0
xnu-4903.271.2~2		Security updates and bug fixes
  • Addressed: MacBooks shutting down during sleep
  • Addressed: Performance throttling when handling large files
  • Addressed: iLife applications not updating
  • Re-patched a vulnerability that was accidentally unpatched in the previous update, which could lead to hacking attempts
10.14.618G103September 26, 201918.7.0
xnu-4903.271.2~2		Security updates and bug fixes
10.14.618G1012October 29, 201918.7.0
xnu-4903.278.12~4
10.14.618G2022December 10, 201918.7.0
xnu-4903.278.19~1
10.14.618G3020January 28, 202018.7.0
xnu-4903.278.25~1
10.14.618G4032March 24, 202018.7.0
xnu-4903.278.28~1
10.14.618G5033May 26, 202018.7.0
xnu-4903.278.35~1
10.14.618G6020July 15, 202018.7.0
xnu-4903.278.43~1