Software Update: Apple macOS 10.15.6

Apple recently released an update to macOS 10.15, better known as Catalina. New in version 10.15, which can be downloaded for free from the Apple Store, includes Sidecar, which allows users to extend their desktop of, for example, the MacBook Pro with the iPad as a second screen. It is also possible to control the Mac with voice commands and iTunes has been replaced by the separate programs Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV. Since version 10.15.3, the following changes and improvements have also been made:

macOS Catalina 10.15.6

macOS Catalina 10.15.6 introduces local news in your Today feed in Apple News and improves the security and reliability of your Mac.

Apple News

• Local news in your Today feed provides extensive coverage of San Francisco, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Houston, and New York City
• More stories available from local news providers with a subscription to Apple News+
• Your daily newsletter from Apple News can now be personalized with stories that reflect your interests

This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements.

• Adds a new option to optimize video streaming on HDR-compatible Mac notebooks for improved battery life
• Fixes an issue where the computer name may change after installing a software update
• Resolves an issue where certain USB mouse and trackpads may lose connection

Enterprise content:

• When using the built-in keyboard with a non-US keyboard layout on some Mac models, passwords with certain characters are no longer rejected at the Mac login window
• Allows command-line tools that don’t use CFNetwork, such as curl(1), to continue connecting to TLS servers that use certificates issued by the recently expired AddTrust External CA Root
• Major new releases of macOS can be hidden when using the softwareupdate(8) command with the –ignore flag, if the Mac is enrolled in Apple School Manager, Apple Business Manager, or a user-approved MDM†
  This change also affects macOS Mojave and macOS High Sierra after installing Security Update 2020-004.

macOS Catalina 10.15.5

macOS Catalina 10.15.5 introduces battery health management in the Energy Saver settings for notebooks, a new option to disable automatic prominence in Group FaceTime calls, and controls to fine-tune the built-in calibration of your Pro Display XDR. The update also improves the stability, reliability, and security of your Mac.

Battery Health Management

• Battery health management to help maximize battery lifespan for Mac notebooks
• Energy Saver preference pane now displays battery condition and recommends if the battery needs to be serviced
• Option to disable battery health management
  For more information, please visit

FaceTime Prominence Preference

• New option to control automatic prominence on Group FaceTime calls, so video tiles do not change size when a participant speaks

Calibration Fine-Tuning for Pro Display XDR

• Controls to fine-tune the built-in calibration of your Pro Display XDR by adjusting the white point and luminance for a precise match to
  your own display calibration target

This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements:

• Fixes an issue that may prevent Reminders from sending notifications for recurring reminders
• Addresses an issue that may prevent password entry on the login screen
• Fixes an issue where System Preferences would continue to show a notification badge even after installing an update
• Resolves an issue where the built-in camera may not be detected when trying to use it after using a video conferencing app
• Addresses an issue for Mac computers with the Apple T2 Security Chip where internal speakers may not appear as a sound output device in Sound preferences
• Fixes a stability issue with uploading and downloading media files from iCloud Photo Library while your Mac is asleep
• Resolves a stability issue when transferring large amounts of data to RAID volumes
• Fixes an issue where the Reduced Motion Accessibility preference did not reduce the speed of animations in a Group FaceTime call

Enterprise content:

• Improves performance on certain Mac models when enabling hardware acceleration in GPU-intensive apps such as those used for video conferencing
• Addresses an issue where Microsoft Exchange accounts were unable to sign in during account setup when using Conditional Access
• Apple Push Notification Service traffic now uses a web proxy when specified in a PAC file via the Proxies payload
• Resolves an issue that prevented some displays connected to MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) from waking from sleep when the Mac wakes
• Major new releases of macOS are no longer hidden when using the softwareupdate(8) command with the –ignore flag
  This change also affects macOS Mojave and macOS High Sierra after installing Security Update 2020-003.

macOS Catalina 10.15.4

macOS Catalina 10.15.4 introduces iCloud Drive folder sharing, Screen Time communication limits, Apple Music time-synced lyrics view, and more. The update also improves the stability, reliability, and security of your Mac.

finder

• iCloud Drive folder sharing from Finder
• Controls to limit access only to people you explicitly invite, or to grant access to anyone with the folder link
• Permissions to choose who can make changes and upload files, and who can only view and download files

Screen Time

• Communication limits for controlling who your children can communicate with and be contacted by throughout the day and during downtime
• Playback control of music videos for your children

music

• Time-synced lyrics view for Apple Music, including the ability to jump to your favorite part of a song by clicking a line in lyrics view

Safari

• Option to import Chrome passwords into your iCloud Keychain for easy AutoFill of your passwords in Safari and across all your devices
• Controls for duplicating a tab and for closing all tabs to the right of the current tab
• HDR playback support on compatible computers for Netflix content

App Store with Apple Arcade

• Universal Purchase support enables the use of a singular purchase of a participating app across iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV

Pro Display XDR

• Customized reference modes that you can tailor to specific workflow needs by selecting from several color gamut, white point, luminance, and transfer function options

Accessibility

• Head pointer preference for moving a cursor on the screen based on the precise movements of your head

This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements:

• High Dynamic Range output to HDR10-compatible third-party displays and TVs connected with DisplayPort or HDMI
• OAuth authentication support with Outlook.com accounts for improved security
• CalDav migration support when upgrading to iCloud reminders on a secondary device
• Addresses an issue where text copied between apps may appear invisible when Dark Mode is active
• Resolves an issue in Safari where a CAPTCHA tile may display incorrectly
• Fixes an issue where you may receive notifications for updated or completed reminders
• Fixes an issue with screen brightness for the LG UltraFine 5K display after waking from sleep

Enterprise content:

• Apple Push Notification Service traffic now uses a web proxy when specified in a PAC file
• Resolves an issue where updating the login keychain password after resetting a user password would cause a new keychain to be created
• After enabling ”Search directory services for certificates” in Keychain Access preferences, searching by email address in Keychain Access or Mail now locates a user certificate stored in directory services
• When setting the DisableFDEAutoLogin key in com.apple.loginwindow, you can now sync your FileVault password with the Active Directory user password after updating the user password
• Reinstates the ability to update or restore iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS devices by dragging .ipsw files to the device in an Apple Configurator 2 window
• Addresses an issue where sending the EraseDevice MDM command might not cause the device to be erased
• When logging in as an Active Directory user after using deferred FileVault enablement, the user is now prompted for their password to enable FileVault