macOS Versions

macOS version history - Wikipedia

  • Max OS X 10.3 Panther (2003)
    • Safari the default web browser
    • Finder brushed-metal UI
    • FileVault for home folder added
    • X11 compatibility
  • Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (2005)
    • First to run on Intel (partway through the lifetime)
    • Last version to support Classic environment (on PowerPC)
  • Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (2007)
    • Last to run on PowerPC
    • Introduced Time Machine
  • Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (2009)
    • First to run exclusively on Intel
    • Still had Rosetta to allow running PowerPC applications
    • Finder rewritten in Cocoa
    • Last to support 32-bit Intel Macs
  • OS X 10.7 Lion (2011)
    • First to be exclusively referred to as “OS X”
    • Removed Rosetta, so PowerPC applications could no longer be run
  • OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion (2012)
    • Last to be named after a cat
  • OS X 10.9 Mavericks (2013)
    • First to be named after a location in California
  • OS X 10.10 Yosemite (2014)
    • Introduced Continuity and Handoff
  • OS X 10.11 El Capitan (2015)
    • Last to be referred to as “OS X”
    • San Francisco adopted as system font
  • macOS 10.12 Sierra (2016)
    • First referred to as “macOS”
  • macOS 10.13 High Sierra (2017)
    • Switch to APFS
  • macOS 10.14 Mojave (2018)
    • Introduced dark mode
    • Last to support 32-bit apps
  • macOS 10.15 Catalina (2019)
    • Last in 10.x line
    • First to support only 64-bit apps. This can especially affect Steam games that weren’t updated to 64-bit