An effective way to keep your MacBook Pro optimized and secure is to regularly download and install the updates that are available for your macOS and other apps installed on your Mac.
This not only provides you with the much needed security updates but also enhances the performance of your MacBook.
Although, updating macOS is one of the easiest things to do however still users feel quite confused when it comes to either upgrading macOS or updating it.
If you too have any questions or confusion regarding the update of the operating system on your mac then this article will help you in getting a better understanding. So without further ado let’s learn how to update macOS.
How to update macOS
With the latest macOS, updating the operating system to the latest version is much easier as compared to before. Now instead of searching through the App Store, all you need to do is go to System Preference menu and download the update available for your system.
Now, many times users get confused System Updates with system upgrades. Although on the first instance both look similar however the basic difference between both is a System Upgrade is an all new version of the macOS. For example: A system upgrade is upgrading from Mojave to Catalina to Big Sur, while system updates are the regular updates that include patches, firmware updates and bug fixes.
Apart from this a user may be concerned when upgrading his operating system, as he needs to first check that all the software installed on his Mac is compatible with the latest OS. Also, it is quite difficult to downgrade your macOS to the previous version, therefore you need to be extra careful while upgrading (not updating) your Mac. However, no such complication occurs in updating the mac.
Note: All the upgrades can be found in the App Store. All you need to do is search for the specific version > download it > open > let it run.
To update macOS in Mojave or later, head on to the Apple Menu > System Preferences > Software Update. Now your Mac will automatically scan the system to check if there’s an available update. If there’s an available update, click on the Update Now button located at the top-right corner. And in case you are already running the latest version you will find it here.
Note: For macOS High Sierra or earlier, you can find the options under Apple Menu > System Preferences > App Store
However, to avoid the future hustle, what we suggest is to tick the checkbox that is next to, automatically keep my Mac up-to-date. This will help you to receive a notification, whenever a new update is available, and let you choose whether to install that update or wait until later.
How to Keep Your Mac Apps Up-To-Date
Updating the apps on your Mac isn’t much different from updating your macOS. Click on the Apple Menu > System Preferences > Software Update> Check the box next to automatically keep my Mac up-to-date. Now, this time you have to go an extra step and click the button that says Advanced. Next, you can check or uncheck the updates that you want Apple to checkout for.
This will really ease your task of updating majority of the apps of your mac, without you to check for every time for an available update.
However, this will not work for all the apps. And for those apps you have to follow the steps below.
- Open Mac App Store.
- Now in the left sidebar, click on the Updates button to find all the apps for which there is an update available.
- Next update each app by clicking on the button that is just next to it.
Moreover, another option to update all apps automatically is by clicking the App Store on the menu bar > Preferences > Automatic Updates.
The above steps will work flawlessly to update all the mac apps installed from the App Store. But if you have installed third party apps, which you installed outside the App store, you have to put in some manual effort, and therefore there are no generic steps that will work to update all the apps. However, the most common ways to update an app from the menu bar is as follows:
- Open the App > Click on Update/Check for Update
- Open the App > Click on About > Click on Update/Check for Update
- Help > Update/Check for Update
Note: We again bring to your notice that since all these apps are third party apps, therefore their update entirely depends on the updates provided by the respective developer of the app. And the steps therefore may change for some of the apps.
Most of the third party apps that are compatible with the latest version of macOS will prompt a notification when an update is released by the respective developer. It is worth to mention that there are some other apps that have their own updater apps that checks for the update in the background. For some apps like Google Chrome you can check for the update from within the app itself.
Wrapping Up
To keep your mac secure and up in performance, updating the macOS and other apps is an effective way. However, for all round optimization of your Mac it might be not enough. Therefore we recommend you to use a dedicated mac optimization tool, i.e. TuneupMyMac.
This amazing tool once installed provides you with the below benefits.
- Cleaning of Mac with a single click
- Freeing up space on the hard drive of your Mac
- Speeding up the performance by removing junk and other temporary files
- Securely deleting sensitive and other confidential data.
- Optimizing the hard drive that in turn make your Mac more stable
