🍏 Spring is the perfect time for macOS Sonoma 🍇
We’re now ready to recommend macOS 14 Sonoma. There's no need to upgrade immediately, but there’s no major reason most people need to wait.
When Should You Upgrade?
You can put off the Sonoma upgrade as long as you’re running macOS 13 Ventura and are staying current with Apple’s security updates. (Earlier macOS versions no longer receive security fixes, rendering them more vulnerable to attack.) Possible reasons to delay upgrading include:
You’re busy. The upgrade process will take a couple of hours, plus some additional time to configure everything properly afterward. When you are ready to upgrade, plan for when a little downtime won't be inconvenient.
You rely on incompatible software. The jump from Monterey or Ventura to Sonoma isn’t a big one, so most modern apps should have been updated by now. But if you’re still running older software, you may need to upgrade certain apps for compatibility with Sonoma.
Special note for PsiMac Prime clients
We're beginning to unblock Sonoma for self-guided upgrades, and we can schedule a time to handle the upgrade for you. By default, we actively block new macOS upgrades to protect you from an accidental or unplanned upgrade.
Why Upgrade?
Sonoma won’t transform your experience of using a Mac, but it has new features you might appreciate. The most noticeable is desktop widgets that provide updated information at a glance—you can even add widgets from your iPhone. Sonoma also lets you turn websites into standalone apps, enjoy aerial screensavers from the Apple TV, create a video overlay of yourself on video calls when sharing your screen, autofill PDF forms, and use the keyboard while dictating.
How to Upgrade
Once you’ve decided to upgrade to Sonoma, you have three main tasks:
Check your backups: We recommend an offsite backup to Backblaze, and Time Machine backup to an external hard drive.
Update apps: Make sure all your apps are as up-to-date as possible. If you regularly put off updates, now’s the time to let them complete so you have Sonoma-compatible versions.
Clear space: Sonoma may need as much as 25 GB of free space to upgrade, and the Sonoma installer itself is about 12 GB, so we recommend making sure you have at least 37 GB free.
Upgrades vs. Updates
Note the distinction between major Upgrades – going from Ventura (version 13) to Sonoma (version 14) for example – and more minor Updates, like updating Ventura to version 13.6.7 from 13.6.
While upgrades like Sonoma require careful planning and more time to install, updates are a regular occurrence and generally should be installed within a week or so of when they become available.
Let us handle this for you
PsiMac Prime includes automatic software updates.
How to Install Software Updates
The distinction between Upgrades and Updates can be a bit confusing since Apple puts them both in the same place: System Settings > Software Update. When you go to Software Update to install important security updates, you might see a banner promoting the upgrade to Sonoma for example.
The solution is simple: in the Software Update window, look in the section below the Sonoma banner for the prompt "Other updates are available." Click the "More info…" link in that lower section, and then click Install Now.