macOS High Sierra

Not to be confused with macOS 13 (Ventura).

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macOS 10.13 “High Sierra”
Developer	Apple Inc.
Announced	June 5, 2017
Released	September 25, 2017
Latestversion	10.13.6
Price	Free (Mac App Store)
Predecessor	macOS Sierra (10.12)
Successor	macOS Mojave (10.14)
Homepage	apple.com/macos/high-sierra (archived)
Support status
Status	Last updated Nov. 12, 2020

macOS High Sierra (version 10.13), first released on September 25, 2017, is the fourteenth major release of OS X, renamed macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. It is the successor to macOS Sierra and the predecceesor of macOS Mojave. Following the California landmark-based naming scheme introduced with Mac OS X Mavericks, High Sierra was named after the High Sierra region of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

New features

The High Sierra desktop

The following is a partial list:

• New APFS file system, also introduced in iOS 10, replaces the decades-old HFS+ drive format with a modern replacement.
• HEVC, adds support for a much more efficient H.265 video codec.
• Metal 2, adds a newer version of the graphics display system, which supports VR and extended GPU functionality at higher speeds.
• Integrated VR support, contains support for creating, editing and interacting with VR media.
• Photos, adds an expanded sidebar, improved organization tools, integrates with advanced editing tools, supports more Memories modules and live photo editing tools, and included People/Faces.
• Safari, now contains Intelligent Tracking Prevention, the ability to disable autoplay, site-based browser settings, site-based always-on reader view.
• Siri, supports preference learning for music and is more tightly integrated with iTunes, and text to speech is improved.
• Spotlight, adds flight tracking features.
• Mail Search, is improved with more options.
• FaceTime, supports capture of Live Photos from streaming video.
• Notes, adds pins and tables.

System requirements

macOS High Sierra runs on the following Macintosh models with at least 2 GB of RAM and 14.3 GB of available disk space:

• iMac: Late 2009 or later
• MacBook: Late 2009 or later
• MacBook Pro: Mid 2010 or later
• MacBook Air: Late 2010 or later
• Mac Mini: Mid 2010 or later
• Mac Pro: Mid 2010 or later

HEVC hardware acceleration requires a Mac with a sixth-generation Intel processor or newer:

• iMac: Late 2015 27" or later, Mid 2017 21.5" or newer
• MacBook: Early 2015 or later
• MacBook Pro: Mid 2016 or later
• iMac Pro

External graphics processor support requires a Thunderbolt 3-enabled Mac:

• MacBook Pro: Late 2016 or later
• iMac: Mid 2017 or later
• iMac Pro

It is possible to install High Sierra on many older Macintosh computers that are not officially supported by Apple. This requires using a patch to modify the install image.

Deprecation of 32-bit support

Apple notified developers that High Sierra would be the last version of macOS to run 32-bit applications "without compromise". Starting with the update to macOS 10.13.3, launching a 32-bit application would display an alert that it "is not optimized for your Mac. This app needs to be updated by its developer to improve compatibility." macOS Mojave (10.14) would be the final major release to even run 32-bit software at all. MacOS Catalina (10.15) would mark the completion of Apple's transition to 64-bit technology and no longer support 32-bit applications.

Development and release

Apple’s new version of macOS is called High Sierra

Presented by Craig Federighi at WWDC 2017.

The first beta of macOS High Sierra was released to developers shortly after the keynote of the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5. The new features were presented by Craig Federighi, the senior VP of software engineering. When discussing how the "crack marketing team" came up with the name High Sierra while traveling in their minibus, he joked that they "assured us this name is fully baked."

The first public beta was made available in July 2017. macOS High Sierra was officially launched on September 25, 2017, as a free downloadable upgrade through the Mac App Store. There is no physical retail version from Apple, though it is possible to create a bootable drive of the installer.

Release history

Previous release

Current release

Version	Build	Date	Darwin	Notes	Standalone download
10.13.0	17A365	September 25, 2017	17.0.0	Original Mac App Store release About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13	N/A
	17A405	October 5, 2017		About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13 Supplemental Update	macOS 10.13 Supplemental
10.13.1	17B48	October 31, 2017	17.2.0	About the macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 Update About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13.1	macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 update
	17B1002	November 29, 2017		About the security content of Security Update 2017-001	Security Update 2017-001 macOS High Sierra v10.13.1
	17B1003
10.13.2	17C88	December 6, 2017	17.3.0	About the macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Update About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13.2	macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Update macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Combo Update
	17C89
	17C205	January 8, 2018		About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental Update	macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental
	17C2205
10.13.3	17D47	January 23, 2018	17.4.0	About the macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Update About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13.3	macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Update macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Combo Update
	17D2047
	17D102	February 19, 2018		About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Supplemental Update	macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Supplemental
	17D2102
10.13.4	17E199	March 29, 2018	17.5.0	About the macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 Update About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13.4	macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 Update macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 Combo Update
	17E202	April 24, 2018		About the security content of Security Update 2018-001	Security Update 2018-001 macOS High Sierra v10.13.4
10.13.5	17F77	June 1, 2018	17.6.0	About the macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 Update About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13.5	macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 Update macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 Combo Update
10.13.6	17G65	July 9, 2018	17.7.0	About the macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Update About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13.6	macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Update macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Combo Update
	17G2208
	17G3025	October 30, 2018	17.7.0	About the security content of Security Update 2018-002 High Sierra	Security Update 2018-002 High Sierra
	17G4015	December 5, 2018	17.7.0	About the security content of Security Update 2018-003 High Sierra	Security Update 2018-003 High Sierra
	17G5019	January 22, 2019	17.7.0	About the security content of Security Update 2019-001 High Sierra	Security Update 2019-001 High Sierra
	17G6029	March 25, 2019	17.7.0	About the security content of Security Update 2019-002 High Sierra	Security Update 2019-002 High Sierra
	17G6030	March 29, 2019	17.7.0	About the security content of Security Update 2019-002 High Sierra	Security Update 2019-002 High Sierra
	17G7024	May 13, 2019	17.7.0	About the security content of Security Update 2019-003 High Sierra	Security Update 2019-003 High Sierra
	17G8029	July 22, 2019	17.7.0	About the security content of Security Update 2019-004 High Sierra	Security Update 2019-004 High Sierra
	17G8030	July 29, 2019	17.7.0	About the security content of Security Update 2019-004 High Sierra	Security Update 2019-004 High Sierra
	17G8037	September 26, 2019	17.7.0	About the security content of Security Update 2019-005 High Sierra	Security Update 2019-005 High Sierra
	17G9016	October 29, 2019	17.7.0	About the security content of Security Update 2019-006 High Sierra	Security Update 2019-006 High Sierra
	17G10021	December 10, 2019	17.7.0 xnu-4570.71.63~1	About the security content of Security Update 2019-007 High Sierra	Security Update 2019-007 High Sierra
	17G11023	January 28, 2020	17.7.0 xnu-4570.71.69~1	About the security content of Security Update 2020-001 High Sierra	Security Update 2020-001 High Sierra
	17G12034	March 24, 2020	17.7.0 xnu-4570.71.73~1	About the security content of Security Update 2020-002 High Sierra	Security Update 2020-002 High Sierra
	17G13033	May 26, 2020	17.7.0 xnu-4570.71.80~1	About the security content of Security Update 2020-003 High Sierra	Security Update 2020-003 High Sierra
	17G13035	June 1, 2020	17.7.0 xnu-4570.71.80.1~1	About the security content of Security Update 2020-003 High Sierra	Security Update 2020-003 High Sierra
	17G14019	July 15, 2020	17.7.0 xnu-4570.71.82.5~1	About the security content of Security Update 2020-004 High Sierra	Security Update 2020-004 High Sierra
	17G14033	September 24, 2020	17.7.0 xnu-4570.71.82.6~1	About the security content of Security Update 2020-005 High Sierra	Security Update 2020-005 High Sierra
	17G14042	November 12, 2020	17.7.0 xnu-4570.71.82.8~1	About the security content of Security Update 2020-006 High Sierra	Security Update 2020-006 High Sierra

External Links

• macOS High Sierra at Apple (archived 2017-09-12)
  • macOS High Sierra Preview (archived 2017-06-05)
  • What's new in macOS High Sierra
  • About the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13 at Apple Support (archived 2019-10-18)
  • macOS High Sierra - Technical Specifications (2021-05-17)
  • macOS High Sierra at the Mac App Store
• macOS High Sierra Patcher Tool for Unsupported Macs by Collin Mistr
• macOS High Sierra at the BetaWiki
• macOS High Sierra at Wikipedia