Updated and republished for macOS 26.5.1; skip it unless you really really care about all the macOS releases. Originally published on November 14th, 2005.
(This post was on hiatus for 16 months…if you'd like to know what's new and improved, on both the front and back end, check out the behind-the-scenes writeup.)
Below the break is a table showing all major releases of macOS (previously Mac OS X) from the public beta through the latest released update, which is 26.5.1, as of June 1, 2026—the 292nd release in total.
Click any row to load Apple's notes page for that release (or the closest match that could be found)
This table requires JavaScript to display and use; sorry!
Note: The Days column reflects the number of days between releases.
Some random notes, updated from the original post:
- Starting with the Public Beta and up through macOS 26.5.1, there have been 292 macOS releases, both major and minor. This figure includes the one odd macOS X release: 10.2.7. This version was only for the then-new PowerMac G5 and the flat panel iMac G4, and was never generally released.
- As of June 1, 2026 (26.5.1's release date), it's been 9,392 days since the Public Beta was released. So on average, we've seen some sort of update every 32.2 days.
- The shortest time period between any two releases in the same OS generation is six days, for both 10.15.5 → 10.15.5 SU1 and 26.3.1 → 26.3.2. The shortest period at all is two days, the gap between macOS 13.2.1 and macOS 11.7.4.
- The longest time period between any two minor releases is 165 days, which was how long we waited for the 10.4.9 update. (Tecnically, it's actually the 192 day interval between the Mac OS X Public Beta and version 10.0, but I'm counting from the official 10.0 release.)
And now, gratuitous graphics…
Releases by version number
Releases by year
A special "thank you!" goes to Mr. Ziebell (for providing some size values on very-old minor updates), and to Benton Quest (for providing size info on all the major releases up through Snow Leopard). See Benton's comment below if you want a nicely detailed history of those early releases.
Another special "thank you!" goes to Mads Fog Albrechtslund, who provided updated PR links for all the major releases—most of mine had broken over the years.
Finally, thanks to Claude Code for the modernized—and much easier to update—table. Claude wrote 100% of the Javascript and CSS that makes the magic happen with the table and variable post content. There is absolutely no way I could have written this myself.
Nice tables! :)
The interesting question for me is, how many bug fixes/features did each of these releases contain over the previous ones?
10.2.7 was available only on certain new models shipping late Summer 2003 - Fall 2003. I don't believe it was available as a seperate download.
-DaMacGuy
Ah, that's right -- I think it was for the first-gen G5s. I've changed the note on the table to indicate that...
Thanks;
-rob.
Your table doesn't have 10.0.4 in it, which i am almost certain existed. I think it came out in late June 2001.
Sorry, that was an editing oversight -- it's in there now, and yea, it was June 22, 2001. It *was* included in all the other analyses, though (total releases, releases by month, etc.). I just missed it putting the table together.
Thanks;
-rob.
There was at least one re-release (I forget which). It probably isn't even listed on the download section as the first release had some major problems (hence the immediate re-release). And I hate to point it out, but you put " 'to minor' " instead of " 'two minor' " on the third bullet.
Actually, 'to minor' is what I meant to write -- as in if you only count updates that went to minor version numbers, instead of to major version numbers...
-rob.
I had put together a similar table, but I also had a weighted average of all the time in between releases. The idea being that it might give me some indication for an educated guess on how long it will be before the next release. I had a % accuracy of all my numbers and a projected time span for the next minor release. About numbers, statistics and Excel... I thought I was the only one ;) Recently I started focusing all that energy and effort on stocks (something useful, and something that can make me money!). Keep up all the good work on the Robservatory. I enjoy reading what you have to say.
When will OS11 be seen ......
i was just wondering if anyone could help me, this probably isn't the right place to ask but you all seem pretty smart and i am technologically retarded so, my dilema... i need to upgrade my os x (currrently 10.2.8) but i can't download anything higher than 10.3 if i don't already have 10.3, which i have been looking for frantically but havent been able to find anywhere. does it exist for me to download? is it that my system will not be able to take it anyway? i don't know what to do now but i am quickly slipping into technological redundancy as i need to download things which require a better os. any help would be greatly appreciated. thankyou.
10.3 is a purchase upgrade from 10.2.8. At this point, your best bet is to just jump to 10.4, also a purchase-only upgrade.
And for future reference, you'll get much better help from forums such as those at macosxhints (http://forums.macosxhints.com) and Macworld.
-rob.
I'd say Panther had 9 releases, not 8. ;)
Hmm. I said it had 10, and that's still what I get to based on the table above. What am I missing ... or counting twice, as it may be?
-rob.
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Rob,
Thanks, just the information I needed!
Are you going to update this now that 10.4.5 and 10.4.6 have been released? If not, do you know anyone else who does? E.g. Juz10Mac pointed out that he made some prognosis stuff, but didn't leave a URL (shame on you, Justin!).
You list 10.0.2 as "never released", but in fact it was. I'm having trouble finding the exact date, but I'm pretty sure it was the 1st of April 2001 (I can find news references to in from April 2nd, backing up that date).
The reason you're not finding it in the KBase is that, for some unknown reason, Apple all but erased its existance when 10.0.3 (which only makes minor changes from .0.2) shipped; although Software Update would in fact produce an incrimental updater, the 10.0.3 update completely replaced every trace of the 10.0.2 one on Apple's site.
I remember there being some confusion as to why Apple had done this, and here's an article Google dug up for me that goes into great detail about it:
http://www.macjournals.com/special/weekly_mystery_update.html
10.0.2 was real, though, I'm almost certain I remember installing it, and there were products (initial OSX Cro-mag Rally beta, for example) that required it.
#16: Thanks for the clarification; I updated the comments section to refer to the version as released then replaced.
-rob.
Nice job.
I always enjoy looking the update saga over every time you revisit it. THX.
What I'd like to know is the total elapsed time from when Apple starts a Major release such as 10.5 to when they actually release it for Public retail purchase. I suspect its around 2 or 3 years.
The reason you're seeing more minor releases is the time between the major ones is increasing. If you do the maths the number of minor releases for all versions work out very similar: (ignoring actual release dates) for Puma it worked out to be a minor release every 46 days, for Jaguar 55, for Panther 53, and Tiger 55.
The release times are: Cheetah to Puma 185 days, to Jaguar 332, to Panther 427, to Tiger 553. As of today, Leopard's at 684...
10.4.3 was the first Universal release... The first Intel iMacs shipped with 10.4.3
I don't think that's correct: the iMac was the first Intel Mac, introduced in January of 2006, and it shipped with 10.4.4.
I don't think any Intel Macs existed before January 2006, and 10.4.3 came out in the fall of 2005.
-rob.
Actually, 10.5 is the first universal binary. Previous installs of the OS were either PPC or x86 separately. I would call 10.4.4 (10.4.3?) the first public release of an x86 build of the OS.
bdog: Correct you are; I changed the label on 10.4.4 and gave the Universal sticker to 10.5.
Of course, 10.4.11 coming out after 10.5 messes up the sorted-on-date view of the table, but I think it makes more sense to keep the OS releases togeter. (Hopefully there's not a 10.4.12 coming.)
-rob.
Rob: I noticed that you noted that 10.5.1 removes the "blue screen Windows sharing icon". I can still find the same icon resource at the same location: /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/public.generic-pc.icns .
Or are you saying the resource might be still there, but the Finder doesn't use it when displaying Windows shares anymore? If so, what does it use now?
Hmm, my bad, I think. I was looking at GenericPCIcon.icns, which is a gray version of the Windows diamond logo. The public file is still there. I wonder which will get used (I don't have a PC to connect to).
For now, I've taken the note out.
-rob.
Windows PC icon for Network environment window is the same in 10.5.1 as it was in 10.5, i.e. it's a beautifully rendered old-fashioned CRT monitor with BSOD image. It looks especially funny along with great Mac icons, which correspond to real Mac hardware (if it runs Leopard). So, one may judge who's running Leopard on the LAN by their icons amongst others.
Okay, I have crunched numbers in this thread. I have read the bones. I prognosticate uselessly! Feb 09 will bring a release that could be dubbed OS11.
I run a plastic cards company and we use macs for everything. We have top end mac pros and macbook pros running snow leopard and some older machines (I cant bare to get rid of them) G5 power macs and G4 power books that run leopard.
I find that with snow leopard, apple mail is much nippier than it was on leopard but in general, a 8 core mac pro - feels sluggish.
I love using macs and will never go back to using pc's but they just don't seem to have any speed about them these days.
I remember many many years ago when I bought my 1st G4 powerbook, it was great and speed wasn't an issue but now, installed with the most upto date OSX that will run on it, it is rather sluggish to say the least.
I think 10.4.7 was the first universal binary system that came out. Certainly was the first Retail release that could be installed on both. Perhaps I'm thinking the server version…?
Some more comments next to each release, as well as a link to the Knowledge Base article would be useful additions.
To Paul Wilburn — get yourself a Solid State Harddrive. This is where the big bottle neck is on anyone's system. Get a small one to try it out and stick your toe in the water. You will not regret it at all.
There were separate releases for Intel and PPC (10.4.3, 10.4.4, 10.4.5, 10.4.6 etc) until 10.4.7 when you could get the Universal installer. Updates after this were listed as Universal for those that had started with a 10.4.7.
Charlie:
I think you're thinking of Server; Apple's update site still lists Intel and PowerPC as separate downloads for 10.4.7 through 10.4.11. For Server, though, there's only one listed (for any Server release), but I don't see any system requirements, so I can't tell if it's universal or not.
-rob.
I've now added a link to Apple's Support site (the ⓘ symbol) so you can read what Apple had to say about each release. The only two that are missing are the two non-releases in the list (10.0.2 and 10.2.7).
-rob.
If you going to go all the way back to the Public Beta, you may wish to add the Rhapsody releases (see http://goo.gl/AG8Mh ) as well, as that was the first place that I was able to experience what was to become OS X.
The release dates are predominantly on a Wednesday or Thursday. Anyone know why?
you say there was only 1 public beta
but there were 2
US version had build number 1H39
But there was also an international version with build number 2E14
Rob, very useful information! This is a tremendous help for our Tech Support Dept when trying to quickly communicate with our on-campus users.
Hi guys sat here chuckling , all I was looking for was info on what worked with my early imac 2006 , and here's you 2 , slugging it out over updates etc , all I wanna do is make the damm thing work ,ha ha
I have a Mac OS X at 10.6.8 version. And I need to upgrade to the newest. How and where can I get this done pretty quick. I need to replace my HP printer and the newer ones (I was told) are not compatible with my OS that I currently have. Thank you so much.
The how to upgrade page on Apple's site explains the various ways to upgrade.
-rob.
Thank you! I did not find this useless, I found it very helpful. Managing resources at a university with a myriad of versions everywhere, it gets confusing and this is helpful just to sort out what is compatible with what!
Thanks.
I also didn't find this useless. I've just set up a caching server and wanted to know when and how big the next release might be. thanks!
Very useful actually! With the release of Sierra and the disappearance of El Capitan in the APP Store, the older MBPs are being put out to pasture. El Capitan 10.11 original download now says "corrupt when try to install." Thanks to this page, I was able to just manually reset the MBP date to the release date of September 30, 2015 for the app and off she went! Thanks!
Thanks!
"The smallest update was 10.3.1, at only 1.5MB. The largest (non-combo) update was 10.12.2 at 1.94GB. (No idea why this one was so large.)"
You have 10.12.6 listed as 1.98GB, so that's the new king of that hill. What will be the first update to pass 2 GB? Probably when we get 8K iMacs?
You're right—thanks! I've updated the text.
-rob,
Great analysis. Yet, nothing is perfect, and a picture (graph) is worth a thousand words (or tables). Check out:
macOS quality as measured by update release rate
https://robservatory.com/macos-quality-as-measured-by-update-release-rate
It would be great to have charts also here. Keep up the great work!
You realize I created those graphs too, right? I'm planning on keeping them updated, but not as part of this post, as I see them as distinct. But what type of graphs were you thinking of, if not the two that are already here or the rate of update charts?
-rob.
Thanks for the clear list of the versioning of OS X. I'm currently helping to clean up an estate, which included a bunch of old Mac stuff where drives need to be formatted etc before systems are sold or donated.
I'm coming to the whole OS X world cold, and I have not found a list that shows which upgrades were free, and which ones were paid upgrades. Could this be another column?
Cheers,
Dean
I don't think it's worth another column -- historically, anything other than a dot update was paid, all dot updates are free. But since I'm not quite sure when, even the major updates have been free.
-rob.
What about the macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Supplemental Update for MacBook Pro ?
Shouldn't it be listed here, too?
It probably should—I'll try to get to it this weekend.
-rob.
Hi, I think that "as of July 9th, 2018" is not correct… :)
(fell free to delete this comment after the correction)
Thanks, fixed! And not deleting your comment, as I try not to hide from my occasional stupidity :).
-rob.
10.14.5 released on 13 May 19, pls update.
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2001?locale=en_US
You do realize that I maintain my blog in my spare time, make no money from it, and it's a hobby, right? That means there are times when updates won't be timely because Real Life is intruding. Yesterday was such a case.
-rob.
Thanks for you wonderful time spent on such a great hobby! I really appreciate the details in time, when you do get too it. Always a fan of the Blog and your funny stuff too!! Please when you can keep us honest! Really many Thank you-s, Bear