Not Ready for Tahoe? Apple Just Patched macOS Sequoia and Sonoma
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Alongside yesterday’s macOS Tahoe 26.6 update, Apple also released new updates for macOS Sequoia and macOS Sonoma, providing security and maintenance support to Macs that either haven’t or simply can’t move to macOS Tahoe.
Owners of Macs running Sequoia or Sonoma can download and install the update by going to System Settings > General > Software Update on their Mac. You’ll only see updates that are compatible with your Mac.
As usual for updates to older macOS releases, these don’t appear to include any new consumer-facing features. They’re likely focused solely on security fixes, with some accompanying performance and stability improvements.
Apple has traditionally maintained the most current version of macOS, as well as the two previous macOS releases. This means that Apple has you covered on recent versions of macOS, if your Mac can’t run Tahoe, or if you require running older software or hardware that isn’t compatible with the current OS.
macOS Sonoma may soon drop off the updates roster, as Apple will release macOS 27 Golden Gate in the early fall. Apple previewed macOS 27 at WWDC 2026 last month, and it’s currently in public beta as it moves toward a fall release.
What Do the Updates Fix?
Apple has posted the security documents for the new Sequoia and Sonoma updates, and the new versions fix a considerable number of issues, many of which are also patched in macOS Tahoe 26.6.
Patches include fixes to block apps from accessing sensitive user data, thwart multiple misdeeds by remote hackers, secure the App Store and Apple Accounts against malicious actions by outsiders, and much more. A quick glance at the lists for both older macOS versions shows the updates fix many of the same issues found in Tahoe, indicating the issues were only recently discovered, and apparently go back a few generations of macOS.
Apple also released Safari 26.5.2 on June 29 for Sequoia and Sonoma, which fixed WebKit and web extension vulnerabilities that could expose sensitive information, allow data to be moved across website boundaries, escape web-content restrictions, or crash Safari and related processes.
Also on Monday, Apple released iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6, which also patch 78 security holes. Just like in the macOS patches, the iOS patches are not all designed solely to fix vulnerabilities, and not all of these flaws are high-risk. Some require a bad actor to have physical access to your iPhone, while others fix minor privacy vulnerabilities for apps, such as allowing them to “fingerprint” a user to establish a persistent identity for tracking purposes, though this isn’t likely anything truly nefarious. Still, more than a dozen flaws allowed apps and websites to dig around in the kernel, reading sensitive data from memory, executing arbitrary code, or simply causing your iPhone to crash or corrupt your data.
Users running macOS Sequoia or macOS Sonoma should install the applicable update as soon as possible. However, those users who depend on specialized software, security tools, drivers, or managed enterprise systems will want to confirm compatibility with their systems before updating.
