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Apple Releases macOS Catalina 10.15.1 Update With New Emoji and AirPods Pro Support

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Apple today released macOS Catalina 10.15.1, the first update to the macOS Catalina operating system that was released in October.

‌macOS Catalina‌ can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for free using the Update feature in the System Preferences app, and it is available to anyone who has a compatible Mac.

macos catalina wallpaper
macOS Catalina 10.15.1 is a fairly significant update, introducing new emoji characters that were added in iOS 13.2 earlier this week, adding support for the AirPods Pro that are launching tomorrow, and bringing Siri privacy controls to the Mac to allow users to opt out of sharing their Siri recordings with Apple.

HomeKit Secure Video support is included, as is support for adding AirPlay 2-enabled speakers in scenes and automations in the Home app. There are also quite a few bug fixes for Photos, Messages, Contacts, and more. Apple's release notes for the update are below:

The macOS Catalina 10.15.1 update includes updated and additional emoji, support for AirPods Pro, HomeKit Secure Video, HomeKit enabled routers, and new Siri privacy settings, as well as bug fixes and improvements.

Emoji
- Over 70 new or updated emoji, including animals, food, activities, new accessibility emoji, gender neutral emoji, and skin tones selection for couple emoji

AirPods
- Introduces support for AirPods Pro

Home app
- HomeKit Secure Video enables you to privately capture, store, and view encrypted video from your security cameras and features people, animal, and vehicle detection
- HomeKit enabled routers let you control how your HomeKit accessories communicate over the internet or in your home
- Adds support for AirPlay 2-enabled speakers in scenes and automations

Siri
- Privacy settings to control whether or not to help improve Siri and Dictation by allowing Apple to store audio of your Siri and Dictation interactions
- Option to delete your Siri and Dictation history from Siri Settings

This update also includes the following bug fixes and improvements:
- Restores the ability to view file names in the All Photos view in Photos
- Restores the ability to filter by favorites, photos, videos, edited, and keywords in Days view in Photos
- Fixes an issue where Messages would only send a single notification when the option to repeat alerts was enabled
- Resolves an issue that caused Contacts to launch to the previously opened contact instead of the contact list
- Adds a two-finger swipe gesture for back navigation in Apple News
- Resolves issues that may occur in the Music app when displaying playlists inside folders and newly added songs in the Songs list
- Improves reliability of migrating iTunes library databases into the Music, Podcasts, and TV apps
- Fixes an issue where downloaded titles were not visible in the Downloads folder in the TV app

macOS Catalina is a major update that eliminates iTunes in favor of new Music, Podcasts, and TV apps, nixes support for 32-bit apps, adds a new Find My app, brings a new Photos interface, and includes multiple privacy enhancements and other app refinements.

For full details on what's new in macOS Catalina, make sure to check out our macOS Catalina roundup.

Related Forum: macOS Catalina

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Top Rated Comments

jstn- Avatar
jstn-
87 months ago
I find it comical that Apple takes the time to point out that "over 70" new emoji's have been added to the release (and even give said update its own section in the announcement!).

It really gives you a sense of where Apple's priorities are these days... is there an emoji for that?
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane Avatar
turbineseaplane
87 months ago

What about the Mail bug(s) causing data loss? Seems like something that warrants a little .1 attention.
We have new Emoji's though!
Stay focused on what matters friend!
:) ;)
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
highground Avatar
highground
87 months ago
What about the Mail bug(s) causing data loss? Seems like something that warrants a little .1 attention.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DesertNomad Avatar
DesertNomad
87 months ago
"macOS Catalina 10.15.1 is a fairly significant update, introducing new emoji characters that were added in iOS 13.2 earlier this week"

Maybe in 10.15.2 they can make the OS actually work well?

I think 10.16 they need to rename to emojiOS.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LV426 Avatar
LV426
87 months ago

I find it comical that Apple takes the time to point out that "over 70" new emoji's have been added to the release (and even give said update its own section in the announcement!).

It really gives you a sense of where Apple's priorities are these days... is there an emoji for that?
Would you rather that Apple simply ignores the new emojis that the Unicode Consortium put together every few months? Hint: It's not Apple that drives the development of new emojis; they are responding to an ever-evolving standard that is devised by an international consortium.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roland.g Avatar
roland.g
87 months ago
Did not see Fixes issue where Mail App deletes random troves of email data...
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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