Apple MacOS 10.15.5 Release: MacBook’s Powerful Surprise

27 May 2020 by Ewan Spence

Apple has released the fourth major update to the sixteenth version of MacOS. With the virtual WWDC just around the corner and the expected announcement of the seventieth version. this release comes as somewhat of a surprise. Nevertheless it is welcome

https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5de44d6e755ebf0006fbe825/960x0.jpg?fit=scale — CORTE MADERA, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 27: The MacBook Pro laptop is displayed at an Apple Store on June ... [+] 27, 2019 in Corte Madera, California. Apple announced a recall of an estimated 432,000 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops due to concerns of overheating batteries that could catch fire. The recall is for 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops sold between September 2015 and February 2017. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Getty Images

Headline Features

Three key features are included in the update. Following its inclusion in the beta of MacOS 10.15.5, Apple has now made the MacOS Battery Health Management software available for all. It controls the charging process, ensuring that the the chemical age of the battery progresses as slowly as possible. Apple’s support documents detail how it works.

"Based on the measurements it collects, battery health management may reduce your battery's maximum charge when in this mode. This happens as needed to ensure that your battery charges to a level that’s optimised for your usage – reducing wear on the battery and slowing its chemical ageing."

This feature makes a strong argument that everyone running Catalina updates to gain the long-term benefits

In a world where video calling and conferencing has become ever more important, the update includes tweaks to Group FaceTime calls made under MacOS, allowing you to turn off the automatic portrait resizing during a call.

Finally, controls to calibrate the ProDisplay XDR are also included, which will be welcomed by those needing as close to perfect color reproduction.

Compatibility

MacOS Catalina 10.15 supports all machines that would run Mojave (MacOS 10.14) with the exception of those that required a GPU upgrade. Therefore Catalina is compatible with the following machines:

Mac Pro: Late 2013 models and onwards.
iMac Pro: All models.
iMac: Late 2012 models and onwards.
Mac Mini: Late 2012 models and onwards.
MacBook Pro: Mid 2012 models and onwards.
MacBook Air: Mid 2012 models and onwards.
MacBook: Early 2015 models and onwards.

You should be prompted to upgrade your computer to Catalina, but if you are looking to start the install, you can go to the Apple Menu > Software Update. More details can be found at Apple’s support page.

What’s New

Apple’s change log for 10.15.5 notes the following updates and new features in MacOS:

Battery Health Management

Battery health management to help maximise battery lifespan for Mac notebooks
Energy Saver preference pane now displays battery condition and recommends if the battery needs to be serviced
Option to disable battery health management
For more information, please visit https://support.apple.com/kb/HT211094

FaceTime Prominence Preference

New option to control automatic prominence on Group FaceTime calls, so video tiles do not change size when a participant speaks

Calibration Fine-Tuning for Pro Display XDR

Controls to fine-tune the built-in calibration of your Pro Display XDR by adjusting the white point and luminance for a precise match to your own display-calibration target

This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements:

Fixes an issue that may prevent Reminders from sending notifications for recurring reminders
Addresses an issue that may prevent password entry on the login screen
Fixes an issue where System Preferences would continue to show a notification badge even after installing an update
Resolves an issue where the built-in camera may not be detected when trying to use it after using a video conferencing app
Addresses an issue for Mac computers with the Apple T2 Security Chip where internal speakers may not appear as a sound output device in Sound preferences
Fixes a stability issue with uploading and downloading media files from iCloud Photo Library while your Mac is asleep
Resolves a stability issue when transferring large amounts of data to RAID volumes
Fixes an issue where the Reduced Motion Accessibility preference did not reduce the speed of animations in a Group FaceTime call

Enterprise content:

Improves performance on certain Mac models when enabling hardware acceleration in GPU-intensive apps such as those used for video conferencing
Addresses an issue where Microsoft Exchange accounts were unable to sign in during account setup when using Conditional Access
Apple Push Notification Service traffic now uses a web proxy when specified in a PAC file via the Proxies payload
Resolves an issue that prevented some displays connected to MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) from waking from sleep when the Mac wakes
Major new releases of macOS are no longer hidden when using the softwareupdate(8) command with the —ignore flag

Final Thoughts

Will this be the last point update to MacOS Catalina? It certainly feels it. Although 10.15.4 update felt like a final flourish for Catalina, the improved battery management software is going to be something that everyone will (eventually) appreciate.

With Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference happening next month not only is the successor to Catalina is expected to be launched, but it’s also likely to be the first MacOS release to developers specifically geared towards running both Intel- and ARM-based processors.