iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8 and the other related updates were published this week. On top of that the first iPhones 13 and new iPad mini are arriving today. I only linked to two reviews – you will know where to get opinions from your favorite bloggers and streamers.
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We also got more security updates for iOS 12 and Catalina. And a new macOS 12 Monterey beta, as well as the first round of iOS 15.1 betas.
Last week’s newsletter dropped just a bit before the good news of the 11.6 full installer being available. Keep providing that feedback!
We have two major MacAdmin conferences coming up, both are online.
First is MacSysAdmin Online which will release sessions starting October 5 through October 8. You can still order a T-shirt to support the conference. The amazing speaker list is online. I will be presenting a session on Swift.
Later is Jamf Nation User Conference (JNUC) which is (again) entirely online and entirely free. You can still register and already look at the session list. I will be presenting a session on Installomator and participate in a panel on patch management.
There is always my overview of the most important upcoming conferences.
Also, in personal news: I am now working at Jamf. But this should not affect this news summary at all.
If you would rather get the weekly newsletter by email, you can subscribe to the Scripting OS X Weekly Newsletter here!! (Same content, delivered to your Inbox once a week.)
News and Opinion
iOS 15 and siblings
- iOS and iPadOS 15: The MacStories Review – MacStories
- iPadOS 15: A closer look – Jason Snell, Six Colors
- Swift 5.5 Released – Swift.org
- Why doesn’t Apple want people to upgrade to iOS 15? – Kirk McElhearn and Joshua Long, The Mac Security Blog
Apple Support
- About iOS 15 Updates
- About iPadOS 15 Updates
- About watchOS 8 Updates
- What’s new for enterprise in iOS 15
- What’s new for enterprise in iPadOS 15
- What’s new in iOS 15 (User Guide)
- What’s new in iPadOS 15 (User Guide)
- What’s new in watchOS 8 (User Guide)
- Apple security updates (Note: the security articles for macOS 11.6, iOS 14.8 and others from last week have received updated content)
macOS 12 Monterey
- How Monterey changes Apple Silicon Recovery – Howard Oakley
- macOS Monterey Beta 7 Update (21A5522h) – Mr. Macintosh
macOS and iOS Updates
- About the security content of Security Update 2021-006 Catalina
- iOS 12.5.5
- Apple has released Catalina Security Update 2021-006 – Howard Oakley
MacAdmins on Twitter
- Patrick Fergus: “Hey Everyone, Adobe Admin Console packages that include Acrobat should no longer fail when Safari is open.”
- Eric Boyd: “Hi there @Apple device owners! We are mere hours away from the next major OS release for iPhones, iPads, Apple TV’s and iPods. So, what can you do to ensure the best experience with your upgrades? I have a few best practices that I follow and recommend for almost everyone.” (Thread)
- Rich Trouton: “Every so often, I have a packaging task that I’m not sure AutoPkg can handle. I keep being wrong about that because AutoPkg just needs me to write the right recipe.”
Security and Privacy
- El Capitan and older Mac OS X are about to have a security certificate problem – Howard Oakley
- macOS Finder RCE: SSD Secure Disclosure
- New macOS zero-day bug lets attackers run commands remotely – Sergiu Gatlan, Bleeping Computer
- Disclosure of three 0-day iOS vulnerabilities and critique of Apple Security Bounty program – Habr
- Beyond the good ol’ LaunchAgents – 20 – Terminal Preferences – Csaba Fitzl
Support and HowTos
- Office 2021 information for MacAdmins – Kevin M. Cox
- Explainer: the Recovery Partition – Howard Oakley
- A Fine Tale – John C. Welch
- Windows on ARM on Apple Silicon: An Open Conversation – getwired.com
- Broken Admin Account – Adam Anclewicz
- The silence of the BoMs: why you don’t know what macOS updates – Howard Oakley
- Inside macOS installer apps and disks – Howard Oakley
Scripting and Automation
- Dialog 6 months later – Bart Reardon
- Determining Mac Hardware Manufacture Date Using Osquery – Fritz Ifert-Miller, Kolide (on the verge of being outdated. M1 iMacs and new iPhones are already being shipped with the new randomized serial numbers)
Updates and Releases
To Watch
To Listen
Support
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