Lemonblog482

1. Newest Software For Macbook Pro
2. Macbook Pro Software List
3. Software For Macbook Pro 2011
4. Free Software For Macbook Pro
5. Macbook Pro Application Software

macOS Catalina updates improve the stability, performance, or compatibility of your Mac and are recommended for all Catalina users. To get these updates, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu , then click Software Update. Learn more about updating the software on your Mac.

Jun 13, 2019. Jul 15, 2020.

For details about the security content of these updates, see Apple Security Updates.

• macOS 10.15
  

macOS Catalina 10.15.7

macOS Catalina 10.15.7 provides important security updates and bug fixes for your Mac.

• Resolves an issue where macOS would not automatically connect to Wi-Fi networks
• Fixes an issue that could prevent files syncing through iCloud Drive
• Addresses a graphic issue that may occur on iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) with Radeon Pro 5700 XT

Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices.

macOS Catalina 10.15.6

macOS Catalina 10.15.6 introduces local news in your Today feed in Apple News and improves the security and reliability of your Mac.

Apple News

• Local news in your Today feed provides extensive coverage of San Francisco, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Houston, and New York City
• More stories available from local news providers with a subscription to Apple News+
• Your daily newsletter from Apple News can now be personalized with stories that reflect your interests

This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements.

• Adds a new option to optimize video streaming on HDR-compatible Mac notebooks for improved battery life
• Fixes an issue where the computer name may change after installing a software update
• Resolves an issue where certain USB mouse and trackpads may lose connection

Enterprise content:

• When using the built-in keyboard with a non-U.S. keyboard layout on some Mac models, passwords with certain characters are no longer rejected at the Mac login window
• Allows command-line tools that don't use CFNetwork, such as curl(1), to continue connecting to TLS servers that use certificates issued by the recently expired AddTrust External CA Root
• Major new releases of macOS can be hidden when using the softwareupdate(8) command with the --ignore flag, if the Mac is enrolled in Apple School Manager, Apple Business Manager, or a user-approved MDM.
  This change also affects macOS Mojave and macOS High Sierra after installing Security Update 2020-004.

Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices.

macOS Catalina 10.15.5

macOS Catalina 10.15.5 introduces battery health management in the Energy Saver settings for notebooks, a new option to disable automatic prominence in Group FaceTime calls, and controls to fine-tune the built-in calibration of your Pro Display XDR. The update also improves the stability, reliability, and security of your Mac.

Battery Health Management

• Battery health management to help maximize 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
  This change also affects macOS Mojave and macOS High Sierra after installing Security Update 2020-003.

macOS Catalina 10.15.4

macOS Catalina 10.15.4 introduces iCloud Drive folder sharing, Screen Time communication limits, Apple Music time-synced lyrics view, and more. The update also improves the stability, reliability, and security of your Mac.

Finder

• iCloud Drive folder sharing from Finder
• Controls to limit access only to people you explicitly invite, or to grant access to anyone with the folder link
• Permissions to choose who can make changes and upload files, and who can only view and download files

Screen Time

• Communication limits for controlling who your children can communicate with and be contacted by throughout the day and during downtime
• Playback control of music videos for your children

Music

• Time-synced lyrics view for Apple Music, including the ability to jump to your favorite part of a song by clicking a line in lyrics view

Safari

• Option to import Chrome passwords into your iCloud Keychain for easy AutoFill of your passwords in Safari and across all your devices
• Controls for duplicating a tab and for closing all tabs to the right of the current tab
• HDR playback support on compatible computers for Netflix content

App Store with Apple Arcade

• Universal Purchase support enables the use of a singular purchase of a participating app across iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV

Pro Display XDR

• Customized reference modes that you can tailor to specific workflow needs by selecting from several color gamut, white point, luminance, and transfer function options

Accessibility

• Head pointer preference for moving a cursor on the screen based on the precise movements of your head

This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements:

• High Dynamic Range output to HDR10-compatible third-party displays and TVs connected with DisplayPort or HDMI
• OAuth authentication support with Outlook.com accounts for improved security
• CalDav migration support when upgrading to iCloud reminders on a secondary device
• Addresses an issue where text copied between apps may appear invisible when Dark Mode is active
• Resolves an issue in Safari where a CAPTCHA tile may display incorrectly
• Fixes an issue where you may receive notifications for updated or completed reminders
• Fixes an issue with screen brightness for the LG UltraFine 5K display after waking from sleep

Enterprise content:

• Apple Push Notification Service traffic now uses a web proxy when specified in a PAC file
• Resolves an issue where updating the login keychain password after resetting a user password would cause a new keychain to be created
• After enabling ”Search directory services for certificates” in Keychain Access preferences, searching by email address in Keychain Access or Mail now locates a user certificate stored in directory services
• When setting the DisableFDEAutoLogin key in com.apple.loginwindow, you can now sync your FileVault password with the Active Directory user password after updating the user password
• Reinstates the ability to update or restore iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS devices by dragging .ipsw files to the device in an Apple Configurator 2 window
• Addresses an issue where sending the EraseDevice MDM command might not cause the device to be erased
• When logging in as an Active Directory user after using deferred FileVault enablement, the user is now prompted for their password to enable FileVault

Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices.

macOS Catalina 10.15.3

The macOS Catalina 10.15.3 update improves the stability, reliability, and security of your Mac, and is recommended for all users.

• Optimizes gamma handling of low gray levels on Pro Display XDR for SDR workflows when using macOS
• Improves multi-stream video editing performance for HEVC and H.264-encoded 4K video on the MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

macOS Catalina 10.15.2

The macOS Catalina 10.15.2 update improves the stability, reliability and performance of your Mac and is recommended for all users.

This update adds the following features:

Apple News

• New layout for Apple News+ stories from The Wall Street Journal and other leading newspapers

Stocks

• Get links to related stories or more stories from the same publication at the end of an article
• “Breaking” and “Developing” labels for Top Stories
• Stories from Apple News are now available in Canada in English and French

This update includes the following bug fixes:

Music

• Restores the column browser view for managing the music library
• Resolves an issue that may prevent album artwork from appearing
• Fixes an issue that may reset music equalizer settings during playback

iTunes Remote

• Adds support for using an iPhone or iPad to remotely control the Music and TV apps on a Mac

Photos

• Resolves an issue that may cause some AVI and MP4 files to appear as unsupported
• Fixes an issue that prevents newly created folders from appearing in Albums view
• Addresses an issue where manually sorted images in an album may be printed or exported out of order
• Fixes an issue that prevents the zoom-to-crop tool from working in a print preview

Mail

• Addresses an issue that may cause Mail preferences to open with a blank window
• Resolves an issue that may prevent using undo from retrieving deleted mail

Other

• Improves the reliability of syncing books and audiobooks to your iPad or iPhone through the Finder
• Fixes an issue where reminders may be out of order in the Today smart list in the Reminders app
• Resolves an issue that may cause slow typing performance in the Notes app

Enterprise content

Newest Software For Macbook Pro

• Fixes an issue where the user password might not be accepted at the login window after upgrading a Mac with an Apple T2 Security Chip to macOS Catalina
• Improves compatibility with video conferencing apps on MacBook Pro models introduced in 2018
• Users logged in as a standard user can now install apps from the App Store

macOS Catalina 10.15.1

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 support

• AirPods Pro support

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

Macbook Pro Software List

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

Enterprise content

• When using the built-in keyboard with a non-U.S. keyboard layout, passwords with certain characters are no longer rejected at the Mac login window
• When sign in with Apple ID is not allowed by a configuration profile, the Sign In button in System Preferences is now dimmed

macOS Catalina 10.15

When choosing which laptop to buy, it makes sense to know what comes with it. And the most significant part of the decision is to know what software you get with the computer.

First, I want to mention that whether you buy Macbook Pro or Air the software bundle that comes with them is absolutely the same. You don’t get more programs if you spend more on the Apple laptop.

So, what software comes with a Macbook?

Any Macbook comes with macOS (operating system) and built-in (free) software such as Time Machine, FaceTime, Safari, and Apple Music and TV. Macs do not come with games, antivirus, MS Office, or Final Cut Pro.

Here is a full list of built-in apps that come with every Mac:

How about MS Office and programs such as Word and Excel? I will touch on this topic after I give an overview of all the built-in apps first.

Software That Comes With Every MacBook Air/Pro

macOS Catalina

Every computer needs an operating system. The operating system performs basic operations such as starting programs, reading data from the disks, controlling the display and sound, etc.

All apps that run on any computer use operating system in order to interact with the user or various computer components.

Is it OSX or macOS? For a long time, the operating system on Mac was called OSX. You can still hear some people use this term. However, in 2016, Apple renamed it to macOS, so we will use this term going forward.

Each year Apple releases a new version of macOS. They used to be backward compatible, i.e., they supported all Mac models produced in earlier days.

Mojave was the first macOS which could not be installed on some of the oldest Macs. I expect every next release will have similar restrictions. So, if you have an older Mac, check you can upgrade it to the latest OS.

Siri on Mac

Siri is a great virtual assistant tool which can increase your productivity if used properly.

What can Siri do? Most people use Siri to search for something on the internet. All you do is ask Siri a question, and it will transform the voice command to a text which will be sent to a search engine. Once Siri gets results, it will tell what it had found.

Another use is to find anything on the Mac. For instance, Siri is great when you need to find a document you worked on last week.

In my opinion, the most powerful feature of Siri is controlling Mac and connected devices. For instance, you can ask Siri turn off Wifi and Bluetooth, raise or lower the sound volume, send a message, set the alarm, take a selfie, etc.

And finally, people use Siri when they are bored. Siri can tell jokes, find the music you want to listen or read the news.

Safari

Safari is an internet browser that gets pre-installed on almost all Apple products.

Is it the best browser? Definitely, not, but it does the work. The advantage of Safari is that Apple wrote it specifically for Apple computers. So, it supposed to have some edge over other browsers in terms of energy usage and speed.

If you don’t like Safari, you can always download your favorite internet browsers, such as Chrome or Firefox.

Mail

Mail is fairly simple built-in email client. You can do things that any email client does: write and read emails, send attachments, sort and find messages, organize messages in folders. If you a regular email user then Mail client will be enough. Power users will find features limiting and will most likely invest in better solutions.

I use Mail to combine various secondary emails accounts in one place. I don’t use any desktop clients for my primary email, because I don’t want my messages to be stored on the computer in case if it ever gets stolen or lost.

FaceTime on Mac

If you have an iPhone you probably already know what FaceTime is. With FaceTime, you can make a video call to anyone who has FaceTime installed on his/her Mac or iPhone/iPad. You can also make a group call. In both cases, FaceTime uses Wifi as transport.

Additionally, FaceTime on Mac can connect to your iPhone and make a regular phone call.

Messages on Mac

If you have an iPhone, you probably noticed that messages sent to someone who has an iPhone have blue color while non-iPhone users get green messages. It’s because Apple uses proprietary messaging protocol when sending messages between Apple products using Wifi instead of the cellular network.

What does this mean for you? It means that you can send messages to iPhone or Mac users from your Mac without having a cellular connection. Also, it means that these messages do not count to your SMS limit (if you have one in your mobile plan).

Unfortunately, to send messages to Android friends, you still have to have an iPhone which Mac can use SMS.

News app

With the News app on Mac, you can follow a channel or even a specific topic of interest. Apple will aggregate the news and send them to you periodically. You can read them in the app and then like or even share.

In 2019 Apple launched a subscription service called News+. It’s a paid service. With this service, you can get stories from premium newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal or Time.

Books app

If you frequently purchase books from the Book Store, they will appear in the Books app. You can see books in all (or almost all) Apple devices, including MacBook Pro. If you don’t buy books or prefer to use Amazon, then you don’t need the app.

Stocks app

Besides following news, you can also follow stock prices. With the Stocks app, you can add ticker symbols to your watchlist. You can also view stocks in the Notification center on Mac. Stocks app also allows seeing price charts with multiple ranges.

Overall, it’s a very basic app for an average investor — nothing to write home about. Serious investors may find the app lacking functionality.

Home app

The Home app is a program that may become very big in the future when we all going to have smart homes. If you have a device that can be controlled over the network you can add it as an accessory to the Home app.

Once installed, you can then control lighting, temperature, home security, TV, and speakers. The list is endless. Besides issues commands and changing things in real-time you can set schedule.

For instance, you can set up the thermostat to start heating the house right before you arrive home. And all of this can be controlled thru Siri which will manage the Home app and its accessories.

Voice Memos

My personal favorite. Whether you are recording the lecture in class or just recording your notes for the next blog, Voice Memos can capture your recordings. You can then replay or even edit recordings, although editing capabilities are not too impressive. You can later transcribe voice memos to a text.

Notes app

Apple has a rudimentary note-taking app. Whether you need to save a recipe or make a to-do list, you can use Notes. This is not the best app by all means, but it comes with some neat features. You can attach different media such as pictures, videos, and even locations on the Maps.

There is also a collaboration feature. You can share a note with multiple people and work together. I’ve never tried it myself because I believe Google Docs is a much better and simpler tool to use for this purpose.

Calendar

Each computer needs a calendar app, and Macs have a pretty good one. As most applications in macOS, this one integrated with other programs on your laptop. So, if you need to add a location on Maps in your calendar event, you can do it. Other features include sending and receiving invites.

Calendar app obviously connected to your Mail app so you can see all meetings from all Mail accounts in one place. You can also color-code your calendars so you can quickly spot events related to family, work, or others.

Overall, it’s a relatively simple app. I always have it on my Dock because I keep forgetting which date it is 🙂

Contacts

I don’t use the Contacts app at all. With this app, you can aggregate multiple contact lists in one giant collection. But I don’t see any need for that. I prefer to keep contacts on my phone, not a laptop.

Reminders

Another app without a clear purpose. I use Reminders on my iPhone, but on the Mac, I don’t see a need for it when there is a much more powerful Calendar app. And if I need to take notes to collaborate with other people, I can use the Notes app.

Photo Booth

While most of us use MacBooks for work and study sometimes, we want to have some fun, and Photo Booth is super fun to use. With this app, you can quickly snap a selfie of yourself or yourself with friends.

Prefer videos? Not a problem, you can shoot videos with Photo Booth as well. If you need time to set up the scene, there is a default three-second countdown before taking a photo. You can also use various effects to make your photos funny. And finally, you can use any image to create a custom backdrop.

Preview

Preview is a very powerful tool on your Mac. When I switched from Windows to Mac, one thing I was missing was an MSPaint program. It took me some time, but I finally learned how to use Preview to edit images for my blogs. In some case, Preview is even better than my old favorite.

Software For Macbook Pro 2011

For instance, Preview keeps a history of changes you made to the image even after you close the app. In fact, I don’t know any other standard file editing software other than Preview, which allows you to go back in history after you saved the changes and close the program.

Another area where Preview can be useful is PDF annotations. You can add text, signature, or even shapes to any PDF document. And again, Mac keeps the history of changes so you can always go back in time.

Time Machine

Speaking of going back in time, Time Machine is not a fantasy novel. On the Mac Time Machine is a backup tool. If there is one thing that I would like you to remember from this post is you need a backup strategy for your computer. Things happen (virus, crash, documents accidentally deleted) and often the best and only remedy is to restore the old image of your MacBook from the Time Machine device.

I wrote a very detailed blog post about Time Machine and other possible backup tools, so please check it out: Time Machine on Mac: How it Works, Best Practices and FAQ

Apple Music

For a long time, iTunes was an audio and video player that came standard with any Macbook.

However, it was split into multiple apps with macOS Catalina and the role of iTunes was taken by Apple Music.

There is an Apple Music store where you can purchase music and rent movies. You can join Apple music as a subscriber, and you can manage your subscriptions there.

Apple TV

Another app that spawned from iTunes. You can use Apple TV to watch your favorite shows, movies and Apple TV+ channel.

Apple Podcasts

Apple Podcasts is the last part of iTunes that became a standalone app. You can subscribe to podcasts and listen them with this app.

App Store

While the list of built-in apps in macOS is good enough, you will always need more programs. There are two main ways to get new programs on MacBook: download from the vendor web site or buy from Apple Store.

If you have both options, I suggest you always go through Apple Store route. Apple has very strict requirements for any app they host in their stores. At the minimum, they all free from viruses. And yes, Macs can get viruses. Another advantage of the App Store is the ease of updates. You can configure the app to install updates automatically same way you configure the operating system updates.

And finally, any app you bought from the App Store you can download again if you deleted it. If you downloaded the app from the vendor web site, the process of downloading and finding a license might be quite complicated.

So this was a brief overview of built-in apps that come pre-installed on any new MacBook. There other applications that you can install for free. Specifically, there are two popular software suits: iLife and iWork.

iLife apps

Initially, the iLife software suite consisted of multiple apps, most of which were discontinued. The only two apps left are iMovie and GarageBand.

GarageBand

The GarageBand lets you play, record, edit, mix, and share music! You do not have to worry that you do not know a single note. Everything is there. Just open the application, select an instrument, then press the notes that tingle your ears. As easy as that, you can create your music. You can also add your voice by recording it.

iMovie

iMovie, on the other hand, gets you in touch with your video skills. It is the perfect application for neophyte video editors. It provides a user-friendly interface but lets you turn your raw footages into one creatively edited video. Personally, I use iMovie to edit my YouTube videos, and I found it very easy to learn and use.

iWork apps

There is a suite of apps that mimic Microsoft Office functionality, and they are free for anyone using macOS: Numbers, Pages, and Keynote. You can download all three from the App Store.

• Numbers is an alternative for MS Excel. You can save Numbers spreadsheets as Excel documents or import Excel documents in Numbers.
• Pages is an alternative for MS Word. You can save Pages documents as Word files and edit Word documents in Pages.
• And Keynote is an alternative for Powerpoint. As you already understand, it is possible to work with Powerpoint documents in Keynote.

What Apple empathizes is that with iWork, you can work on MS Office documents just in different apps.

Apple provides a way to share the documents built-in iWork apps through the iCloud or Box. Another neat feature you can use Touch ID to lock and unlock the iWork documents.

Software That DOES Not Come With Macs

MS Office on Mac

iWork may be a viable alternative to MS Office, but feature-wise it’s nowhere near to Microsoft suite. Fortunately, Microsoft ported the big trio of apps to macOS. These apps look a little different than Windows counterparts (key combinations are different), but they are very close. If you had experience working with any Office apps on Windows, you would quickly figure out how to edit documents on Mac.

Does MacBook Pro come with Word or Excel? No, Macs do not come with MS Office pre-installed. Although it is free to download, remember that you still have to pay to have an account for the Microsoft office to be activated in your MacBook Pro. The Microsoft Office from the App Store only gives you a 30-day free trial.

How to get Microsoft Word or Excel on MacBook for free?

There are three possible ways to get Word or Excel for free:

• Get Office license at work. For instance, your account may allow you to install up to five copies. So you can install one at the work computer and one at home. But first, ask permission from your manager.
• Get Office license in college. Most colleges in the US provide free Office licenses.
• Download from pirate web sites. I do not recommend doing this for two reasons: it’s illegal and very hacked programs contain viruses. In fact, if you see any link with a promise of a free Word install, know it’s a scam. Don’t click on those links!

There are, however, two ways to get MS Office for less money:

Free Software For Macbook Pro

• Get a student edition. In this case, you either need to be a student or know someone who’s a student.
• Some sites may offer to sell Microsoft apps for deep discounts. What they do is they have volume editions, i.e., multiple licenses they paid for. Then they sell those individual licenses. All you need is to download the program and apply for the license. Is this legal? I don’t know. As they say, consult with your attorney.

Macbook Pro Application Software

Photoshop

Does Photoshop come with MacBook Pro/Air? No, it does not. Adobe offers 7-day free trial version after which it is required to subscribe for one of their plans: Photography ($9.99/mo), Photoshop ($20.99/mo) or Creative Cloud Apps ($52.99/mo). Students and teachers can get Creative Cloud Apps for $19.99/mo.

Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X

Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X are the most popular Apple apps, but unfortunately, they are not free. Moreover, they are very expensive. You can buy Logic Pro X for $199.99 and Final Cut Pro X for $299.99 from the Apple App Store.

Antivirus Apps

I often hear people saying that Macs don’t get viruses, however, I know that this is not true. It is true, however, that macOS has some rudimentary defense against malware, but if you are serious about security you need to either download a free antimalware app or buy a commercial one.

Zoom, Skype and Teams

Most video conferencing tools, such as Zoom and Teams are free for Macs. They have some internal limitations, but there is nothing specific to Apple products.

Games

Apple computers do not come with games included. So, if you are a fan of Fortnite or Civilization you have to purchase them. The same applies to Steam games.

There is no even Solitaire or Minesweeper on Mac (my favorites on PCs).

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made on our website. If you make a purchase through links from this website, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.