Apple Releases OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan With Bug Fixes and Security Enhancements - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Releases OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan With Bug Fixes and Security Enhancements

Apple today released OS X 10.11.6 to the public, marking the sixth update to the El Capitan operating system that was first released on September 30, 2015. OS X 10.11.6 comes two months after the release of OS X 10.11.5, a small bug fix update. OS X 10.11.6 has been in testing since May 23.

The OS X 10.11.6 update can be downloaded through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store. It is available to all OS X El Capitan users.

elcapitanmacbook
Many of the updates to the El Capitan operating system have focused primarily on under-the-hood improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements instead of outward-facing changes, and OS X 10.11.6 continues that trend.

OS X El Capitan will be followed by macOS Sierra, the next-generation Mac operating system that Apple announced at the 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference. macOS Sierra includes features like Siri integration, storage optimization, Photos improvements, auto unlocking with the Apple Watch, cross-device copy and paste, and more.

Related Forum: OS X El Capitan

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple's Next Era Begins September 1

Thursday May 7, 2026 10:36 am PDT by
Apple recently announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO later this year, after 15 years of leading the company. Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist with "certain aspects" of the company,...
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in September With These 10 New Features

Saturday May 9, 2026 6:03 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not launching until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component will be moved under the...
MacBook Pro Low Angle Wide Lens

macOS 27: Two More Changes Leaked Ahead of WWDC Next Month

Sunday May 10, 2026 9:45 am PDT by
macOS 27 will have a "slight redesign" compared to macOS Tahoe, according to the latest word from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the design changes will help to improve the readability of macOS Tahoe's Liquid Glass interface:If you've used Tahoe, you're likely familiar with some of the quirks — particularly the transparency effects and shadows that...

Top Rated Comments

Belazor Avatar
128 months ago
One must be a total idiot to rush into installing this.

Well, but then again, I guess it will be the same people who buy the new iPhone 7 with no-headphone "feature"
Careful you don't cut yourself on that edge there, lad.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
128 months ago
I've been using the beta El Capitan releases for awhile now, and there's nothing wrong with them. Makes more sense to update to this release rather than macOS Sierra for most people.
Agreed. I suspect the OP is one who complains about bugs in the OS, but won't update to a .X release to resolve the issues they're complaining about…
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan Avatar
128 months ago
Updated.

Finder is still ****. Still can't load thumbnails for very large TIFFs on a 12 core Mac Pro.

Still can't remove favourites from the sidebar unless I force quit the Finder first.

Finder still can't handle multiple large FTP transfers without crashing.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
128 months ago
One must be a total idiot to rush into installing this.

Well, but then again, I guess it will be the same people who buy the new iPhone 7 with no-headphone "feature"
That's not a particularly fair comment. It's a .X update. It's been thoroughly tested and contains bug fixes/security enhancements.

At least it would, if it showed up in the App Store :D
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
128 months ago
My favorite OS releases are the ones that are STRICTLY "under the hood" improvements. Still miss 10.6 though because that iteration of OS (and all sub iterations) was advertised (and delivered) on "under the hood" improvements. 10.6.8 remains to this day the "bar" relative to stability and what a good Mac OS should be.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
128 months ago
That's not a particularly fair comment. It's a .X update. It's been thoroughly tested and contains bug fixes/security enhancements.
I've been using the beta El Capitan releases for awhile now, and there's nothing wrong with them. Makes more sense to update to this release rather than macOS Sierra for most people.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)