Apple Releases macOS Sonoma 14.4

Apple today released macOS Sonoma 14.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sonoma operating system that launched last September. macOS Sonoma 14.4 comes over a month after macOS Sonoma 14.3, an update that brought collaborative Apple Music playlists.

sonoma desktop wwdc
The ‌‌‌‌macOS Sonoma‌‌ 14.4‌ update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Settings. There's also a macOS 13.6.5 release for those who are still running macOS Ventura and a macOS 12.7.4 release for those who have macOS Monterey installed.

With macOS Sonoma 14.4, Apple is introducing new emoji characters and adding support for reading Podcast Episode text in full with search support. There are new features for Business Updates in Messages, along with a toggle for showing only icons for websites in the Safari Favorites Bar. Apple's release notes for the update are below.

macOS Sonoma 14.4 introduces new emoji as well as other features, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac.

Emoji
- New mushroom, phoenix, lime, broken chain, and shaking heads emoji are now available in emoji keyboard
- 18 people and body emoji support facing the opposite direction

This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:
- Podcasts Episode text can be read in full, searched for a word or phrase, clicked to play from a specific point and used with accessibility features such as Text Size, Increase Contrast, and VoiceOver
- Business Updates in Messages for Business let you get updates that you've opted into, like order status, flight notifications, fraud alerts or other transactions from trusted businesses
- Safari Favorites Bar adds an option to show only icons for websites

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

For detailed information about the security content of this update, please visit: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

More information on the features that have been introduced in macOS Sonoma to date can be found in our macOS Sonoma roundup.

Related Forum: macOS Sonoma

Popular Stories

iPhone Air

Report: 'Virtually No Demand' for iPhone Air

Wednesday October 22, 2025 3:22 am PDT by
Apple is "drastically" cutting production of the iPhone Air and shifting focus toward the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models, Nikkei Asia reports. The business publication claims to have learned of a major cut to iPhone Air production motivated by weaker-than-expected consumer interest, nearly to "end of production levels." Despite early reports of the iPhone Air selling out within hours of...
ios 26 1 liquid glass opaque

iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle

Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass. The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
sam sung auction

Former Apple Employee Sam Sung Changed His Name to Avoid Attention

Wednesday October 22, 2025 4:44 pm PDT by
Back in 2012, an Apple retail employee named Sam Sung went viral because his name is similar to Samsung, one of Apple's main competitors. In a recent interview with Business Insider, he detailed that period in his life, how Apple responded, and he explained why he ultimately changed his name. Someone posted an image of Sung's Apple business card on Reddit in 2012, and it spread rapidly....
cadillac lyric infotainment

GM to Remove CarPlay from All Future Vehicles, Including Gas Cars

Wednesday October 22, 2025 11:34 am PDT by
General Motors began phasing out support for CarPlay in its electric vehicles back in 2023, leading to complaints from iPhone users, but the company has no plans to back down. In fact, GM is going further and plans to remove CarPlay from all future gas vehicles, too. In an interview with The Verge, GM CEO Mary Barra said that the company opted to prioritize its platform for EVs, but the...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

Apple's Plan to Launch Three New iPhone Designs Allegedly Revealed

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:24 am PDT by
Apple plans to launch a new type of iPhone every year for the foreseeable future, according to an Asia-based source. The detailed information was shared by the account "yeux1122" in a blog post on the Korean platform Naver, citing domestic trend and component research companies. Corroborating other reports, Apple will apparently launch its first foldable iPhone in 2026, featuring a...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features for Your iPhone

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
maxresdefault

Here's How the iOS 26.1 Transparency Toggle Changes Liquid Glass

Monday October 20, 2025 1:55 pm PDT by
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then...
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps. More features and changes will follow in future ...
iOS 26

What's New in iOS 26.1 Beta 4

Monday October 20, 2025 1:02 pm PDT by
Even though we're at the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple is continuing to add new features. In fact, the fourth beta has some of the biggest changes that we'll get when iOS 26.1 releases to the public later this month. We've rounded up what's new below. Liquid Glass Transparency Toggle Apple added a toggle for customizing the look of Liquid Glass. In Settings > Display and Brightness,...

Top Rated Comments

AAPLGeek Avatar
21 months ago
Once again, emojis take the lead on release notes.

Apple should just rebrand macOS to toyOS now, the transformation is nearly done.
Score: 52 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bhagemann Avatar
21 months ago
Sheesh folks, get a grip. ENOUGH with the emoji bitching. Its been explained way too many times that this 1) isn't how standards work -apple isn't creating these, just adding them as approved, and 2) certainly do NOT have folks pulled off systems development teams to do this.

Out of 13 comments so far.. EIGHT (?!) have been about whatever deal you have with emojis pushing your buttons or something. take a break please. please. seriously. not funny anymore.

I'm guessing most of us would much rather read actual feedback and comments about the system changes... I'm especially interested in photos, music & the changes in the printing system.

Music (doesn't seem to have much in terms of changes here, still have an issue with importing mp3s to a new playlist and having them disappear until i do it a 2nd time, then its fine)

Photos - would love a way to search for unnamed faces, but found a nice script that helps with that finally. Recognition seems better all the time though of faces and objects. I did notice for the first time that when browsing the photos you get a little 'i' for 'info', normally the photo meta details, place and so on. and if the app finds something of interest in the photo it adds a pulsing star to the icon. for me, a cat picture when i clicked that, not only did it pull up info about cats, but correctly identfied the breed of my cat!
Score: 51 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Fuzzball84 Avatar
21 months ago

Once again, emojis take the lead on release notes.

Apple should just rebrand macOS to toyOS now, the transformation is nearly done.
fpacOS... Fisher Price Activity Center Operating System

Critical Update: New Emojis added, Emoji security flaw patched, Emoji designs updated, Emoji desktop enabled
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Fuzzball84 Avatar
21 months ago
Apples marketing research revealed the following customer priorities

1. Emoji
2. Emoji
3. Emoji
4. Emoji
5. Emoji

78290. Desktop wallpapers

193523. Critical Security Patches

2389162674626. Core OS functionality and stability
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Asbow Avatar
21 months ago
Are updates to Messages and Podcasts really worthy mentions. These are apps that should be separate downloadable updates.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Realityck Avatar
21 months ago
Released today

* macOS 14.4 (23E214) - March 7, 2024
* tvOS 17.4 (21L227) - March 7, 2024
* visionOS 1.1 (21O211) - March 7, 2024
* watchOS 10.4 (21T216) - March 7, 2024
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)