Apple Operating System List, Versions, Types and History

Apple is a distinguished platform that uses special hardware and software inside it. Apple provides MacOS and MacOS X operating system family for its desktop, laptop and server hardware. In this tutorial, we will list the Apple operating systems from begging according to their release dates and version with some features.

Apple Operating System Era

Before listing the Apple operating systems and their versions one by one we should provide a general view about the Apple operating systems. There are 3 main eras like below.

• Apple is the name of the first generation Apple Operating systems and the computer hardware also named as Apple.
• MacOS is the name of the second-generation Apple Operating systems where computers are named as System 1 or Mac OS
• MacOS X is the name of the third-generation and latest Apple Operating systems where computers are named as MacOS X too.

List Of Apple / macOS / MacOS X Operating Systems

• The First Apple computer is released in June 1978 with the operating system named Apple DOS 3.1
• Apple System 1 released in 1984.
• Apple System 2 released in 1985.
• Apple System 3 released in 1986.
• Apple System 4 released in 1988.
• Apple System 6 released in 1984.
• Apple System 7 released in 1991. This was the last release of the Apple System operating systems. The next versions of the operating systems are leased with different names.
• macOS 9 released in 1999 where the Apple operating system named is changed from Apple System.
• macOS X Server 1.0 released in March 1999. This operating system name was the base for the next operating system releases.
• MacOS X 10.0 released in March 2001. This version operating system code name was Cheetah.
• MacOS X 10.0 released in March 2001. This version operating system code name was Cheetah.
• MacOS X 10.1 released in September 2001. This version operating system code name was Puma.
• MacOS X 10.2 released in August 2002. This version operating system code name was Jaguar.
• MacOS X 10.3 released in October 2003. This version operating system code name was Panther.
• MacOS X 10.4 released in June 2004. This version operating system code name was Tiger.
• MacOS X 10.5 released in October 2007. This version operating system code name was Leopard.
• MacOS X 10.6 released in June 2009. This version operating system code name was Snow Leopard.
• MacOS X 10.7 released in July 2011. This version operating system code name was Lion. Even version number is minor the changes in OS were major. Features like AirDrop, Gatekeeper, and many more added with this version.
• MacOS X 10.8 released in July 2012. This version operating system code name was Mountain Lion.
• MacOS X 10.9 released in June 2013. This version operating system code name was Mavericks.
• MacOS X 10.10 released in June 2014 This version operating system code name was Yosemite.
• MacOS X 10.11 released in June 2015. This version operating system code name was El Capitan.
• MacOS X 10.12 released in June 2016. This version operating system code name was Sierra.
• MacOS X 10.13 released in June 2017 This version operating system code name was High Sierra.
• MacOS X 10.14 released in June 2018. This version operating system code name was Mojave. In this version, The Dark Mode feature is introduced which will make the user eye more comfortable at night and reduce eye strain.
• MacOS X 10.15 released in June 2019. This version operating system code name was Catalina.

Other (iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV) Apple Operating Systems

Apple is not just a computer and laptop manufacturer. It also sells different end consumer products like iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, etc. Apple also creates different operating systems for these products.

• Apple TV uses the operating system named tvOS
• iPhone and iPaduses the operating system named iOS. As iOS is popular and dynamic operating system it is updated regularly.
• Apple watch uses the operating system named watchOS .

Apple OS / MacOS / MacOSX Naming Conventions

As we can see above Apple provided some code-named to the different MacOS or MacOS X versions. The exception is the first MacOS Server version. All of these codenames are selected from the big cats family up to version MacOS X 10.12 . Apple also used some popular cities and locations names like California , Sierra after version MacOS X 10.12 .

Latest Updated Subersions Of MacOSX

Even MacOS released with different versions in a year period generally, old versions also supported and updated according to the Apple policies. So every updated MacOSX version gets a minor version number to depict the update. The below table provides the latest update MacOSX versions with minor version numbers.

MacOS Code Name	Latest Major and Minor Version
macOS Catalina	10.15.3
macOS Mojave	10.14.6
macOS High Sierra	10.13.6
macOS Sierra	10.12.6
OS X El Capitan	10.11.6
OS X Yosemite	10.10.5
OS X Mavericks	10.9.5
OS X Mountain Lion	10.8.5
OS X Lion	10.7.5
Mac OS X Snow Leopard	10.6.8
Mac OS X Leopard	10.5.8
Mac OS X Tiger	10.4.11
Mac OS X Panther	10.3.9
Mac OS X Jaguar	10.2.8
Mac OS X Puma	10.1.5
Mac OS X Cheetah	10.0.4