Safe to Update to OSX Catalina?

Software
#1

Hi Guys,

as I am paranoid late late OSX adopter since the Catastophies of OSX Yosemite I want to know if it is safe now to update to update to OSx Catalina? I am on the latest OSX Mojave version for now.

Are there any problems, bugs etc. you encountered with OSX Catalina?
(e.g. sth like this: https://bombich.com/de/blog/2020/05/27/bug-in-macos-10.15.5-impacts-bootable-backups-weve-got-you-covered)

I am a power Mac user using the following thid party apps: BTT, OF, Office 365, DropboxMac, EVernote, PDF-Expert, BusycalMac, Scrivener, istatmenus, Devonsphre Express, Houdahspot.

Nevertheless I am using iOS13 now already, because there I am paniciking less to upgrade after around 3-6 months. WIth OSX updates I wait for around 11 months to upgrade. You never know…

Thank you in advance.

#2
#3

In Catalina, Houdah Spot is no longer able to search Apple Mail.app.

This is something to do with the way Apple changed the storage of Mail.app messages.

It is still able to search mail stored in Outlook, but you don’t get the previews.

#4

Yes, last November Houdah warned about that and asked users to submit feedback to Apple; if enough do Apple could re-allow access.

#5

After updating (only 2 weeks ago) it’s been mostly good. Only significant problem has been during a zoom or teams call using AirPods Pro my Magic Trackpad (old mechanical one) seems to become very temperamental. It’s like it takes half a second to respond to any gesture. Only seems to happen on calls, returns to full performance once the call is ended. Built in trackpad works fine during calls. Haven’t had time to experiment but it seems that Bluetooth is not coping with AirPods in full duplex mode and trackpad at the same time.

Things I will try one day when I’m bored
Does it happen on a call using mic and speaker
Does it happen on the new Magic Trackpad
Does it happen on AirPods 2

I’m wishing on a star that an update ships that fixes it before we get to the experiment!

#6

Unless there’s a specific app that you need or you want to use SideCar, I’d stick with Mojave and skip Catalina entirely. There’s nothing much to gain, and issues keep cropping up. The only reason I’m using it is because my MBPro can’t run Mojave.

2 Likes
#7

I’m waiting but primarily because I haven’t taken stock of my 32 bit apps that I want to keep.

I’m also thinking I will buy a Mac mini or an iMac in the next couple of months

#8

Well you might as well find out about the 32-bit issue now:

Get Go64 (free/donationware) and run it.

1 Like
#9

That’s what I’ve done. I’m in the market for a new iMac at the end of the year so I’m likely to keep on keepin’ on with Mojave, and still enjoy my occasional 32-bit app.

As an aside, a developer friend suggested that if Apple were to not be architecting Intel (64-bit) emulation on the upcoming ARM Macs they wouldn’t have inexorably driven to killing off 32-bit apps as of last fall. (That plus the fact that in the previous two chip transitions Apple included emulation.) Until recently I was an emulation-skeptic but I think we may see another Rosetta for ARM, even if it only lasts a few years like Rosetta did.

#10

I think killing off 32-bit apps was at least partially motivated by the upcoming transition to ARM, and they did it when they did it to put the bad P.R. on Catalina instead of ARM. (Just like they took the iPhone headphone jack away with the iPhone 7 rather than the iPhone 10/X/whatever to keep bad press from being associated with the new iPhone.)

Connected #298: “You Bought a Monument” has a good discussion about ARM Macs, including virtualization / emulation, starting at the 40:34 mark.

Much of Stephen’s perspective was shaped by a conversation he recently had with Steve Troughton-Smith about this, and (for reasons explained in the episode) Stephen came away expecting that Boot Camp for ARM, while possible, seems very unlikely. I found it fairly convincing. Worth a listen. I don’t have a horse in this particular race, so it wouldn’t bother me if Boot Camp went away.

That’s a completely different issue, of course, than a “Rosetta for current macOS apps to run on ARM-based Macs.” I cannot imagine that Apple would even consider not offering something like that. It would be a P.R. nightmare, because every single story about ARM Macs would highlight that flaw, not to mention that customers who are already upset about losing 32-bit apps would now face having to wait for all of their apps to be re-compiled for ARM? No way.

Even if performance isn’t great and it hurts battery life, Apple wants every story about ARM Macs to include the line “And you’ll be able to run all of your existing apps!”

p.s. - not that I expect anyone at Apple is reading this, but please for the love of all that is holy do not focus on making ARM laptops thinner. Even the 16" MacBook Pro is fine. Give me 2 actual full days of real use at full screen brightness while on battery, and then you can worry about making things thinner.

Narrator: “They’re definitely going to make them thinner.”

#11

I agree: Bootcamp is dead on ARM.

The reason I was a Rosetta2 skeptic was because I think Apple (a) should be able to relatively easily ARMify MAS apps (given developer requirements to submit bitcode, with good speculation for ARM here), (b) it would prefer to spur ARM development rather than let devs take years to port apps, and © a lot of slack from missing Intel apps could be met by iOS apps should Apple manufacture simultaneous-boot Mac/iOS iBooks. (Indeed there’s speculation from Jason Snell and others that Apple could enable on the higher-RAM-specced iPad Pros a beta ARM macOS for development work.) I still have hopes for that multibook hardware, but I’m reading more about emulation and the comparative ease of making it work on ARM (speed is another question, though), so I have moved over to that camp.

With Jony gone I think the inexorable march toward laptop thinness is gone. (With a rumored refresh of an iMac without a spinning drive, however, I think we can see thinner iMacs just because there would be lower thermal requirements and less need for internal space that forced the current design)

#12

Thanks. I was thinking about to upgrade to Catalina, but I read there is a Mail Bug in Cataline which deleted Mails. They say this Bug, maybe also prevails in Big Sur… It is clean Installing time and I will clean install Mojave again.

#13

I upgraded to Catalina last month. No issues with mail or anything else so far.

#14

You might also simply not use Apple Mail and use a third party client with no email information in Mail.app whatsoever (I’m doing this).

#15

Thank you for confirming.

#16

Thanks, but I love my Apple Mail to be honest… I really dont like to switch and get used to another non apple app…