- What Happens When You Software Update Mac Os X
- What Happens When You Software Update Mac Computer
- What Happens When You Software Update Mac 10 10 5
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Restarting your Mac is a common task. It’s a solution for a host of problems, resetting your system and solving many problems effectively. Even though macOS doesn’t require nearly as many restarts as its companion Windows, troubleshooting and hardware installation still often requires a restart, alongside regular “maintenance” restarts once a month or so. What happens when you restart your Mac, and why is it so effective as a troubleshooting step? It’s actually a fairly simple power-control process involving some pretty basic commands.
Jul 13, 2013 First and foremost, you need to do your research every time you update Mac OS X on a Hackintosh. Unless you have backed up your entire hard drive, you should never install a major Mac OS X system update on the first day of its release. Instead, it is best to wait a few days for the Hackintosh 'community' to test the update first. If you were in the process of installing the update, recovery mode or Internet recovery mode will almost always get your Mac up and running again in no time. Interrupted Downloads If the update was still downloading to your computer when it was interrupted, this should have no effect on your MacBook Pro.
What happens when you restart your Mac?
In the abstract, a reboot is indicated by a power state flag set by your computer at the end of the shutdown process. This flag tells the motherboard, or Logic Board in Apple parlance, to reset the attached components using the correct reset commands. Then, it follow the normal startup (AKA “bootstrap”) process.
This reset command is nothing more than a certain value at a certain register address which the motherboard checks before moving to its “off” state. If the reboot flag is present, the computer starts the boot process as soon as the shutdown process is finished. If the flag isn’t present, the computer moves into the “soft off” state, waiting for you to come back and press the power button again.
The reboot process is only slightly different from the shutdown process. The computer “knows” to reboot thanks to the ACPI reset command, but that’s only set after the computer has completed the shutdown process. All components get reset as part of the shutdown process, so the only difference between shutdown and reboot is that the computer restarts as soon as it can.
The shutdown process is pretty simple itself. When you select “shutdown” from the Apple menu, the computer quits all apps, does a little housekeeping, unmounts the filesystem and turns off peripheral devices.
What are power states?
Much of your Mac’s shutdown and restart processes are controlled by ACPI power states. Power states come in a couple flavors and are controlled by the motherboard or Logic power. These power states comes from ACPI, or Advanced Configuration and Power Interface, which controls power management in your Mac. This controls how power is distributed to different devices, including things like the memory (RAM), storage devices, USB peripherals and more. There are a couple important power states that help us understand how the computer operates.
- G0: Powered on and working; this is your Mac’s “awake” and operational status. Every connected component is fully powered up.
- G1: Sleeping, which contains several sub-states as listed below.
- S1: RAM and CPU power stays on, but the CPU isn’t processing instructions. CPU instructions are preserved. Peripheral devices, like USB hard drives or web cameras, are powered off.
- S2: CPU is powered off, wiping the CPU cache. RAM power is maintained. This preserves the contents of memory while reducing power consumption of the device. In practice it’s not much more different than the state below, and infrequently used.
- S3: Everything except RAM and peripherals that can wake the computer, like the keyboard, is powered off. This is your computer’s “sleep” state. This is triggered from the Apple menu or happens automatically on a timer after a period of inactivity.
- S4: RAM contents are written to disk and everything powers off. If you shut your Mac’s lid and the battery dies, it goes into this state, writing RAM contents to memory if it can. The only difference between this and G2 is the resume process: you won’t need to boot your Mac to return from this power state.
- G2: “Soft off.” This state is the Mac’s off state. Power is cut to everything except devices that listen for power on, like the power button on your Mac. Some keyboards also include a power-on button, so that will stay active in this state.
- G3: Mechanically off. The Mac cannot be started again until it’s put back into G2, or “soft off.” Macs don’t typically have access to this state directly, but it’s akin to mechanically separating your computer from power by a surge protector switch.
Why does rebooting fix so many problems?
Rebooting is a key troubleshooting step because it fixes a huge variety of problems. But how?
When you restart your Mac, all of the computer’s logic is reset. This means that the CPU, memory, controllers and peripherals all receive their reset commands and return to their boot-up states. By wiping away anything that was happening previously, this reset can often fix problems by resetting things to their “new” state. Of course, this doesn’t mean the problem won’t reoccur. But this fresh start often removes the offending gremlin, at least temporarily.
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'An update is ready to be installed on your phone.' Have you left the said notification unattended? Wonder what will happen when you update your phone? The questions like ‘What will I get by updating the phone?’ or ‘Will my data get deleted?’ might be stopping you from updating your phone. In this post, we try our best to answer such queries and concerns while explaining what happens when you update your phone.
Whether you own an Android phone or iPhone, the results after updating them are the same. What are those? You will get to know here. We have divided the post into three parts: what is a software update and how to know you have received one, what happens when you update your phone (and precautions to be taken), and what happens after you update your phone.
Let's get started.
What Is Meant by a Software Update on Android and iOS
Any smartphone, similar to a computer, is made up of hardware and software. The hardware needs an operating system to work. When you buy a new phone, it comes pre-loaded with a certain version of an operating system — Android on phones from Samsung, Google, Redmi, OnePlus, Oppo, etc., and iOS on Apple iPhones.
Google and Apple are continuously working on creating an improved version of their operating systems, rolled out for the phones worldwide. The updated version usually carries new features and aim at fixing issues related to security and bugs prevalent in the previous versions.
The updates are usually provided by a process referred to as OTA (over the air). You will receive a notification when an update is available on your phone. In case something goes wrong, Android and iOS offer an option to restore your phone to factory settings with a full system version update.
Typically, updates are slower in Android. By default, typical Android phones will receive anywhere between 1-3 Android version updates, as per Google's promise to provide 18 months support. The actual update timing and duration will depend on the smartphone manufacturer as different brands release it at different times, leading to the Android fragmentation problem. On the contrary, an iPhone will receive updates for 4-5 years from Apple.
Types of Updates
There are two kinds of software updates that you will receive on your phones — Version and Security.
Version Updates
Major updates or operating system upgrades are some of the monikers given to version updates. These are usually released annually and bring major changes to the operating system in the form of UI changes, new apps, settings, and more. System updates are larger in size, ranging from 700MB to 1.5GB or higher.
From Android 1.0 to Android 9.0 Pie, and iOS 1 to iOS 12, we have come a long way from the first versions. Currently, we are on Android 10 and iOS 13 with a beta version released for each of them — Android 11 and iOS 14, respectively.
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126449130/436058934.jpg)
Security and Incremental Updates
Security updates are usually smaller in size and are rolled out often. They are also known as security patches. As the name suggests, they usually fix bugs in your current operating system and secure your phone from malicious attacks by fixing any security lapses.
Google Pixel handsets receive security updates every month. However, that's not the case with all Android phones. If you are lucky, you might get them once in 2-3 months. Or you will not receive any, depending on the smartphone maker. The infrequency of updates is a growing concern with the Android platform.
Meanwhile, smaller updates that mostly pack an issue fix is often referred as an incremental update. In such updates, you will get minor new features and security updates bundled together. For instance, iOS 13 received several incremental upgrades ranging from 13.1 to 13.5 over the past year.
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Read MoreHow to Know If My Phone Needs an Update
Typically, your phone will push a notification when a software update is available. If auto-download is enabled, the software update will download automatically when connected to a Wi-Fi network. If it is disabled, you need to download the update by heading to the settings and clicking on the Download button.
Tip: The updates are typically heavy in size. We recommend using a good internet connection, especially Wi-Fi instead of mobile data, for downloading an update.You can check for available updates in the following way.
Check for Software Update on Android
On Stock Android and other phones, go to Settings > System > System update. Tap on the Check for update button. On Samsung phones, go to Settings > Software update > Download and Install.
On Xiaomi's Redmi, visit Settings > About phone > System update. Tap on Check for updates. Similarly, you can check on your phone whether there is an update available for it.
Check for Software Update on iOS
To update your iPhone, head over to Settings > General > Software update. Your phone will start looking for an update.
What Happens After Downloading a Software Update
When your phone downloads an update, it will prompt you to install it immedidately. Tap on the available notification to see the update details such as changelog, size, and version number. Only when you give permission, your phone will install it. If your phone doesn't have sufficient charnge, then you will be informed to charge your phone before applying the update.
After that, your phone will restart to complete the installation process of the update.
Things to Take Care of While Updating Your Phone
Here’s a checklist of things that should be considered when installing the update on your phone.
Battery Power
Updating your phone will take some time. Make sure you have enough battery on your phone. We recommend charging your phone for more than 70% of battery juice. If you have a low battery or your phone discharges quickly, keep it plugged to the charger while updating it.
Find a Distraction
You cannot use your phone when the update is getting installed. You will see a text similar to the 'Installing system update.'
Do Not Switch Off Your Phone
Lastly, it’s important to remember not to turn off your phone when you are updating it. Even if it’s taking a little longer than expected, do not switch it off. We would suggest updating your handset only when you have enough time at your disposal — at least 30 minutes or an hour.
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In the last stage of updating your phone, the device will boot up normally, and you will see a notification like Finishing software update followed by Update successful. The phone will prompt you to enter your passcode for other types of authentications, such as a fingerprint scanner, will not work.
Let’s check in detail what happens after updating the phone.
Is Old Data Safe
Updating your phone will not delete any of your data or files from your phone. All your personal documents (downloaded PDFs, photos), installed apps, or app data (WhatsApp chats, offline music), settings, and similar things will remain untouched. It’s a good idea to take a backup of your phone before you update it. Find out how to backup Android, and why and how you should back up the iPhone to a computer.
Tip: For better performance, restart your phone after you update it.New Features and User Interface Changes
Updates bring new features to older phones without changing the handset. So with the same hardware capabilities, you will be able to use new features. Each software update also tries to simplify the user experience. So depending on your software update, you will get additional features for your phone.
For example, Android 10 gave way to gesture navigation. Instead of using the navigation buttons at the bottom, gestures can control the phone now. Android 10 also bought features such as smart replies and dark theme. Similarly, Android 9 introduced text selection from the recent apps screen.
iOS 13 introduced system-wide dark mode on supported iPhones, enabled the ability to download large apps on mobile data, upgraded Reminders and Photos app, and more cool features.
Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements
Any software is prone to bugs. For instance, an update might break the proper functioning of Wi-Fi on your phone. Fortunately, such issues are fixed quickly with incremental updates. So a software update will fix issues related to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, permissions, and more. Such changes are usually hidden, and you will not notice them unless you face an issue that triggers those problems. Your device will also run faster and you will notice battery improvements. Also, the OS developers update the security of your phone.
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How to Check If Apps Need an Update on iPhone and Android
Read MoreWhat Happens If You Don’t Update Your Phone
Updating a phone is important but not mandatory. You can continue to use your phone without updating it. However, you will not receive new features on your phone and bugs won’t be fixed. So you will continue to face issues, if any. Most importantly, since security updates patch security vulnerabilities on your phone, not updating it will put the phone at risk. God forbid, if anything goes seriously wrong with your phone, then Banking apps would be potentially open to hackers and shall get compromised. Worse would be prying hackers stealing your personal data by exploiting the security holes that you didn't fix by applying the updates.
Some apps might stop working if you haven't upgraded them to the latest app version. In short, you have a lot more to lose in terms of convenience and security, if you don't apply the software updates on your phones.So you should avoid putting off your device updates for they are useful in most cases. Why miss out on them?
What Happens When You Software Update Mac Computer
Next up:Want to sell your phone? Format your phone before selling it. Find out what happens when you factory reset your phone.
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