Apple has today released macOS Sonoma 14.2, watchOS 10.2, and tvOS 17.2 to the public.
Based on positive experiences in the beta cycle, Apple seems to have made a big step towards resolving the underlying WebKit issues triggering the frustrating “Safari not responding” bug that has long plagued many VoiceOver users on macOS, causing temporary system freezes. However, due to the inconsistent reproducibility of the problem and the mixed experiences of users, we cannot yet definitively declare it squashed for all users and situations. We will wait for macOS Sonoma 14.2 to be widely available and tested before confirming whether Apple has indeed permanently fixed this pain point. But initial signs are extremely promising that Apple may be close to finally resolving an issue that has dragged on unaddressed for far too long despite constant user complaints.
Our experience is that the following accessibility bugs have also been resolved or significantly addressed in macOS Sonoma 14.2:
- The actions menu for conversations in Messages no longer contains an extra "Pin" action.
- In VoiceOver Utility > Commanders > Quick Nav, there is a new "Always allow typing in text fields while using single-key Quick Nav" checkbox that, when checked, does not require you to interact with such fields to type in them when single-key Quick Nav is on.
We are currently unaware of any new bugs or regressions for blind and low vision users in macOS Sonoma 14.2, watchOS 10.2 or tvOS 17.2.
With our small team, it's impossible to test every device, configuration, app, and use case. We can't claim our lists of new and resolved bugs are comprehensive or that our assessments are infallible. Some issues may manifest only under specific conditions. You likely won't experience every bug. Also, expect to encounter problems not listed that we missed in our testing. Please let us know in the comments if you encounter any other improvements or new bugs introduced in these updates. Community feedback is invaluable in helping us keep this page up-to-date and accurate.
Release Notes
macOS Sonoma 14.2
This update introduces enhanced Autofill for PDFs and improvements to Messages and Weather. This release also includes other features, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac.
PDFs
- Enhanced AutoFill identifies fields in PDFs and other forms enabling you to populate them with information such as names and addresses from your contacts
Messages
- Catch-up arrow lets you easily jump to your first unread message in a conversation by clicking the arrow visible in the top-right corner
- Add sticker option in the context menu lets you add a sticker directly to a bubble
- Contact Key Verification provides automatic alerts and Contact Verification Codes to help verify people facing extraordinary digital threats are messaging only with the people they intend
Weather
- Precipitation amounts help you stay on top of rain and snow conditions for a given day over the next 10 days
- New widgets let you choose from next-hour precipitation, daily forecast, sunrise and sunset times, and current conditions such as Air Quality, Feels Like, and wind speed
- Wind map snapshot helps you quickly assess wind patterns and access the animated wind map overlay to prepare for forecasted wind conditions for the next 24 hours
Clock
- Multiple timers let you run several timers simultaneously and create a name for each timer
- Timer presets help you quickly start a timer with a range of preset options
- Recents makes it easy to restart your recently used timers
This update also includes the following new features:
- Favorite Songs Playlist in Apple Music lets you quickly get back to the songs you mark as favorites
- Use Listening History in Apple Music can be disabled in a Focus so music you listen to does not appear in Recently Played or influence your recommendations
- Shazam Music Recognition allows you to quickly identify songs laving online or around you, even when wearing AirPods
- New keyboard layouts provide support for 7 additional Sámi languages
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
watchOS 10.2 Release Notes
watchOS 10.2 includes new features, improvements, and bug fixes, including:
- Access and log Health app data with Siri (Available on Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2)
- Automatically view Now Playing when in proximity of HomePod (2nd generation) or HomePod mini playing media from Music or Podcasts (Available on Apple Watch Series 6 and later and Apple Watch Ultra)
- Enable the ability to swipe to change watch faces in Settings
- Enable the ability to confirm ending workouts in Settings
- Prioritize the volume of either the music or trainers' voices in most Fitness+ workouts
- Resolves an issue that can cause watch faces added in the Watch app on iPhone to not appear on Apple Watch
For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222
tvOS 17.2 Release Notes
This update enhances the FaceTime, Fitness, and Apple TV apps, streamlines voice search in supported apps, adds new support for Siri, and includes performance and stability improvements.
Apple TV app
- The new sidebar makes it easier to navigate and find something great to watch.
- All your subscribed channels and connected apps can now be found under Channels & Apps in the sidebar and in Home.
- iTunes movies and shows have moved to the Apple TV app. Buy and rent from the Store, and find your purchases in the Library.
- Watch Now is now called Home, where you can browse movies and TV shows.
FaceTime
- Ability to answer calls directly on your Apple TV 4K.
- Support for FaceTime audio calls on Apple TV 4K.
- Calls can now move from your Apple TV 4K to your iPhone or iPad.
- FaceTime is supported on Apple TV 4K (2nd generation or later).
SharePlay
- Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital surround sound formats are now available while watching something together with SharePlay.
Apple Fitness+
- Audio focus lets you choose to hear more of what motivates your workout, whether it's the trainer's voice or the music.
Voice search
- Onscreen search can start from anywhere inside supported apps like TV and Music. Press the Siri button to dictate a search.
Siri
- Now includes language support for Arabic in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, Malay in Malaysia, and Turkish in Türkiye to help you find shows, music, and more using just your voice.
How to Update
To install macOS Sonoma 14.2, choose System Settings from the Apple menu, select General in the table, click Software Update in the scroll area, and click the Update Now button to begin the update process. If other updates are available, you can click "More info" to see details about them and select specific updates to install.
watchOS 10.2 is available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update) or by going to the Watch app on your iPhone and navigating to General> Software Update. To install the update, your Watch must be connected to its charger and have at least 50% battery power.
To install tvOS 17.2 on Apple TV 4K or Apple TV HD, go to the Settings channel, then look for the System section near the bottom. From here, look for Software Updates under Maintenance, then select Update Software and Download and Install. Wait for your Apple TV to download the update. Don't disconnect or unplug your Apple TV until the update completes.
We'd love to hear your thoughts after you've had a chance to install the updates. What new features do you find most useful? Are there any changes you don't like? Please share your feedback in the comments below. Let us know what Apple got right with each release and where you think there's still room for improvement.
Comments
Not sure why you would upgrade
Given that I don't think any of the bugs that caused you to rollback last time have been fixed. Is it just for the Safari Not Responding fix?
A couple of bugs
You're right, I am on latest Safari now, so SNR isn't a reason to upgrade.
A week or so ago, I recorded a QuickTime that showed how VO+J and the Web Rotor Headings menu work on Ventura. I want to record a similar video on Sonoma to show how the changes to those features have introduced issues, then submit the two videos as a bug report. If we don't tell Apple how disruptive it is for them to change VO+J behavior, they'll just continue arbitrarily changing it in release after release.
Good point, Paul
Personally, I am standing by my above statement; sticking with Ventura until next year's releases. Ventura will still receive updates until Q4 2025, so I am content with that.
Still, if your method of bug reporting will open the eyes of the powers that be, then have at it. 😎
So what do we do about SNR?
As I mentioned previously, I upgraded Safari to 17.2, though I'm still on Ventura 13.6.1.
Sadly, I must confirm that Safari is Still Not Responding. First time I encountered it was while loading a sheet in Google Drive. Sometimes sheets load slow, so I wasn't sure that was actually an instance of this bug.
Then I ran into it while exploring Google Search results. Move to first item, select it, review the website, then Command+left bracket back to the results and, BOOM, Safari Not Responding.
If Apple has received all our sysdiagnose files and QuickTime videos--if Apple knows we can no longer recommend Apple hardware to our blind friends and associates, if Apple knows we're going to freeze buying new hardware until this issue is resolved--and they still can't fix it, then I'm unsure how to proceed.
DDG
Try Duck Duck Go. It is not perfect, but it is incredibly fast. There will still be 'SNR', or rather 'NR', but it is far less frequent than Safari. The privacy protection within and the simplistic media player for sites like YouTube has made DDG my current preferred browser on Mac. 🤷🏼♂️
Safari on Ventura
Do we even know if it is supposed to be fixed in Ventura? It might be a system thing. I think since 14.2 I've only encountered the one Not Responding bug (even though it was a bad one). I had been getting little not responding issues all over the place - VO Utility, System Settings, the context menu in Mail etc. Maybe I've just been lucky but I've not noticed anything like that. So might be the fix either wasn't in Safari or needed something in the system too.
Or maybe it is just biding its time, who knows...
Haven't checked release notes
I'm simply going off the Safari release number 17.2, isn't that the version that ships with current Sonoma?
I did realize there might be an OS component to this fix. So I got rid of my Chimera and upgraded from 13.6.1 to 13.6.3. But Safari is still Not Responding in many cases. Those of you on Sonoma say that SNR is greatly reduced. On Ventura, the bug is as present as it ever was, which makes me wonder what the update was for.
Well, give me a few days, and I'll try Sonoma as I previously mentioned.
Re: release notes
You've got to wonder why Apple can't just tell us when things are fixed. Is it because it's just too much effort for them? Or is it because admitting a fix is admitting a fault in the first place?
I presume the latest Safari comes in on a Ventura update? If I get some time I will install it on my Intel which is still running Ventura and see if I can log into Amazon, which I couldn't before 14.2 on either Sonoma or Ventura.
But good luck if you try Sonoma again. It's good you'll be submitting a bug report or two. I'm still unconvinced Apple will see the VO+J change as a bug. "Go to linked item" is quite vague, and I presume it is still going to some sort of linked item. I don't really know technically how it works. (I'm guessing some sort of aria-relates-to or some such?)
I'll also have to find the time to report the option+right bug now I've found it in Xcode too. It's just so time consuming, but the time would be a lot easier to come by if you knew it would make a difference.
Watch stuck on Samantha if I try to use an enhanced Ava voice
So I am not the only one.
That’s what I was afraid of, that if I called Apple, they might ask me to delete and reset and install everything, to no avail I’m sure.
It happened as soon as I updated. I cannot get it back, no matter what I do. I ended up with a compact voice. I’d rather not keep Samantha. Any suggestions?
I agree with those saying that the title is misleading.
I'm not a mac user but has apple themselves said they aim to fix the issue? If not then I'd recommend changing the title.
A lot of peple will probably upgrade without reading this thread, after all, apple aims to fix this bug, I know I would, but to find out it's not fixed at all would make me trust the applevis team a lot less.
It's working for some people and not for others so yeah, I'd recommend changing it.
The title says aims to fix
That's not necessarily the same as "has fixed". So, in that sense, the title isn't misleading. We've all encountered this bug, at varying frequencies, in wildly different websites, etc. So while the aim of the new release might be to fix the persistent, ever-present but maddeningly elusive SNR bug, it doesn't mean that they've succeeded where a whole community of persons who use the software in question have failed.
You make a very good point.
I'll leave it for you guys to talk about as i'm not a mac user.
Re: I agree with those saying that the title is misleading.
According to responses several people have received to their bug Feedback Assistant reports, Apple believed that the “Safari Not Responding” issue should be resolved in macOS Sonoma 14.2. At the time we published this post, that aim from Apple was accurate, so the title stating they plan to fix the issues was valid. However, given the long history of this bug and varying experiences with it, we deliberately avoided definitive language about it being completely fixed.
Now that macOS Sonoma 14.2 has been publicly released, it appears the “Not Responding” problems are significantly improved for many but not completely solved for all based on continued community reports. When we titled the post, Apple “Aims” to Fix,” we meant that fixing it was their goal, not a guarantee. Hopefully future macOS release will completely resolve the issue, but for now it seems safest to say the problems are lessened but not fully resolved yet.
Ah ok.
Thanks for letting us know.
getting worse of course
now it's not just safari hangs, it's spreading everywhere. something as basic as textedit, system settings, voiceover utility, hell, even menubar. if you think it's getting better, i suspect it is because you want to...human nature, you know.
Sysdiagnose and bug reports needed
Those who can still reproduce "Safari not responding" should submit bug reports, with sysdiagnose logs. Otherwise, there's little chance that Apple's software developers will track down and fix the remaining issues.
Fusion Still Broken, It's Up to You if You Upgrade
As I said, sadly as of right now VMWare Fusion is broken by Sonoma. It that's important to you, I'd stay away for now.
Otherwise, I would say that it's a worthwhile upgrade; the Safari Not Responding issue (notice the capitals, it's an official title for an official problem) does seem to be less of a problem, but definitely not a solved problem; in fact, when it happens now, it's, if anything, even more severe. So less often, more serious. I do appreciate the responsiveness though, the refinements in Eloquence, the UI changes for iCloud, new Siri voices, all that good stuff. I could have less of the bugs--Dictionary is now less accessible than it was, sometimes bordering on useless, even as system-wide spell-check is now working right in Safari and Mail again, and the Finder interface to iOS devices no longer supports keyboard access to copy files. Let's face it, you can never win this game, but you can always make progress. If you're comfortable upgrading, and I'd say that this upgrade is safe to perform from System Settings where it is very reasonably-sized, then I'd go for it. But there's no real urgency either; if it's not a big deal to you, and you have particular reasons to stay behind, then just do that.
context menu is broken in Finder
Just as I was submitting another bug report to Apple related to PDF reading in Books I tried to use "open with" in context menu and couldn't actually do it – it just closes when I'm trying to move into this submenu. Sanoma 14.2/14.21
Problem with Client-Side filtering of tables
As I had a little free time, I thought I would see if I could reproduce the problem whereby filtering a table in Javascript causes the table to become unusable. I don't know for sure if this is what I was seeing but it was quite easy to do. I simply had a small table, put an id on one of the rows and had a button that hid that row by putting "display: none" on it.
Anyway, I have sent this html file and an exhaustive steps to reproduce so hopefully it can be dropped down the big well of despair or whatever it is they call their internal bug tracker.
I did the same thing with the navigate by headings bug back in 14.0 and they've not addressed it, so I'm not going to hold my breath.
SNR and Friends
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Apple had introduced the option to promote a less frustrating experience with Single Key Quick Nav and text fields. Unfortunately, though, said experience is soured pretty significantly by a complete lack of feature stability. More specifically, I seem to intermittently encounter the following issues:
* Sometimes VoiceOver seemingly becomes confused in regards to when Single Key should and shouldn’t be on. Even when not in text fields, it’ll occasionally pass single letters to the website in question. A good place to try this is on Reddit, where it randomly started hiding posts in my feed when I’d press H even though I’d turned Single Letter on. Most times toggling it off and back on rectifies the issue ( at least temporarily), but some websites will just keep on confusing it into continuously reproducing buggy behaviour.
* Multi-line text fields, such as the one that I’m using to type up this reply tend to also throw VO off, and it’ll more often than not completely disrespect the single letter text fields preference. This also happens in places like Spotlight Search and Safari’s location bar, seemingly because both instances don’t directly drop you into the edit field for some reason (I think this might be another separate bug in and of itself).
* I’m not a fan of the fact that using F and Shift+F to navigate text fields will automatically switch into the “ignore Single Letter” mode. In my opinion, the ideal behaviour would see this be an option toggle where text field jump controls doesn’t automatically assume that you’d like to start typing like tab does, and instead lets you continue navigating using Single Letter. Only if you tab into or interact with a text field should it begin ignoring Single Letter automatically.
* Sometimes, Single Key will completely refuse to respond and has to be toggled off and back on. This is most seen when doing something like reading, say, an AppleVis post/reply line by line using up and down arrow, then hitting something like H or Shift+H with Single Key on. Sometimes this’ll even happening when using L to move between links, where it’ll randomly lock up and you have to re-focus on another page element to continue. I’m fairly certain this has something to do with the bug where sometimes navigating to an element (such as link) will randomly lock you on that element and the only way to move away from it is to stop interacting (despite the fact that I never interacted with it in the first place)!
* Along with the fact that the SNR bug is still present, Safari seems to now exhibit a new odd behaviour on some webpages where it’ll cut off the last few letters of a line when scrolling using the arrow keys. Even when using left and right arrow to locate the missing letters, they’re nowhere to be found. It’s as if the pages in question are written incorrectly, which is simply not true because they render properly on my Windows machines. In these cases, using option+left or right arrow to attempt moving between words fails pretty spectacularly and begins announcing disjointed, fragmented letters and generally behaves like VoiceOver is suffering a stroke.
In Conclusion: Absolutely nothing was fixed in the 14.2 MacOS update that pertains to Safari stability, so I’m going to agree (albeit significantly less harshly) that the thread title should probably be changed. I’ve never gone out of my way to report bugs to Apple so am unsure of how I should proceed with what I would call pretty staggering issues, or if I should even bother. I’ve gotten the vibe thus far that people have spent years reporting these sorts of issues and they have yet to be resolved.
I’m using macOS Monterey.
I have my M1 MacBook Pro on Monterey and it is super reliable. No issues whatsoever. Safari on 17 dot two does not respond a little more, but nothing that will stop me, or nothing like some people on here have experienced. I’ve not had the issues where safari will just come to a complete halt requiring a force quit.
I may create a secondary APFS volume and install Sonoma on it to see if it’s any better.
But as of now, Monterey will be my main choice of operating system. It is much more reliable than even Ventura. And it will be supported at least until macOS 15’s release.
I think the SNR bug has been going on ever since MacOS lion. Could be my slower 2011 iMac 21.5 inch 2.5 GHz intel core I5 second generation, but as the webpage loads it will say Safari busy for about five seconds.
It’s got 16 GB of ram.
I will say it doesn’t do it in chrome.
Like I said before, could be the 13-year-old iMac, or that bug could be still happening.
Will never know.
Still no time to try 14.2
I tried Sonoma once and backed out to Ventura. This has left me in the awkward position of my Ventura Mac believing that my music library is only compatible with Sonoma, even though my music library hasn't changed, and even though I restored it from a Time Machine backup. Plus, my iPhone is on iOS 17, which means it won't sync with my Ventura Mac. While it's possible to upgrade a Mac and then downgrade, issues like these render it impractical, and as a result, I'll be moving to Sonoma eventually.
I had hoped to migrate to 14.2.1 a couple of weeks ago, but the best laid plans etc etc. Still on Ventura for at least the next few weeks because I simply can't handle the downtime of an upgrade.
12 vs 13
Is Monterey running good these days? I remember having some quirky issues with it and found Ventura, 13.6.x specifically, running amazingly well on my old as dirt MBP.
Was pretty solid
I still have it on my intell Macbook Pro. On my Mac Pro desktop, Ventura introduced bugs. Staying away from Sonoma on my Mac Studio.
Voiceover bug
Voiceover does not read an entire article. It stops at pages or gets bogged down and can’t keep reading. Sometimes it completely stops when trying to read an article. If the article is multiple pages, it will not move from page to page seamlessly.
What software?
Hi Barbara Silver. In what program are you experiencing this? MS Word? Pages? I have seen this issue in Pages forever.
Accessing menus has become a little erratic
I'm reasonably sure this isn't going to be a new thing, but the last week or so in particular I have noticed that using application menus with VO+M has become a little erratic.
This is when navigating to menus by letter, instead of going to the menu starting with that letter it will end up piddling about in the Apple menu.
I've had this in a few apps - most notably Safari but also Finder, maybe PyCharm.
For example, in Finder I press VO+M and it says Apple. I then press G for the Go menu and it says Apple again. I press G again and it says Lock Screen Q. Usually I can fix it by quickly using Cmd+Tab twice to move out and back to the app.
Is anyone else noticing this? I suspect it's been around for a while and it's just only now that I am becoming more aware that it's yet another stupid bug rather than my fault. Just yet another one of those irritations that mean you have to concentrate on the mechanics of using VoiceOver rather than on the task you are trying to complete.
Still, 14.3 is out next week. I'm sure this will fix all the outstanding bugs.
Right...?
Arrowing down in menus
I have noticed that if I use VO+M then try to use the up arrow to open the menu, with the intention of going straight to the last menu item, that it instead just speaks the name of the top menu (e.g. View) instead. I am certain this worked until recently. In PyCharm I would use VO+M, W to go to Window then up to go to the projects I have open. Now I'm lucky if it jumps to the Window menu then it won't open it without me having to go down before I go up.
And I wish I could type in a comment on Applevis without feeling my blood pressure going up. I mean not because of my general rage but just how bloody difficult it is to edit the text once you have typed it. It is absolutely intent of reading from the start of my comment and trying to get to the top just makes me want to fling my Mac out of the window. Applevis is one of the simplest sites in the world (I mean that as a big compliment) and if Safari and VoiceOver can't even cope with this then there really is no hope.
Menu behavior
I have noticed the bug where the names of menus in the menu bar are occasionally announced as "Apple," and I'm on Ventura. I have always assumed that this is related to another long-standing bug. The bug is this: Press VO+M to go to the menu bar. Then immediately press Command+Tab to switch apps. It might read the name of the first app correctly, but each subsequent Command+Tab keypress announces app icon names as "Apple." I guess it must be a real stumper of a bug because the first evidence of this bug report was painted on the caves at Lascaux.
I can confirm that on Ventura, when focus is in the menubar and on the name of a menu, up arrow simply names the menu. It does not open the menu and move focus to the bottom entry. You must press down arrow to open the menu, then up arrow to access the bottom entry.
Re: Menu behavior
Ironically, if you press VO + m to access the Menubar, then press down one time, then press Command + Tab, or Shift + Command + Tab, the, "Apple, Apple, Apple, apple. . . " issue will not occur.
Food for thought. 🤨
Pressing up on a menu
Maybe I just imagined it ever worked that way. I wouldn't put it past me...