Apple has released the final version of macOS Catalina 10.15.5, after a long beta testing phase. The new update ships with battery management, ability to disable automatic prominence in FaceTime group video calls, and Pro Display XDR calibration controls. The update also has a few security and bug fixes.
What’s new in macOS Catalina 10.15.5?
Apple had announced that it will introduce battery management in macOS Catalina 10.15.5, to help maximize the battery life on MacBooks. We had covered it before in detail and will report back after further testing.
Therefore, Battery Health Management will monitor your battery’s temperature and charging patterns, and then use that to ensure that your battery is being charged to a level which is optimal for your daily usage. If your priority is making your Mac notebook last as long as possible before recharging, the feature can be turned off.
Like iOS 13.5 and iPadOS 13.5, Apple has also introduced a new option in this macOS update to disable automatic tile resizing in FaceTime group video calls.
For Pro Display XDR users, this update ships with new tools that allow users to adjust the white point and luminance on their displays.
There are also a bunch of stability, security, and bug fixes in this update.
To download and install the new update, go to System Preferences > Software Update and click on Update Now when the new update shows up. Make sure that your Mac is plugged into a charger during the update.
macOS Catalina 10.15.5 Release Notes
Here are complete official release notes from Apple for the new update:
macOS Catalina 10.15.5 introduces battery health management in the Energy Saver settings for notebooks, an option to control automatic prominence of video tiles on Group FaceTime calls, and controls to fine-tune the built-in calibration of your Pro Display XDR. The update also improves the stability, reliability, and security of your Mac.
Battery Health Management
- Battery health management to help maximize battery lifespan for Mac notebooks
- Energy Saver preference pane now displays battery condition and recommends if the battery needs to be serviced
- Option to disable battery health management
For more information, please visit https://support.apple.com/kb/HT211094
FaceTime Prominence Preference
- Option to control automatic prominence on Group FaceTime calls so video tiles do not change size when a participant speaks
Calibration Fine-Tuning for Pro Display XDR
- Controls to fine-tune the built-in calibration of your Pro Display XDR by adjusting the white point and luminance for a precise match to your own display calibration target
This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements.
- Fixes an issue that may prevent Reminders from sending notifications for recurring reminders
- Addresses an issue that may prevent password entry on the login screen
- Fixes an issue where System Preferences would continue to show a notification badge even after installing an update
- Resolves an issue where the built-in camera may not be detected when trying to use it after using a video conferencing app
- Addresses an issue for Mac computers with the Apple T2 Security Chip where internal speakers may not appear as a sound output device in Sound preferences
- Fixes a stability issue with uploading and downloading media files from iCloud Photo Library while your Mac is asleep
- Resolves a stability issue when transferring large amounts of data to RAID volumes
- Fixes an issue where the Reduce Motion Accessibility preference did not reduce the speed of animations in a FaceTime group call
Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices.
For more detailed information about this update, please visit: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT210642
For detailed information about the security content of this update, please visit: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222
