Apple File System

Copy-on-write file system developed by Apple

Not to be confused with Apple File Service (AFS), the service implementing the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP).

Not to be confused with Andrew File System (AFS), the distributed file system.

APFSDeveloper(s)| Apple Inc.

|

Full name| Apple File System
Introduced|

* iOS: 27 March 2017 (8 years ago) (27 March 2017)
* macOS: 25 September 2017 (7 years ago) (25 September 2017)

with iOS 10.3, macOS 10.13
Preceded by| HFS Plus
Partition IDs| `7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC` (GPT)
Structures
Directory contents| B-tree[1]
Limits
Max file size| 8 Exabyte (9,223,372,036,854,775,808 bytes)[2]
Max no. of files| 9,223,372,036,854,775,808[2]
Allowed filename
characters| Unicode 9.0 encoded in UTF-8[3][A]
Features
Dates recorded| access, attributes modified, contents modified, created
Date range| January 1, 1970 – July 21, 2554[1]
Date resolution| 1 nanosecond[2]
File system
permissions| Unix permissions, NFSv4 ACLs
Transparent
compression| Partial (decmpfs)[4]
Transparent
encryption| Yes[5]
Copy-on-write| Yes[3][5]
Other
Supported
operating systems| macOS, iPadOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, visionOS

Apple File System (APFS) is a proprietary file system developed and deployed by Apple Inc. for macOS Sierra (10.12.4)[6] and later, iOS 10.3, tvOS 10.2,[7] watchOS 3.2,[8] and all versions of iPadOS.[9][10] It aims to fix core problems of HFS+ (also called Mac OS Extended), APFS's predecessor which had been in use since 1998. APFS is optimized for solid-state drive storage and supports encryption, snapshots, and improved handling of metadata integrity.[11][12]

## History

[edit]

Apple File System was announced at Apple's developers’ conference (WWDC) in June 2016 as a replacement for HFS+, which had been in use since 1998.[11][12] APFS was released for 64-bit iOS devices on March 27, 2017, with the release of iOS 10.3, and for macOS devices on September 25, 2017, with the release of macOS 10.13.[13][8]

Apple released a partial specification for APFS in September 2018 which supported read-only access to Apple File Systems on unencrypted, non-Fusion storage devices. The specification for software encryption was documented later.[14]

## Design

[edit]

The file system can be used on devices with relatively small or large amounts of storage. It uses 64-bit inode numbers,[2] and allows for more secure storage by using a technology called Data Protection. The APFS code, like the HFS+ code, uses the TRIM command for better space management and performance. It may increase read-write speeds on iOS and macOS,[8] as well as space on iOS devices, due to the way APFS calculates available data.[15]

### Partition scheme

[edit]

APFS uses the GPT partition scheme. Within the GPT scheme are one or more APFS containers (partition type GUID is 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC). Within each container there are one or more APFS volumes, all of which share the allocated space of the container, and each volume may have APFS volume roles. macOS Catalina (macOS 10.15) introduced the APFS volume group, which are groups of volumes that Finder displays as one volume. APFS firmlinks lie between hard links and soft links and link between volumes.

In macOS Catalina the System volume role (usually named "Macintosh HD") became read-only, and in macOS Big Sur (macOS 11) it became a signed system volume (SSV) and only volume snapshots are mounted. The Data volume role (usually named "Macintosh HD - Data") is used as an overlay or shadow of the System volume, and both the System and Data volumes are part of the same volume group and shown as one in Finder.

### Clones

[edit]

Clones allow the operating system to make efficient file copies on the same volume without occupying additional storage space. Changes to a cloned file are saved as delta extents, reducing storage space required for document revisions and copies.[10] There is, however, no interface to mark two copies of the same file as clones of the other, or for other types of data deduplication.

The feature is automatically available when a user copies any files using the Finder application, which is macOS's default file manager, but not when using the `cp` command.[16] To do that on the command-line, the `cp` utility on macOS has a `-c` parameter that allows it to use the `clonefile` system call.[17]

### Snapshots

[edit]

APFS volumes support snapshots for creating a point-in-time, read-only instance of the file system.[10]

### Encryption

[edit]

Apple File System natively supports full disk encryption,[2] and file encryption with the following options:

* no encryption
* single-key encryption
* multi-key encryption, where each file is encrypted with a separate key, and metadata is encrypted with a different key.[10]

### Increased maximum number of files

[edit]

APFS supports 64-bit inode numbers, supporting over 9 quintillion files (263) on a single volume.[2][5]

### Data integrity

[edit]

Apple File System uses checksums to ensure data integrity for metadata but not for the actual user data, relying instead on error-correcting code (ECC) mechanisms in the storage hardware.[18]

### Crash protection

[edit]

Apple File System is designed to avoid metadata corruption caused by system crashes. Instead of overwriting existing metadata records in place, it writes entirely new records, points to the new ones and then releases the old ones, an approach known as redirect-on-write. This avoids corrupted records containing partial old and partial new data caused by a crash that occurs during an update. It also avoids having to write the change twice, as happens with an HFS+ journaled file system, where changes are written first to the journal and then to the catalog file.[18]

### Compression

[edit]

APFS supports transparent compression on individual files using Deflate (Zlib), LZVN (libFastCompression), and LZFSE. All three are Lempel-Ziv-type algorithms. This feature is inherited from HFS+, and is implemented with the same AppleFSCompression / decmpfs system using resource forks or extended attributes. As with HFS+, the transparency is broken for tools that do not use decmpfs-wrapped routines.[19]

### Space sharing

[edit]

APFS adds the ability to have multiple logical drives (referred to as volumes) in the same container where free space is available to all volumes in that container (block device).[20]

## Limitations

[edit]

While APFS includes numerous improvements relative to its predecessor, HFS+, a number of limitations have been noted.

### Limited integrity checks for user data

[edit]

APFS does not provide checksums for user data.[21] It also does not take advantage of byte-addressable non-volatile random-access memory.[22][23]

### Performance on hard disk drives

[edit]

Enumerating files, and any inode metadata in general, is much slower on APFS when it is located on a hard disk drive (HDD). This is because instead of storing metadata at a fixed location like HFS+ does, APFS stores them alongside the actual file data. On SSDs, this fragmentation of metadata is inconsequential due to their lack of moving parts, but on HDDs, it leads to substantial performance degradation as the drive’s read/write heads must physically seek out scattered data fragments.[24]

Besides that, a key feature of APFS is "copy-on-write," which allows for rapid file duplication by creating references to the original data rather than copying it outright. This feature enables functionalities like snapshots and quick file copies. However, when files are modified after being copied, APFS creates new extents (data blocks) for the changes, leading to more fragmentation over time. This issue is exacerbated with applications like Time Machine, which creates multiple versions of files, further increasing fragmentation and slowing performance.[25] As a result, APFS is generally not recommended for use on HDDs, particularly for workloads involving frequent file modifications, copying, or snapshot usage.[26]

### Compatibility with Time Machine prior to macOS 11

[edit]

Unlike HFS+, APFS does not support hard links to directories.[3][27] Since the version of the Time Machine backup software included in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) through macOS 10.15 (Catalina) relied on hard links to directories, APFS was initially not a supported option for its backup volumes.[28][27] This limitation was overcome starting in  macOS 11 Big Sur, wherein APFS is now the default file system for new Time Machine backups (existing HFS+-formatted backup drives are also still supported).[29] macOS Big Sur's implementation of Time Machine in conjunction with APFS-formatted drives enables "faster, more compact, and more reliable backups" than were possible with HFS+-formatted backup drives.[30][31]

## Security issues

[edit]

* In March 2018, the APFS driver in High Sierra was found to have a bug that causes the disk encryption password to be logged in plaintext.[32]
* In January 2021, the APFS driver in iOS < 14.4, macOS < 11.2, watchOS < 7.3, and tvOS < 14.4 was found to have a bug that allowed a local user to read arbitrary files, regardless of their permissions.[33][34][35][36]

## Support

[edit]

### macOS

[edit]

An experimental version of APFS, with some limitations, is provided in macOS Sierra 10.12.4. It is available through the command line `diskutil` utility. Among these limitations, it does not perform Unicode normalization while HFS+ does,[37] leading to problems with languages other than English.[38] Drives formatted with Sierra’s version of APFS may also not be compatible with later versions of macOS or APFS, and the Sierra version of APFS cannot be used with Time Machine, FileVault volumes, or Fusion Drives.[39]

Since  macOS 10.13 High Sierra, all devices with flash storage are automatically converted to APFS.[40] As of  macOS 10.14 Mojave, Fusion Drives and hard disk drives are also upgraded on installation.[41] The primary user interface to upgrade does not present an option to opt out of this conversion, and devices formatted with the High Sierra version of APFS will not be readable in previous versions of macOS.[40] Users can disable APFS conversion by using the installer's `startosinstall` utility on the command line and passing `--converttoapfs NO`.[42]

FileVault volumes are not converted to APFS as of macOS Big Sur 11.2.1. Instead macOS formats external FileVault drives as CoreStorage Logical Volumes formatted with Mac OS Extended (Journaled). FileVault drives can be optionally encrypted.[citation needed]

### iOS, tvOS, and watchOS

[edit]

iOS 10.3, tvOS 10.2, and watchOS 3.2 convert the existing HFSX file system to APFS on compatible devices.[13][8][43]

### Third-party utilities

[edit]

This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Software companies have had a long time to update their software to support APFS. The article should reflect recent developments.. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2025)

|

Despite the ubiquity of APFS volumes in today's Macs and the format's 2016 introduction, third-party repair utilities continue to have notable limitations in supporting APFS volumes, due to Apple's delayed release of complete documentation. According to Alsoft, the maker of DiskWarrior, Apple's 2018 release of partial APFS format documentation has delayed the creation of a version of DiskWarrior that can safely rebuild APFS disks.[44] Competing products, including MicroMat's TechTool and Prosoft's Drive Genius, are expected to increase APFS support as well.

Paragon Software Group has published a software development kit under the 4-Clause BSD License that supports read-only access of APFS drives.[45] An independent read-only open source implementation by Joachim Metz, libfsapfs, is released under GNU Lesser General Public License v3. It has been packaged into Debian, Fedora Linux, Rocky Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu software repositories.[46][47][48] Both are command-line tools that do not expose a normal filesystem driver interface. There is a Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE) driver for Linux called apfs-fuse with read-only access.[49] An "APFS for Linux" project is working to integrate APFS support into the Linux kernel.[50]

A commercial product, Paragon's APFS for Windows, allows for read and write support to APFS volumes in all versions of Windows from Windows 7 through Windows 11 and Windows Server 2008 R2 through Windows Server 2022, but it is unable to format or verify APFS volumes, and it cannot read APFS volumes which are hardware-encrypted against the Apple T2 security chip.[51]

## See also

[edit]

* Comparison of file systems

## Notes

[edit]

A.^ Disputed [52]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Hansen, K.H.; Toolan, F. (September 21, 2017). "Decoding the APFS file system". Digital Investigation. 22: 107–132\. doi:10.1016/j.diin.2017.07.003. ISSN 1742-2876.
2. ^ a b c d e f "Volume Format Comparison". Apple Developer. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
3. ^ a b c "Apple File System Guide / Frequently Asked Questions". Retrieved May 25, 2018.
4. ^ Bertin, René. "Compression and APFS". Github. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
5. ^ a b c Apple Inc. "Apple File System Guide (Features)". Retrieved December 16, 2023.
6. ^ Vigo, Jesus (April 13, 2017). "How to set up and use Apple's APFS file system on macOS Sierra". TechRepublic.
7. ^ "tvOS 10.2". What's New in tvOS. Apple Inc.
8. ^ a b c d Warren, Tom (March 27, 2017). "Apple is upgrading millions of iOS devices to a new modern file system today". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on March 27, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
9. ^ Roger Fingas (June 13, 2016). "'Apple File System' will scale from Apple Watch to Macs, replace HFS+". Apple Insider. Archived from the original on July 23, 2016.
10. ^ a b c d Hutchinson, Lee (June 13, 2016). "Digging into the dev documentation for APFS, Apple's new file system". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on January 26, 2025. Retrieved February 25, 2025.
11. ^ a b Weintraub, Seth (June 13, 2016). "Apple File System (APFS) announced for 2017, scales 'from Apple Watch to Mac Pro' and focuses on encryption". 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on March 28, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
12. ^ a b Hutchinson, Lee (June 13, 2016). "New file system spotted in macOS Sierra [Updated]". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on March 28, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
13. ^ a b Clover, Juli (March 27, 2017). "Apple Releases iOS 10.3 With Find My AirPods, APFS, App Store Review Tweaks and More". MacRumors. Archived from the original on March 27, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
14. ^ "Apple File System Reference" (PDF). Apple Developer.
15. ^ Alan Loughnane (April 2017). "Updating your iPhone will give you one major benefit". joe.co.uk. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017.
16. ^ "A ZFS developer's analysis of the good and bad in Apple's new APFS file system". Ars Technica. June 26, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2025. "Side note: Finder copy creates space-efficient clones, but cp from the command line does not."
17. ^ "[dedup] Use APFS clone (CoW) on macOS · Issue #219 · pkolaczk/fclones". GitHub. August 10, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
18. ^ a b Adam Leventhal (June 19, 2016). "APFS in Detail: Data Integrity". Archived from the original on June 21, 2016.
19. ^ Søgaard, Jens K. "How do I enable transparent compression on APFS?". Ask Different. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
20. ^ Tamura, Eric; Giampaolo, Dominic (2016). "Introducing Apple File System" (PDF). Retrieved May 28, 2022.
21. ^ "A ZFS developer's analysis of the good and bad in Apple's new APFS file system". Ars Technica. June 26, 2016.
22. ^ Robin Harris (June 24, 2016). "Why Apple's APFS won't last 30 years". ZDNet.
23. ^ Adam Leventhal (June 19, 2016). "APFS in Detail: Overview". Retrieved October 1, 2017.
24. ^ "An analysis of APFS enumeration performance on rotational hard drives". Carbon Copy Cloner. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
25. ^ "APFS Is Not Yet Ready for Traditional Hard Drives". Larry Jordan. December 3, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
26. ^ Tim, OWC (November 29, 2017). "Using APFS On HDDs ... And Why You Might Not Want To". Rocket Yard. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
27. ^ a b Leventhal, Adam H. (June 26, 2016). "A ZFS developer's analysis of the good and bad in Apple's new APFS file system". Ars Technica. "APFS right now is incompatible with Time Machine due to the lack of directory hard links, a fairly disgusting implementation that likely contributes to Time Machine's questionable reliability."
28. ^ "Disks you can use with Time Machine". Retrieved December 17, 2019.
29. ^ "APFS changes in Big Sur". June 29, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
30. ^ "macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 Release Notes". Apple. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
31. ^ Cunningham, Andrew (November 12, 2020). "macOS 11.0 Big Sur: The Ars Technica review". Ars Technica. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
32. ^ "Uh Oh! Unified Logs in High Sierra (10.13) Show Plaintext Password for APFS Encrypted External Volumes via Disk Utility.app". mac4n6. March 21, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
33. ^ "About the security content of iOS 14.4 and iPadOS 14.4 - Apple Support". Apple Support. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
34. ^ "About the security content of macOS Big Sur 11.2, Security Update 2021-001 Catalina, Security Update 2021-001 Mojave - Apple Support". Apple Support. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
35. ^ "About the security content of watchOS 7.3 - Apple Support". Apple Support. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
36. ^ "About the security content of tvOS 14.4 - Apple Support". Apple Support. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
37. ^ Tsai, Michael J. "Michael Tsai - Blog - APFS's "Bag of Bytes" Filenames".
38. ^ "APFS is currently unusable with most non-English languages". April 6, 2017. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017.
39. ^ "How to Format a Drive With the APFS File System on macOS Sierra". Archived from the original on October 26, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
40. ^ a b "Prepare for APFS in macOS High Sierra". Apple.com. September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
41. ^ "macOS 10.14 Mojave: The Ars Technica review". arstechnica.com. September 25, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
42. ^ Trouton, Rich (September 26, 2017). "Using the macOS High Sierra OS installer's startosinstall tool to avoid APFS conversion". Der Flounder. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
43. ^ "jakepetroules/Filesystem". GitHub. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
44. ^ "DiskWarrior 5.2 & Apple File System (APFS)". Retrieved June 28, 2020.
45. ^ "Paragon Software Group Releases Free Paragon APFS SDK Community Edition for Software Developers, OEMs, Forensic Experts". Paragon Software Group. GitHub
46. ^ "libyal/libfsapfs". GitHub. November 7, 2019. "Library and tools to access the Apple File System (APFS)"
47. ^ "apfs-fuse - Fedora Packages". packages.fedoraproject.org. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
48. ^ "apfs-fuse-20200928-1.el9.x86_64.rpm". rhel.pkgs.org.
49. ^ Ross, Alistair (February 23, 2019). "How to mount macOS APFS disk volumes in Linux". The Ultimate Linux Newbie Guide. (Github)
50. ^ "linux-apfs/linux-apfs-rw: APFS module for linux, with experimental write support". GitHub. APFS for Linux. February 4, 2022.
51. ^ "APFS for Windows | Paragon Software". Paragon Software Group. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
52. ^ "libfsapfs/documentation/Apple File System (APFS).asciidoc at main · libyal/libfsapfs". GitHub. Retrieved May 30, 2025.

## External links

[edit]

* Apple Developer: Apple File System Guide
* Apple Developer: Apple File System Reference
* WWDC 2016: Introduction of APFS by Apple software engineers Dominic Giampaolo and Eric Tamura
* Detailed Overview of APFS by independent file system developer Adam Leventhal

* v
* t
* e

File systems

* Comparison of file systems
* distributed
* Unix filesystem

Disk and
non-rotating|

* ADFS
* AdvFS
* Amiga FFS
* Amiga OFS
* APFS
* AthFS
* bcachefs
* BFS
* Be File System
* Boot File System
* Byte File System (z/VM)
* Btrfs
* CVFS
* CXFS
* DFS
* EFS
* Encrypting File System
* Extent File System
* Episode
* ext
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* ext3
* ext3cow
* ext4
* FAT
* exFAT
* Files-11
* Fossil
* GPFS
* HAMMER
* HAMMER2
* HFS (Classic Mac OS)
* HFS (MVS)
* HFS+
* HPFS
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* soft updates
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* WAFL
* Xiafs
* XFS
* Xsan
* zFS (z/OS)
* ZFS (Sun)

Optical disc|

* HSF
* ISO 9660
* ISO 13490
* UDF

Flash memory and SSD|

* APFS
* FAT
* exFAT
* TFAT
* EROFS
* F2FS
* JFS
* NVFS

| host-side wear leveling|

* CHFS
* JFFS
* JFFS2
* LogFS
* NILFS
* NILFS2
* YAFFS
* UBIFS

|

Distributed parallel|

* BeeGFS
* Ceph
* CXFS
* GFS2
* Google File System
* OCFS2
* OrangeFS
* PVFS
* QFS
* Xsan
* more...

NAS|

* 9P
* AFS (OpenAFS)
* AFP
* Coda
* DFS
* Google File System
* GPFS
* Lustre
* NCP
* NFS
* POHMELFS
* Hadoop
* SMB (CIFS)
* SSHFS
* more...

Specialized|

* Aufs
* AXFS
* Boot File System
* Compact Disc File System
* cramfs
* Davfs2
* EROFS
* FTPFS
* FUSE
* Lnfs
* LTFS
* NOVA
* MVFS
* SquashFS
* UMSDOS
* OverlayFS
* UnionFS

Pseudo|

* configfs
* devfs
* debugfs
* kernfs
* procfs
* specfs
* sysfs
* tmpfs
* WinFS

Encrypted|

* eCryptfs
* EncFS
* EFS
* Rubberhose
* SSHFS
* ZFS

Types|

* Clustered
* Global
* Grid
* Self-certifying
* Flash
* Journaling
* Log-structured
* Object
* Record-oriented
* Semantic
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* Synthetic
* Versioning

Features|

* Case preservation
* Copy-on-write
* Data deduplication
* Data scrubbing
* Execute in place
* Extent
* File attribute
* Extended file attributes
* File change log
* Fork
* Inode
* Links
* Hard
* Symbolic

Access control|

* Access-control list
* Filesystem-level encryption
* Permissions
* Modes
* Sticky bit

Interfaces|

* File manager
* File system API
* Installable File System
* Virtual file system

Lists|

* Cryptographic
* Default
* Log-structured

Layouts|

* Master Boot Record
* GUID Partition Table
* Apple Partition Map

* v
* t
* e

iOS and iOS-based products

* History
* iOS
* iPadOS
* Issues
* Outline

Hardware|

| iPhone|

* 1st
* 3G
* 3GS
* 4
* 4s
* 5
* 5c
* 5s
* 6 & 6 Plus
* 6s & 6s Plus
* 7 & 7 Plus
* 8 & 8 Plus
* X
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* 11
* 11 Pro & Pro Max
* 12 & 12 Mini
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* 14 & 14 Plus
* 14 Pro & Pro Max
* 15 & 15 Plus
* 15 Pro & Pro Max
* 16 & 16 Plus
* 16 Pro & Pro Max
* 16e
* iPhone SE
* 1st
* 2nd
* 3rd

|

iPod Touch|

* 1st
* 2nd
* 3rd
* 4th
* 5th
* 6th
* 7th

iPad|

* 1st
* 2
* 3rd
* 4th
* 5th
* 6th
* 7th
* 8th
* 9th
* 10th
* 11th
* Mini
* 1st
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5th
* 6th
* 7th
* Air
* 1st
* 2
* 3rd
* 4th
* 5th
* 6th
* 7th
* Pro
* 1st
* 2nd
* 3rd
* 4th
* 5th
* 6th
* 7th

Other|

* Apple TV
* Apple Watch
* HomePod
* Mini

Software|

| OS|

* 1
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* 6
* 7
* 8
* 9
* 10
* 11
* 12
* 13
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* 18
* 26

Derived from iOS|

* watchOS
* tvOS
* iPadOS
* 13
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* 18
* 26

Features |

* AirDrop
* AirPlay
* AirPrint
* CarPlay
* Control Center
* Crash Detection
* iTunes
* Night Shift
* Notification Center
* Shazam
* Siri
* Spotlight
* SpringBoard
* VoiceOver

SDK & API |

* SDK
* Foundation
* UIKit
* Core Animation
* HomeKit
* Inter-App Audio
* Liquid Glass
* WebKit
* GymKit
* HealthKit
* SwiftUI

Bundled apps|

* Books
* Calculator
* Calendar
* Clock
* Contacts
* FaceTime
* Freeform
* Files
* Find My
* Fitness
* Workouts
* Health
* Mindfulness
* Home
* Journal
* Mail
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* Measure
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* Notes
* Passwords
* Photos
* Podcasts
* Reminders
* Safari
* Shortcuts
* Stocks
* Translate
* TV
* Voice Memos
* Wallet
* Weather
* Watch

Discontinued|

* Find My Friends
* Find My iPhone
* Newsstand

Apple apps|

* Classroom
* Clips
* GarageBand
* iMovie
* iWork
* Keynote
* Numbers
* Pages
* Invites

Discontinued|

* Beats Music
* iPhoto
* Nike+iPod
* iTunes Remote

Services|

* Arcade
* Card
* App Store
* Music
* FaceTime
* Family Sharing
* Game Center
* iCloud
* iMessage
* iTunes Connect
* iTunes Store
* News
* +
* One
* Pay
* Push Notifications
* TestFlight
* TV+
* Shows
* Wallet

Discontinued|

* iAd
* iLife
* iTunes Radio
* MobileMe

Other|

* Apple silicon
* Controversies
* 300-page bill
* Antennagate
* Batterygate
* Bendgate
* Jailbreaking
* FairPlay
* Free and open-source apps
* Games
* iFund
* iPhone history
* iPhone hardware
* Metal
* Swift
* WWDC

* Category

* v
* t
* e

macOS

* History
* Architecture
* Built-in apps
* Server
* Software

Versions|

| Mac OS X|

* Server 1.0
* Public Beta
* 10.0 Cheetah
* 10.1 Puma
* 10.2 Jaguar
* 10.3 Panther
* 10.4 Tiger
* 10.5 Leopard
* 10.6 Snow Leopard

|

OS X|

* 10.7 Lion
* 10.8 Mountain Lion
* 10.9 Mavericks
* 10.10 Yosemite
* 10.11 El Capitan

macOS|

* 10.12 Sierra
* 10.13 High Sierra
* 10.14 Mojave
* 10.15 Catalina
* 11 Big Sur
* 12 Monterey
* 13 Ventura
* 14 Sonoma
* 15 Sequoia
* 26 Tahoe

Predecessors|

* Classic Mac OS
* NeXTSTEP
* Rhapsody

Applications|

| Core
applications|

* App Store
* Automator
* Calculator
* Calendar
* Chess
* Contacts
* Control Center
* Dictionary
* DVD Player
* FaceTime
* Finder
* Game Center
* Grapher
* Home
* Launchpad
* Mail
* Messages
* News
* Music
* Notes
* Notification Center
* Podcasts
* Photo Booth
* Photos
* Preview
* QuickTime Player
* Reminders
* Safari
* version history
* Shortcuts
* Siri
* Stickies
* TextEdit
* Time Machine

|

Developer
Tools|

| Xcode|

* Instruments
* FileMerge

|

Former|

* Interface Builder
* Dashcode
* Quartz Composer

Former|

* Dashboard
* Front Row
* iChat
* iPhoto
* iSync
* iTunes
* history
* Sherlock

Utilities|

* Activity Monitor
* AirPort Utility
* Archive Utility
* Audio MIDI Setup
* Bluetooth File Exchange
* Boot Camp
* ColorSync
* Configurator
* Console
* Crash Reporter
* Digital Color Meter
* Directory Utility
* DiskImageMounter
* Disk Utility
* Font Book
* Help Viewer
* Image Capture
* Installer
* Keychain Access
* Migration Assistant
* Script Editor
* System Settings
* System Information
* Terminal
* Universal Access
* VoiceOver

Discontinued|

* Grab
* Network Utility
* ODBC Administrator
* Remote Install Mac OS X
* Software Update

Technologies,
user interface|

* AirDrop
* AppKit
* Apple File System
* Apple menu
* Apple Push Notification service
* AppleScript
* Aqua
* Audio Units
* AVFoundation
* Bonjour
* Bundle
* CloudKit
* Cocoa
* ColorSync
* Command key
* Core Animation
* Core Audio
* Core Data
* Core Foundation
* Core Image
* Core OpenGL
* Core Text
* Core Video
* CUPS
* Cover Flow
* Darwin
* Dock
* FileVault
* Fonts
* Foundation
* Gatekeeper
* Grand Central Dispatch
* icns
* iCloud
* Kernel panic
* Keychain
* launchd
* Liquid Glass
* Mach-O
* Menu extra
* Metal
* Mission Control
* Night Shift
* OpenCL
* Option key
* Preference Pane
* Property list
* Quartz
* Quick Look
* Rosetta
* Smart Folders
* Speakable items
* Spotlight
* Stacks
* System Integrity Protection
* Uniform Type Identifier
* Universal binary
* WebKit
* XNU
* XQuartz

Deprecated|

* HFS+

Discontinued|

* ATSUI
* BootX
* Brushed metal
* Carbon
* Classic Environment
* Inkwell
* QuickTime
* Spaces
* Xgrid

* Italics denote upcoming products.
* Category

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