Apple Releases macOS Big Sur 11.5 With Podcast App Updates and Bug Fixes

Wednesday July 21, 2021 10:15 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.5, the fifth major update to the macOS Big Sur operating system that launched in November 2020. macOS Big Sur 11.5 comes two months after the release of macOS Big Sur 11.4.

macOS Big Sur Feature Orange
The new ‌‌‌‌‌macOS Big Sur‌‌‌‌ 11.5 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Preferences.

macOS Big Sur is a minor update focusing on small changes and bug fixes. According to Apple's release notes, the update improves the Podcasts app by allowing the Podcasts Library tab to be adjusted to show all shows or only followed shows.

It also addresses an issue that could cause Apple Music not to update play count or the last played date in the library, and it fixes a bug that caused smart cards not to work when logging into M1 Macs.

macOS Big Sur 11.5 is likely to be one of the final updates to the macOS Big Sur operating system as Apple shifts its attention to macOS Monterey, which is set to be released this fall.

Related Forum: macOS Big Sur

Popular Stories

RIP, MacBook Ultra

Monday October 19, 2026 9:37 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple today sent out invites for an experience in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 28, and the "Pro and tell" tagline on the invitation likely means that the rumored MacBook models with touch-enabled OLED displays will stick with MacBook Pro branding instead of the once-rumored "MacBook Ultra" name. The long-rumored "iPhone Ultra" ended up being named iPhone Duo, so speculation that Apple...

• 160 comments

Here's What Apple's Apps Look Like on the iPhone Duo

Tuesday October 20, 2026 11:12 am PDT by Juli Clover

With just three days to go until the iPhone Duo is released, Apple is getting ready for the launch. Behind the scenes, the App Store now has screenshots of Apple's built-in apps running on the Duo. We've seen some apps in marketing materials, but images of the ones we haven't seen give us an idea of what it will be like using the iPhone Duo day to day. Many apps are shown in landscape...

• 116 comments

Apple Announcing New Products Next Week: 'Pro and Tell'

Monday October 19, 2026 9:05 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple's Greg Joswiak today hinted at new product announcements coming next week, sharing a social media post that says "Can't wait to pro and tell next week." Rumors suggest Apple is planning to debut the new MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen display, an M6 entry-level MacBook Pro, an M6 iMac, an iPad mini with an OLED display. Can't wait to pro and tell next week....

• 128 comments

Top Rated Comments

Soba

69 months ago

I'm excited for it! (And as always, I remain convinced that this update fixes more bugs than the 3-4 small things they mention... I haven't noticed the size before starting the update, but it's usually above 1 Gb.)

Indeed! I’ll reiterate my usual complaint that Apple provides totally deficient documentation for these updates.

I don’t expect an exhaustive set of release notes detailing every single fix, but the docs they release these days are almost nonexistent. There must be dozens or even hundreds of bug fixes in these point releases and they don’t document any of them.

Why is everything just a black box?

Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)

greenbreadmmm

69 months ago

Call me crazy but I miss the days of the tick tock for major OS releases. One to introduce new features then one to improve performance and security but introduce less. I’d like that approach more than major features every year for the sake of having something for marketing to float about every year.

Let's go a step further and not force a yearly release of a major OS.

It clearly hasn't been working for apple

My gosh IOS is on .7 already?!

I remember when .3 meant it was perfect and done till next year.

Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)

CheesePuff

69 months ago

"‌macOS Big Sur‌ is a minor update focusing on small changes and bug fixes."

Editor really needs to proof read these posts before publishing

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

nwcs

69 months ago

Call me crazy but I miss the days of the tick tock for major OS releases. One to introduce new features then one to improve performance and security but introduce less. I’d like that approach more than major features every year for the sake of having something for marketing to float about every year.

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)