Apple has released the macOS Sonoma 14.4 update. The software update includes a couple of new features, and over 50 fixes for security vulnerabilities.
What's new in the macOS Sonoma 14.4 update
Apple Podcasts now supports Episode text, aka transcript. These are automatically generated. Click on an episode and scroll down to the transcript section, and you will be able to read the text as you listen to an episode.
The text is searchable, so you can type a word or phrase to search for it. Use the Search icon in the top right corner or the Command + F shortcut to find the text in the transcript. Apple says that the episode text also supports accessibility features such as Text Size, Increase Contrast and VoiceOver. This feature is also available in iOS 17.4.
One major difference between the iOS and macOS version is that the desktop version of Apple Podcasts does not automatically follow the transcript as the episode is played. While the release notes says that text is clickable so you can use it to play the episode from a specific point, this is not working. The text is not clickable.
The update also changes Safari slightly. The Favorites Bar now has an option to show only icons for websites that you have bookmarked. In order to use the feature, right-click on one of the favorites and toggle the option that says "Show Title".
If you want this style to be the default option, right-click anywhere on the Favorites Bar, and select "Show Icons Only". This will hide the name of the websites from the bar. If you want to get the names to be displayed again, enable the option that says "Show Icons and Text". Alternatively, you may also choose the "Show Text Only" option, if you prefer to not see the favicons.
Apple has disabled the reactions for video calls, by default. The feature was previously enabled, and had caused the animations to be triggered at inappropriate moments. Want to know how to disable it manually, check out our previous article. macOS Sonoma 14.4 brings some new emojis to the keyboard including a new mushroom, phoenix, lime, broken chain and shaking heads, 18 people and body emoji facing the opposite direction.
Security fixes in macOS Sonoma 14.4 Update
macOS Sonoma 14.4 ships with over 50 security fixes for vulnerabilities that were reported by researchers. It includes patches for 2 security bugs that Apple says were actively exploited by attackers.
The first of the 2 issues is related to the Kernel, it is referenced as CVE-2024-23225. The 2nd issue, referred to as CVE-2024-23296, affects RTKIT. Both vulnerabilities allowed an attacker with arbitrary kernel read and write capability to bypass kernel memory protections. Apple says that the memory corruption issues were addressed with improved validation. These vulnerabilities also affected iPhones and iPads, and were patched in the iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 update that was released earlier this week.
Safari 17.4 comes with patches for 6 security issues. The Cupertino company has also released the macOS Ventura 13.6.5 update and macOS Monterey 12.7.4 update with various security fixes.
The build number of macOS Sonoma 14.4 is 23E214. It weighs about 3.55 GB to download.
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