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Release record

macOS 10.11

El Capitan

Full article
Public release
Recorded milestones
2
Beta cycle
114d
Average interval
114d
Public release
Sep 30, 2015

Release notes

Overview

Editorial synthesis with inline references and a source ledger when citations are available.

Release overview

OS X El Capitan 10.11 became publicly available on September 30, 2015. The release refined window management, Spotlight, Safari, Mail, Photos, Notes, international input, and system performance while establishing a broad new security baseline.[1][2][3]

Evidence boundary

This article covers the initial 10.11 launch only. It does not project changes from 10.11.1 or 10.11.2 backward, and performance or compatibility statements retain Apple's device, workload, and feature-availability qualifications.[4][5]

Source ledger

References

Sources are linked to the claims they support. Publication and access dates are shown when available.

  1. Apple security updates (2015)

    Apple Support · Apple · 2023-11-06T00:00:00.000Z · OS X El Capitan 10.11 — 30 Sep 2015

    Back to text ↑
  2. About the security content of OS X El Capitan v10.11

    Apple Support · Apple · 2023-11-03T00:00:00.000Z · OS X El Capitan v10.11 security content

    Back to text ↑
  3. OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2015-09-29T00:00:00.000Z · September 30 availability; feature sections

    Back to text ↑
  4. Apple security updates (2015)

    Apple Support · Apple · 2023-11-06T00:00:00.000Z · OS X El Capitan 10.11, 10.11.1, and 10.11.2 entries

    Back to text ↑
  5. OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2015-09-29T00:00:00.000Z · Pricing & Availability; performance-testing footnote

    Back to text ↑
  6. OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2015-09-29T00:00:00.000Z · September 29 announcement; September 30 availability

Documented & observed

Changes in this version

Source-linked features, fixes, known issues, removals, and community-observed behavior recorded across this version’s appearances and verified builds.

Release changes

Changed in this release

Features, fixes, removals, and regressions first observed in this release record.

security · fixed

Content parsing and built-in app security repairs

documentedconfirmed

Apple's record includes input-validation, memory-safety, privacy, code-signing, and information-disclosure fixes across documents, communications, web-adjacent content, and system tools.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] About the security content of OS X El Capitan v10.11 · Audio; CoreText; Disk Images; Finder; Mail; Notes; OpenSSH; OpenSSL; Ruby; SQLite; Terminal; Time Machine

enhancement · changed

Rich content, checklists, and attachment browsing in Notes

documentedconfirmed

A note could contain photos, PDFs, videos, web links, map locations, and task lists, with attachments collected into a searchable visual view.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow · Built-in apps — Notes

feature · introduced

Natural-language Spotlight queries

documentedconfirmed

Users could describe a document by sender, date, or recent work context and adjust the search panel to accommodate more results.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow · Spotlight natural-language search

developerApi · introduced

Metal graphics technology on Mac

documentedconfirmed

Apple integrated its lower-overhead graphics technology with Core Animation and Core Graphics and exposed it to supported games and professional software.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow · Improvements to System Performance — Metal

security · fixed

Networking, certificate, and cryptography repairs

documentedconfirmed

Apple's advisory records stronger validation and state handling across secure transport, private browsing, credential, proxy, and network data paths.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] About the security content of OS X El Capitan v10.11 · AirScan; Certificate Trust Policy; CFNetwork Cookies through SSL; CoreCrypto; Heimdal; Multipeer Connectivity

security · fixed

Kernel, driver, firmware, and privilege repairs

documentedconfirmed

The documented repairs span memory handling, entitlement checks, pointer exposure, firmware-update boundaries, privileged executables, and local attack surfaces.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] About the security content of OS X El Capitan v10.11 · Dev Tools through Kernel; Install Framework Legacy; graphics, HID, storage, SMB, and NetworkExtension entries

enhancement · changed

Streamlined Mission Control and Spaces creation

documentedconfirmed

El Capitan revised the overview workspace to reduce window overlap and made it more direct to separate crowded work into another desktop.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow · Refinements to the Mac Experience

compatibility · changed

2009-and-later Mac compatibility baseline

documentedconfirmed

The launch announcement defined a broad hardware eligibility range while noting that individual features were not available on every device.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow · Pricing & Availability; footnote

enhancement · changed

Chinese and Japanese text improvements

documentedconfirmed

The release expanded typography and input assistance for Traditional and Simplified Chinese and reduced manual confirmation during Japanese text conversion.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow · Enhanced international language support

enhancement · changed

Mail swipe and full-screen composition improvements

documentedconfirmed

The release aligned message triage with familiar swipe behavior and made full-screen email composition less restrictive.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow · Built-in apps — Mail

enhancement · changed

Photos organization and editing extensions

documentedconfirmed

The library gained stronger metadata and sorting controls while allowing compatible external editors to participate in the Photos workflow.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] OS X El Capitan Available as a Free Update Tomorrow · Built-in apps — Photos

Milestones

Release history

Every recorded channel appearance in chronological order. Open an appearance for any available build, scope, notes, and sources.

  2. +114 days

    Public release

    Public

    Full articleEditorially verified

    OS X El Capitan 10.11 reached the public channel on September 30, 2015 with windowing, search, app, graphics, language, compatibility, and security changes.

    Availability
    available
    Sources
    20 linked
    Open this appearance

Historical context

Cycle comparison

Pace, intervals, and duration compared with earlier releases on the same platform.

Cycle vs. platform average

114d (avg: 103d)

11 days longer than the macOS average

Longest gap in this cycle

114 days

Between Beta 1 and Public

Official release notes