On Thursday, Apple has released a new “Device Support Update” for macOS Big Sur, disrupting its usual update schedule. There’s no official change-log from the company about it this year, but it pertains to updating and restoring iOS and iPadOS backups.
Interestingly, this update isn’t listed on Apple’s Big Sur support page but the release notes state that “this update ensures proper updating and restoring for iOS and iPadOS devices with a Mac.”
Apple did not explain the improvements delivered by this update in great detail. It is reasonable to speculate that since the iPhone 13, iPad mini 6, and iPad 9 debuted recently, the update is related to them. The update’s size is 195.6MB and we suggest you install it if you use your Mac to take backups of your iPhone or iPad.
To install the update, navigate to System Preferences > Software Updates. Here, select the new Device Support Update and click Install Now. The installation should not take more than a few minutes and unlike macOS OS updates, you won’t need to restart your Mac after the process completes.
The last time Apple interrupted the regular macOS update cycle with a Device Support Update was in 2019. That update was related to “proper updating and restoring for iOS devices using iTunes for Mac.
