How badly did Apple screw up the macOS Sonoma 14.4 update?
Apple released the macOS Sonoma 14.4 update two weeks ago, and while you might be enjoying its new Emojis, you might also be suffering through some major issues hindering your ability to use your Mac properly. In a rare string of mishaps affecting a point update, several users have reported serious bugs that have cropped up since installing macOS 14.4.
No less than three major bugs have thwarted users over the past two weeks, including (in the order of the most users possibly affected):
macOS 14.4: USB devices stop working
Several users through different venues have reported that their USB devices stop working after macOS 14.4 is installed. Some users fixed the problem by going to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Allow accessories to connect, and then setting it to Always. You may have to switch it to Always and then switch it to Ask every time. Before performing these steps, you may have to disconnect all USB devices, and then after adjusting the setting, the Mac needs to restart. After that, connect the devices, which should trigger a confirmation prompt and the devices may work again. Learn more about the macOS 14.4 USB bug.
macOS 14.4: iCloud Drive not saving file versions
This bug involves using an app that allows users to revert to previous versions of a file and your file is saved to iCloud Drive. If iCloud Drive is set to Optimize Mac Storage and you use the Remove Download function, the previous versions of the file disappear. If you already have 14.4 installed, you can avoid this bug by turning off Optimized Mac Storage (System Settings > your Apple ID > iCloud.) Learn more about the macOS 14.4 iCloud Drive bug.
macOS 14.4: Unexpected Java termination
Oracle reports that Java processes in macOS 14.4 will terminate unexpectedly, so anyone using Java should avoid 14.4. The issue seems to be isolated to Apple silicon Macs, where the wrong signal is being sent after a just-in-time compile and execute cycle accesses protected memory regions. “Ahead-of-Time compiled applications created with GraalVM Native Image should not be affected, but your ability to build new images may be,” according to the Java blog. Learn more about the macOS 14.4 Java bug.
macOS 14.4: What to do?
Apple has yet to respond with advice on how to handle any of the bugs nor has it pulled the update, which also includes some 60 security patches. Still, if you haven’t installed macOS 14.4 yet, you might consider waiting until Apple releases the next update, likely 14.4.1. Somewhat uncharacteristically, Apple hasn’t yet released a beta for macOS 14.5, so it’s probably a month or more away from release.
If you have installed macOS 14.4, the only way to revert to macOS Sonoma 14.3.1 is to erase all data from your Mac (System, Settings > General > Transfer or Reset > Erase All Contents and Settings, and restore your Mac from an old backup made while running the previous version.