Apple Launches All-in-One 'Manuals, Specs, and Downloads' Website

[MacRumors]

Apple recently added a new "Documentation" page to its website that provides links to user guides, repair manuals, tech specs, software downloads, and more for a variety of products. Some of this information was previously found across separate pages on Apple's website, and it has now been combined in one place for convenient access.

The page includes categories for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro, Apple Watch, Apple TV, AirPods, HomePod, displays like the Studio Display and Pro Display XDR, accessories like the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard, and software.

There is also a search tool on the page that provides links to support documents and other relevant information based on the keywords entered.

The new page was earlier spotted by Japanese blog Mac Otakara, and it may be worth bookmarking for reference purposes.

Article Link: Apple Launches All-in-One 'Manuals, Specs, and Downloads' Website

 

[ignatius345]

Nice! Always great to have this stuff handy and consolidated.

Waiting for the first "Apple should be working on [poster's preferred product] instead of wasting their time on this" post. (Bonus points if they shoehorn in some whinging about emojis as well.)

 

[wellander1]

They removed a lot of older downloads for older mac oses.

 

[adamw]

Handy reference for Apple product manuals and specs!

 

[Slix]

Nice! This looks really handy. I've used Everymac for a lot of old Apple research, but having this officially on Apple's website is handy too, and having downloads tied to each machine/OS is also nice.

 

[boswald]

Thank you, Apple!

 

[citysnaps]

Nice! Always great to have this stuff handy and consolidated.

Waiting for the first "Apple should be working on [poster's preferred product] instead of wasting their time on this" post. (Bonus points if they shoehorn in some whinging about emojis as well.)

Yeah... that really gets tiresome. Sadly, it's an everyday occurrence now.

 

[Dylan33x]

They removed a lot of older downloads for older mac oses.

Yeah, a lot of the tech specs have been simplified a small bit vs past listings.

E.g. no “2nd generation Touch ID” mention, just a break down of what Touch ID does.

 

[TheMountainLife]

When I worked for Apple years ago people were pretty much begging for something like this or a physical copy which will never exist. This should also be embedded in Settings for ease of access.

 

[ThisIsMike]

I think there’s another story here. The category “Vision” is a pretty strong hint that the cheaper Vision Pro will be called simply Apple Vision (not Apple Vision One, or Vision Air, etc).

 

[trusso]

A step in the right direction. I think most of this was somehow accessible through searching the support site, but it's good to have it (somewhat) consolidated.

That said, although it appears items within product categories are in reverse chronological order, it still appears as a relatively jumbled mess. For a company with the resources and large historical product portfolio of Apple, I don't understand why they can't at least provide some additional sub-categories; for instance, separating out "MacBook Air" from "MacBook Pro" from "iBook". The Mactracker app and EveryMac.com do a much better job with much less.

Heck, with Apple's resources, they should have software downloads and documentation available stretching back to the original Macintosh, the Lisa, and the Apple I/II/III line.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

It's a good start. They need to put a LOT more into it, like service manuals, tech notes, and software downloads for every machine they ever built. I'd really like a copy of the IIgs service manual and the Lisa service manual, with schematics. Particularly the Lisa schematics, I'd really like to get mine running again someday.

 

[Lioness~]

Don't worry, old manuals don't disappear.
All old Macs: https://everymac.com/mac-manuals/index-mac-manuals.html

 

[winxmac]

Still no Mavericks downloadable installer... However, Lion and Mountain Lion installers can be downloaded...

 

[dwaltwhit]

I’ve been a big fan of mactracker myself for a long time. I’m skeptical, maybe unfairly, that apple will give the type of technical, and cost, info about their machines as a third party would.

 

[decafjava]

Don't worry, old manuals don't disappear.
All old Macs: https://everymac.com/mac-manuals/index-mac-manuals.html

Thank you for this @Lioness~ !

The official page is useful as Apple books no longer seems to have official manuals for the latest iOS or MacOS.

 

[anshuvorty]

Sys Admins - REJOICE!!! HALLUJUAH!!

 

[trusso]

Don't worry, old manuals don't disappear.
All old Macs: https://everymac.com/mac-manuals/index-mac-manuals.html

Um, apparently a bunch of those links point to no longer existing Apple support pages.

So we’re back to square one.

 

[Lioness~]

Thank you for this @Lioness~ !

The official page is useful as Apple books no longer seems to have official manuals for the latest iOS or MacOS.

Um, apparently a bunch of those links point to no longer existing Apple support pages.

So we’re back to square one.

Ok, that is unfortunate.
I guess it becomes difficult when Apple stop supporting their older devices. As usual, it's all Tim's fault 😡

 

[wellander1]

I was talking about software downloads like updates.

 

[Mousse]

Nice! Always great to have this stuff handy and consolidated.

Waiting for the first "Apple should be working on [poster's preferred product] instead of wasting their time on this" post. (Bonus points if they shoehorn in some whinging about emojis as well.)

Why is Apple wasting time on something useful?😤 I want a bigger microfiber cloth--Polishing Cloth 2 Pro Max Ultra.🤩 The rinky dink polishing cloth is too small.😤😤😏

 

[Mac4Brains]

This sounds sort of "If you can't get to the internet, go to this web site for help"

Or just get an app called MacTraker or use Everymac.com. They are both free and easy.
Perhaps Apple should just buy out one or both and get it over with instead of trying to push them out of business like they normally do.

*Edit* Some of these apps will tell you what they have found instead of the Apple party line. As in a few cases with some Macs that were able to hold more RAM then Apple originally listed as the Max*

 

[coolfactor]

I think there’s another story here. The category “Vision” is a pretty strong hint that the cheaper Vision Pro will be called simply Apple Vision (not Apple Vision One, or Vision Air, etc).

That was obvious from Day 1, hence VisionOS.

Apple needed to enter the market with a bang, hence the Pro model first.

 

[jent]

For being the first-party company, I'm pleasantly surprised how far back the entries go. I was able to look up my original iMac (my current profile picture) and despite only having the tech specs for it, the fact that it had a dedicated entry was nice. Continued kudos go out to the third-party websites that others have mentioned here, that are an important repository for the history of computing.

 

[Col4bin]

Great idea and very useful. Wish more companies would the same with their own products.