Apple Releases macOS Catalina 10.15.5 With Battery Health Management Features, Fix for Finder Freezing

[MacRumors]

Apple today released macOS Catalina 10.15.5, the fifth update to the macOS Catalina operating system that was released in October 2019. macOS Catalina 10.15.5 comes two months after the launch of macOS Catalina 10.15.4, which introduced Screen Time Communication Limits.

macOS Catalina 10.15.5 is a free update that can be downloaded from the Mac App Store using the Update feature in the System Preferences app.

The macOS Catalina 10.15.5 update introduces a new Battery Health Management feature for Mac notebooks. Battery Health Management is meant to extend the overall lifespan of a Mac's battery by reducing the rate of chemical aging.

Battery Health Management analyzes the battery health of a laptop and its charging pattern, and in some cases, it will preserve battery longevity and health by not charging a MacBook to its full capacity. Keeping a MacBook charged at its full capacity at all times can reduce battery health.

When a Mac is used plugged in and the battery is kept full all the time, the Battery Health Management feature will kick in and stop short of a full charge.

Battery Health Management is an optional feature that can be disabled through the System Preferences app, with instructions available in our how to.

The macOS Catalina 10.15.5 update also addresses an issue that caused large data transfers to RAID volumes to freeze up the Finder app. With the update, large data transfers will no longer cause Finder to become unresponsive.

After installing macOS Catalina 10.15.4, some Mac users began experiencing occasional system crashes, primarily caused by large file transfers. The new update should successfully fix the problem. Apple's full release notes for macOS Catalina 10.15.5 are below.

macOS Catalina 10.15.5 introduces battery health management in the Energy Saver settings for notebooks, an option to control automatic prominence of video tiles on Group FaceTime calls, and controls to fine-tune the built-in calibration of your Pro Display XDR. The update also improves the stability, reliability, and security of your Mac.

Battery Health Management
- Battery health management to help maximize battery lifespan for Mac notebooks
- Energy Saver preference pane now displays battery condition and recommends if the battery needs to be serviced
- Option to disable battery health management
- For more information, please visit https://support.apple.com/kb/HT211094

FaceTime Prominence Preference
- Option to control automatic prominence on Group FaceTime calls so video tiles do not change size when a participant speaks

Calibration Fine-Tuning for Pro Display XDR
- Controls to fine-tune the built-in calibration of your Pro Display XDR by adjusting the white point and luminance for a precise match to your own display calibration target

This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements.
- Fixes an issue that may prevent Reminders from sending notifications for recurring reminders
- Addresses an issue that may prevent password entry on the login screen
- Fixes an issue where System Preferences would continue to show a notification badge even after installing an update
- Resolves an issue where the built-in camera may not be detected when trying to use it after using a video conferencing app
- Addresses an issue for Mac computers with the Apple T2 Security Chip where internal speakers may not appear as a sound output device in Sound preferences
- Fixes a stability issue with uploading and downloading media files from iCloud Photo Library while your Mac is asleep
- Resolves a stability issue when transferring large amounts of data to RAID volumes
- Fixes an issue where the Reduce Motion Accessibility preference did not reduce the speed of animations in a FaceTime group call

Article Link: Apple Releases macOS Catalina 10.15.5 With Battery Health Management Features, Fix for Finder Freezing

 

[zorinlynx]

Anyone else pissed off that the MacBooks that can most use this battery management right now, older ones, don't have the feature?

I know Apple wants us to upgrade our hardware but at least don't be so blatant about it.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Very good as I primarily use my MacBook Pro in clamshell mode. Keeping my battery at 100% for the past month can't be good for the battery.

Tesla cars by default charge to 90%. You have to manually set to 100% if you know you're going to need it the next day (like a road trip). And Tesla definitely has their battery knowledge down. Their scientist recommends 70% for maximum longevity if you know you're not going to need it.

 

[jayducharme]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the eGPU problem on start-up will be fixed. We'll see....

EDIT: Crossed fingers didn't work. The problem (at least on my setup) persists. After the update, my mini wouldn't even reboot. I had to unplug the eGPU (Radeon 5700 connected through DisplayPort) and connect just the mini's HDMI to my monitor. It's the same every time: if HDMI isn't connected, the mini won't reboot. After it boots, the dock won't appear until I then disconnect the HDMI and switch to the DisplayPort input. Not exactly a seamless experience....

 

[Dhock_Holiday]

Anyone else pissed off that the MacBooks that can most use this battery management right now, older ones, don't have the feature?

I know Apple wants us to upgrade our hardware but at least don't be so blatant about it.

I think its more about getting people to upgrade to macOS Catalina

 

[gank41]

Hopefully this actually does fix the finder beachball issues...

 

[WannaGoMac]

Is this the release that gets me to upgrade to Catalina? Nope...

 

[boss.king]

Will this remove the persistent "1 update" from the menu and the 1 badge from the System Preferences icon?

 

[dspdoc]

Where can I DL the full 10.15.5 DMG?

 

[emulajavi]

Still no fix for the ‘album is not any’ Smart Album on Photos Apps on Catalina....


The album is empty instead of populated with pics that aren’t stored in any album.

 

[SayCheese]

Will this remove the persistent "1 update" from the menu and the 1 badge from the System Preferences icon?

The release notes say that that is something that has been fixed.

 

[Cosmo M3]

Anyone know if this fixes the sleep crashes?

 

[boss.king]

The release notes say that that is something that has been fixed.

Thanks. I skimmed the notes but somehow must have missed that.

 

[dogslobber]

Life doesn't get any better than a new OS point release.

 

[dguisinger]

Anyone know if this fixes the sleep crashes?

The only mention of sleep stability in the release notes is something about syncing photos with the cloud while asleep....
Quite irritating if the problem will still exist.

 

[star-affinity]

I sure hope it fixes this Kernel Panic: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250715149?page=22

Will give 10.15.5 a try as soon as I can.

 

[Fangio]

Build number is 19F96.

 

[DinkThifferent]

Will this remove the persistent "1 update" from the menu and the 1 badge from the System Preferences icon?

if you have read the article then you would have known the answer to your question is yes.

 

[boss.king]

if you have read the article then you would have known the answer to your question is yes.

Yup, I must have missed it on the list. Someone else already pointed out my mistake

 

[fbr$]

I use my MacBook, iPad and iPhone plugged in when I can, which is most time, in past months is all day long.

My iPhone 8 Plus, purchased 16 months ago, has "Maximum Capacity 99%", so I really don't care about Battery Health Management, I disable it.

 

[Kylo83]

dos it fix the audio popping cracking on MacBook pros

 

[Arctic Moose]

I have been putting off upgrading to Catalina due to the Mail issues that were reported after release. Can anyone confirm that it is now safe to upgrade from a Mail perspective?

I saw no reason to upgrade until shared iCloud Drive folders were available, but now that they are I’d like to do so, but absolutely not at the potential expense of risk to my 25 years of mail archives.

 

[Chompineer]

I use my MacBook, iPad and iPhone plugged in when I can, which is most time, in past months is all day long.

My iPhone 8 Plus, purchased 16 months ago, has "Maximum Capacity 99%", so I really don't care about Battery Health Management, I disable it.

plugged in =\= charging.

 

[lkrupp]

Will this remove the persistent "1 update" from the menu and the 1 badge from the System Preferences icon?

The release notes say yes. Why people went OCD rage on this is beyond me though.

 

[LV426]

I use my MacBook, iPad and iPhone plugged in when I can, which is most time, in past months is all day long.

My iPhone 8 Plus, purchased 16 months ago, has "Maximum Capacity 99%", so I really don't care about Battery Health Management, I disable it.

Not recommended. It has been longstanding advice from Apple that if you use your laptop all day, you should run it for 1 hour on battery only. A battery that is permanently topped up is not a healthy battery.