macOS 13.4 (Final) - Bug fixes, changes, and more

[WilliApple]

macOS 13.4 (Final) ➡️​

Release Date ― May 18, 2023
Build Number ― 22F66
Update Size ― 1.59 GB (From 13.3.1a)
macOS Storage Size after updating: Pending
Apple Silicon System Firmware Version ― 8422.121.1
T2 BridgeOS System Firmware Version ― 20.16.5058.0.0

---

Update Log
macOS Ventura 13.4 includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

Sports feed in the sidebar of Apple News gives easy access to stories, scores, standings, and more, for the teams and leagues you follow

• My Sports score and schedule cards in Apple News take you directly to game pages where you can find additional details about specific games
• Resolves an issue where Auto Unlock with Apple Watch does not log you into your Mac
• Fixes a Bluetooth issue where keyboards connect slowly to Mac after restarting
• Addresses a VoiceOver issue with navigating to landmarks on webpages
• Fixes an issue where Screen Time settings may reset or not sync across all devices

Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices.
For detailed information about the security content of this update, please visit: https:// support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

New Features & Changes
Resolved Issues

• You cannot update HomePods inside the Home App
  • Issue present since macOS 13.2
• If you have Advanced Data protection enabled, iWork suite app's collaborative documents may require you to close out of the software
  • Issue present since macOS 13.3
• Continunity, such as Universal Clipboard, Universal Control, Sidecar, and Continunity Camera will not work
  • Issue present since macOS 13.3
  • Feedback ID's: Universal Clipboard (FB12108238), Universal Control (FB12110205)

New Issues
Remaining Issues

• Alarms may not play when your display is asleep for a long period of time (FB10086690)
  • Workaround: Make your display not fall asleep in Settings > Lock Screen > Turn display off on ____ when inactive. You can turn your brightness off.
  • Issue present since macOS 13.0
• QuickTime Player does not record the first couple of seconds when you use a Microphone (FB10086556)
  • Workaround: Wait around 5 seconds after seeing the yellow indicator in the Menu Bar, or use a different app for your recording needs
  • Issue present since macOS 10.13

Untested Issues

Additional Notes

• Please know, Memory Management has always been an issue on any OS (not just Apple's). If you believe there is a Memory Leak, please go to the Apple Menu > Restart > Restart to fix it.
• When a new macOS release comes out, all issues automatically go to "Untested Issues" until they are moved by someone. Issues that stay in Untested for 3 releases (beta or smooth) will be removed from all future threads. When there is a new macOS release, please be sure to let us know about the issue's status by moving it to either "Remaining Issues" or "Resolved Issues"
• macOS Ventura Preview
• macOS Ventura Features
• macOS 13.4 Release Notes
• Apple Security Updates
• Become an Apple Beta Tester

Feel free to add in any issues or new features that you have spotted in this release by clicking the "Edit" button below.

 

[brinkeguthrie]

I updated to 13.4 22F66. Strange when it restarted; it presented me with 'sign up for an iCloud account.' Huh? I got one, thanks. At first thought it would give me a 'already have account? sign in' thing; but it didn't. So I backed out, restarted, and all is normal.

 

[WilliApple]

I updated to 13.4 22F66. Strange when it restarted; it presented me with 'sign up for an iCloud account.' Huh? I got one, thanks. At first thought it would give me a 'already have account? sign in' thing; but it didn't. So I backed out, restarted, and all is normal.

As a macOS Beta tester, I can confirm weird stuff like this happens.

With RC1 of 13.4, it asked me to check my privacy settings.
Another beta of an earlier release, it asked me to choose a theme again.

 

[Siliconpsychosis]

weird, i had the "Find My Mac" option screen with the default ventura wallpaper, but i already have that fully enabled. I came from 13.3.1(a), i am not in the beta program

 

[Idgit]

There's no mention of the SMB file sharing bug being fixed. It's been around since at least 13.2.

 

[WilliApple]

There's no mention of the SMB file sharing bug being fixed. It's been around since at least 13.2.

That was fixed in 13.3.

 

[Idgit]

That was fixed in 13.3.

Apparently--for some Ventura users at least--the bug still persists.

 

[prefuse07]

Can anyone please confirm if they've fixed the WindowServer crash that has been plaguing us since the release of Ventura?

 

[Idgit]

Can anyone please confirm if they've fixed the WindowServer crash that has been plaguing us since the release of Ventura?

Do you have a link to any threads about it?

 

[prefuse07]

Do you have a link to any threads about it?

Literally just google "windowserver crash ventura" it's all over the internet, on multiple forums including the apple one, and seems to produce different results.

Ignore the answer about custom ICC profiles using DisplayCal -- I am not using that, and neither are any of the others hundred posts I read when researching a fix for it.

I have a bunch of console logs on my Mac Pro, as it has started happening to me at random times. When it happens the only way for me to resolve is to do a manual reboot...

Lately, I have only been turning on one of my monitors, and I'm starting to think this issue mostly affects those of us that use a multi-monitor setup.

Here is what it looks like in Console:

Process:               WindowServer [-1]
Path:                  ???
Identifier:            WindowServer
Version:               ???
Code Type:             00000000 (Native)
Parent Process:        ??? [Unknown]
User ID:              

Date/Time:             2023-05-13 22:36:39.5997 -0700
OS Version:            macOS 13.1 (22C65)
Report Version:        12
Anonymous UUID:        A8E854E4-36AC-935D-4C56-A6642B3A939A



System Integrity Protection:

Notes:
This is a watchdog-triggered termination event, and not expected to be well-represented in the legacy crash format

Crashed Thread:        Unknown

Exception Type:      

Termination Reason:    Namespace WATCHDOG, Code 1 monitoring timed out for service
(1 monitored services unresponsive): checkin with service: WindowServer returned not alive with context:
is_alive_func returned unhealthy : Display 2030043072 not ready: DisplayID: 0x78ffffc0
Surface Use Counts: 2(2) 12(0)
FB RegID: 4294969849, On Glass SurfaceIDs: 4 22 13, Transactions: [ Active: SurfaceID: 4 ] [ Pending: SurfaceID: 22 ] [ GPU Busy: SurfaceID: 13 ], Surface Use Counts: 4(1) 22(1) 13(2) , Notified IsActive Surfac, has not exited since first loaded

Error Formulating Crash Report:
This is a watchdog-triggered termination event, and not expected to be well-represented in the legacy crash format

Backtrace not available

No thread state (register information) available

Binary Images:
Binary images description not available

 

[mikethebigo]

weird, i had the "Find My Mac" option screen with the default ventura wallpaper, but i already have that fully enabled. I came from 13.3.1(a), i am not in the beta program

This happened to me too. Came here to see if anyone else was reporting it, haha. Wonder if it has anything to do with any of the security updates.

 

[Adrock1492]

just updated and had a "battery optimization" notification. I clicked close & now it won't charge. I went into system settings>battery & turned off Optimized Battery Charging, but the laptop wont charge. Anyone else?

 

[Siliconpsychosis]

just updated and had a "battery optimization" notification. I clicked close & now it won't charge. I went into system settings>battery & turned off Optimized Battery Charging, but the laptop wont charge. Anyone else?

hmm,. indeed. "Battery is not charging"

EDIT: took it a couple minutes now its charging. coconut battery confirms charging at 65 watts

 

[Idgit]

Literally just google "windowserver crash ventura" it's all over the internet, on multiple forums including the apple one, and seems to produce different results.

Ignore the answer about custom ICC profiles using DisplayCal -- I am not using that, and neither are any of the others hundred posts I read when researching a fix for it.

I have a bunch of console logs on my Mac Pro, as it has started happening to me at random times. When it happens the only way for me to resolve is to do a manual reboot...

Lately, I have only been turning on one of my monitors, and I'm starting to think this issue mostly affects those of us that use a multi-monitor setup.

Here is what it looks like in Console:

Process:               WindowServer [-1]
Path:                  ???
Identifier:            WindowServer
Version:               ???
Code Type:             00000000 (Native)
Parent Process:        ??? [Unknown]
User ID:             

Date/Time:             2023-05-13 22:36:39.5997 -0700
OS Version:            macOS 13.1 (22C65)
Report Version:        12
Anonymous UUID:        A8E854E4-36AC-935D-4C56-A6642B3A939A



System Integrity Protection:

Notes:
This is a watchdog-triggered termination event, and not expected to be well-represented in the legacy crash format

Crashed Thread:        Unknown

Exception Type:     

Termination Reason:    Namespace WATCHDOG, Code 1 monitoring timed out for service
(1 monitored services unresponsive): checkin with service: WindowServer returned not alive with context:
is_alive_func returned unhealthy : Display 2030043072 not ready: DisplayID: 0x78ffffc0
Surface Use Counts: 2(2) 12(0)
FB RegID: 4294969849, On Glass SurfaceIDs: 4 22 13, Transactions: [ Active: SurfaceID: 4 ] [ Pending: SurfaceID: 22 ] [ GPU Busy: SurfaceID: 13 ], Surface Use Counts: 4(1) 22(1) 13(2) , Notified IsActive Surfac, has not exited since first loaded

Error Formulating Crash Report:
This is a watchdog-triggered termination event, and not expected to be well-represented in the legacy crash format

Backtrace not available

No thread state (register information) available

Binary Images:
Binary images description not available

That is a nasty looking bug. I think I'm going to hold off upgrading to Ventura, especially if this bug remains unfixed.

 

[prefuse07]

That is a nasty looking bug. I think I'm going to hold off upgrading to Ventura, especially if this bug remains unfixed.

Yeah, it's really nasty, and the worst part is -- it gives different results on different machines....

Some people on MacBook Pros, Minis and iMacs look to be logged out/kicked out of macOS completely and remain stuck in the login screen...

My issue (and I've read others with the same on different machines) -- my monitors randomly black out and become unresponsive as if the GPU failed. Screen is totally black, however, the Mac is still running. Reason I know is that it has occurred twice while watching movies. I can still hear the audio/movie playing through my audio interface, but screens are completely black as if my monitors were dc'd. Also pressing the keyboard does nothing, cmd + Q does nothing. It's very odd. What I read was that this seems more frequent on folks with multi-monitors, but not always...

I've tried everything from switching inputs and coming back to the input used for my Mac, to physically unplugging and then reconnecting my monitors into the back of my Mac Pro. Also tried yanking the power cord from my monitors and reconnecting (someone recommended this in the Mac Pro forum) sadly -- Nothing works. Only fix is to do a manual reboot and then you are greeted with "you restarted your mac because of an issue...." as well as the console logs for the crash.


I wish I had known about this before upgrading to Ventura, and one of the reasons why I am afraid to leave 13.1... If this is still unresolved with this release, I hope they at least try to tackle it in 13.5, since that's supposed to be a bug-squashing stability update. I really miss the pre-Timmy apple.

 

[Idgit]

I really miss the pre-Timmy apple.

Me too. When Craig Federighi took over from Bertrand Serlet, macOS software quality started its long, slow decline.

 

[WilliApple]

That is a nasty looking bug. I think I'm going to hold off upgrading to Ventura, especially if this bug remains unfixed.

Can anyone please confirm if they've fixed the WindowServer crash that has been plaguing us since the release of Ventura?

I have not had any WindowServer crashes in 13.4 ever, even in the betas, but yes in 13.0-13.3.

It has been fixed for me!

 

[zakarhino]

PRAYING that this is the update where things finally become stable enough to use daily. No catastrophic "files not found" bugs or anything like that.

My Mac is the last Apple device that needs updating before I can enable the new Advanced Data Protection stuff in iCloud.

 

[TheGeneralist]

PRAYING that this is the update where things finally become stable enough to use daily. No catastrophic "files not found" bugs or anything like that. [...]

Hmm...not really convinced praying is the way to go here.
Doubtful if this really helps prevent catastrophic and/or very annoying bugs.
I've had more success with these measures for a stable working environment:

• avoid .0, .1 and .2 releases entirely, at least for macOS. They have not been stable enough for productive use in the last few years anyway, so don't waste your precious time with them if your priority is on a solid working environment.
• for releases from .3 and following, wait at least 2 weeks after each release until you even start thinking about upgrading. It is important to hold back for at least 2 weeks - after 3 days or one week, many of those really annoying bugs are not yet public knowledge
• if people are still experiencing a lot of bad things - like in 13.3 and its sub-variants - don't assume that you're amongst the lucky ones who don't experience these problems - although this could happen, often it just doesn't
• upgrade only when the widespread bugs are not so bad that it would mean an overall downgrade, compared to what you currently have.

I would also like to use the beneficial new features Ventura brings in, including Advanced Data Protection in iCloud and others. But for now, Monterey 12.6.6 is still the better option for me.
Don't know yet if 13.4 is capable of changing that, as said I can tell in about 2 weeks at the earliest

 

[fisherking]

Hmm...not really convinced praying is the way to go here.
Doubtful if this really helps prevent catastrophic and/or very annoying bugs.
I've had more success with these measures for a stable working environment:

• avoid .0, .1 and .2 releases entirely, at least for macOS. They have not been stable enough for productive use in the last few years anyway, so don't waste your precious time with them if your priority is on a solid working environment.
• for releases from .3 and following, wait at least 2 weeks after each release until you even start thinking about upgrading. It is important to hold back for at least 2 weeks - after 3 days or one week, many of those really annoying bugs are not yet public knowledge
• if people are still experiencing a lot of bad things - like in 13.3 and its sub-variants - don't assume that you're amongst the lucky ones who don't experience these problems - although this could happen, often it just doesn't
• upgrade only when the widespread bugs are not so bad that it would mean an overall downgrade, compared to what you currently have.

I would also like to use the beneficial new features Ventura brings in, including Advanced Data Protection in iCloud and others. But for now, Monterey 12.6.6 is still the better option for me.
Don't know yet if 13.4 is capable of changing that, as said I can tell in about 2 weeks at the earliest

this is so ridiculous; OS development is never a straight line forward; sometimes one bug is fixed, but a new one is introduced. for example, the 'file not found' error didn't happen on the earlier ventura betas.

there's no 'system' to determine the 'right' release to dive into, as each OS version doesn't progress exactly the same either.

if that 'system' makes you happy, good for you. but it's just something you made up, it's not scientific; it's just invention (and not a scientific invention 🤣)

 

[TheGeneralist]

this is so ridiculous[...]

Really? You start with an insult, while I'm sharing my best practices here for the benefit of others? Is that all you got?

[...]OS development is never a straight line forward; sometimes one bug is fixed, but a new one is introduced. for example, the 'file not found' error didn't happen on the earlier ventura betas. [...]

Exactly. This is why it is so important to wait at least 2 weeks - there will be new bugs, and there will be regression bugs.

[...] there's no 'system' to determine the 'right' release to dive into, as each OS version doesn't progress exactly the same either.[...]

Well, guess you have a point here. There will always be exotic problems which hit some users in OS versions which are regarded as stable by the majority, and use cases where someone experiences an OS as quite stable while others don't. But at least following my 4 bullets helps me prevent avoidable mistakes, like jumping into a release which would almost surely have caused severe trouble to me.

[...]if that 'system' makes you happy, good for you.[...]

It doesn't really make me happy. I would prefer upgrading rather sooner than later. It's not intended to make me happy...but it makes me indeed less fed up with problems.

[...] but it's just something you made up, it's not scientific; it's just invention (and not a scientific invention 🤣)

Yes, of course it is. I'd call it something like a best practice based on trial-and-error experience. Never intended it to be scientific, nor did I claim it to be...so what's your point with that?

I think the good thing is that Apple supports even the two last macOS major releases with basic security maintenance, so everyone can decide the right timing to update. I'm aware that there are a lot of people around here who even undergo the pain of voluntary beta testing, so for them my ideas will most likely sound like nonsense (I respect that, not seeing anything "ridiculous" or similar here - to me it's all a matter of personal preferences).

Aiming more at those who are strictly prioritizing stability over new features, like I do.

 

[Darren.h]

I'll make the switch at 13.5. 14 will most likely be apple silicon only. no intel.

 

[MarcoG]

After updating my Mac Studio to 13.4, my display won't stay in standby, it continuously powers off and on in an infinite loop. Prior to the update, I did not experience this problem.
anyone have this issue? Thanks

 

[fisherking]

Really? You start with an insult, while I'm sharing my best practices here for the benefit of others? Is that all you got?

Exactly. This is why it is so important to wait at least 2 weeks - there will be new bugs, and there will be regression bugs.

Well, guess you have a point here. There will always be exotic problems which hit some users in OS versions which are regarded as stable by the majority, and use cases where someone experiences an OS as quite stable while others don't. But at least following my 4 bullets helps me prevent avoidable mistakes, like jumping into a release which would almost surely have caused severe trouble to me.

It doesn't really make me happy. I would prefer upgrading rather sooner than later. It's not intended to make me happy...but it makes me indeed less fed up with problems.

Yes, of course it is. I'd call it something like a best practice based on trial-and-error experience. Never intended it to be scientific, nor did I claim it to be...so what's your point with that?

I think the good thing is that Apple supports even the two last macOS major releases with basic security maintenance, so everyone can decide the right timing to update. I'm aware that there are a lot of people around here who even undergo the pain of voluntary beta testing, so for them my ideas will most likely sound like nonsense (I respect that, not seeing anything "ridiculous" or similar here - to me it's all a matter of personal preferences).

Aiming more at those who are strictly prioritizing stability over new features, like I do.

your choices on this are yours alone, they are not 'absolutes'; this is just a plan that makes you comfortable, and there is nothing wrong with that.

we all have our observations, methods (to our madness 😉). you do you, i'll do me, and others can do as suits them best 👍

 

[prefuse07]

I have not had any WindowServer crashes in 13.4 ever, even in the betas, but yes in 13.0-13.3.

It has been fixed for me!

Thanks for this -- this is good news!