Apple told The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple on Monday that they’ll be making their new macOS Sierra operating system, released to the public in September, available as an automatic download for Mac OS X El Capitan users. The move is part of an effort on Apple’s part to encourage users to update to the latest version of the Mac operating system.
Customers who have auto downloads enabled in the Mac App Store will see macOS Sierra download automatically, but the new OS will not install without the express consent of the user. Automatic downloads of macOS Sierra will begin rolling out over the next week.
Apple is also being smart about the download. If your computer is low on space, macOS Sierra will not download. In addition, if it has downloaded and your computer starts to get low on space, the download will be automatically deleted.
If you’re happy with El Capitan, or just aren’t ready to install macOS Sierra right now, you can manually delete the update if it’s already downloaded to your machine. Or, you can turn off automatic downloads on your Mac, which will prevent the update from being saved to your hard drive. Disable automatic downloads by going to: “System Preference” -> “App Store,” and unchecking the box that says: “Download newly available updates in the background.”
