Apple will make macOS Big Sur – its latest and greatest release of macOS – available sometime today, Thursday, November 12.
Although Apple hasn’t shared an exact time that it’ll enable downloads of its first Apple Silicon-capable version of macOS, it’s possible to make an educated guess, based on past macOS releases.
As noted by MacRumors, Apple lists a release date of November 12 on its Indian site, while its Thai site lists a November 13 release date. Those two countries are 90 minutes apart by time zones, which suggests a release window of sometime between 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time. Past releases also narrow it down a bit, meaning the most likely release time in that window would be 10:00 a.m. Pacific.
It’s worth noting, however, that major macOS releases over the past several years have typically come closer to 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time, so it’s certainly possible it could be a bit later than our prediction of 10:00 a.m.
Here is the best guess (thanks to MacRumors) for when to start checking for the macOS Big Sur download:
- Honolulu, Hawaii — 8:00 a.m. HST
- Anchorage, Alaska — 9:00 a.m. AKST
- Cupertino, California — 10:00 a.m. PST
- Vancouver, Canada — 10:00 a.m. PST
- Phoenix, Arizona — 11:00 a.m. MST
- Denver, Colorado — 11:00 a.m. MST
- Chicago, Illinois — 12:00 noon. CST
- New York, New York — 1:00 p.m. EST
- Toronto, Canada — 1:00 p.m. EST
- Halifax, Canada — 2:00 p.m. AST
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — 3:00 p.m. BRT
- London, United Kingdom — 6:00 p.m. GMT
- Berlin, Germany — 7:00 p.m. CET
- Paris, France — 7:00 p.m. CET
- Cape Town, South Africa — 8:00 p.m. SAST
- Helsinki, Finland — 8:00 p.m. EET
- Moscow, Russia — 9:00 p.m. MSK
- Istanbul, Turkey — 9:00 p.m. TRT
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates — 10:00 p.m. GST
- Delhi, India — 11:30 p.m. IST
- Jakarta, Indonesia — 1:00 a.m. WIB next day
- Shanghai, China — 2:00 a.m. CST next day
- Singapore — 2:00 a.m. SGT next day
- Perth, Australia — 2:00 a.m. AWST next day
- Hong Kong — 2:00 a.m. HKT next day
- Seoul, South Korea — 3:00 a.m. KST next day
- Tokyo, Japan — 3:00 a.m. JST next day
- Brisbane, Australia – 4:00 a.m. AEST next day
- Adelaide, Australia — 4:30 a.m. ACDT next day
- Sydney, Australia — 5:00 a.m. AEDT next day
- Auckland, New Zealand — 7:00 a.m. NZDT next day
macOS Big Sur is compatible with most 2013 and later machines, outlined below:
- 2015 and later MacBook
- 2013 and later MacBook Air
- Late 2013 and later MacBook Pro
- 2014 and later iMac
- 2017 and later iMac Pro
- 2014 and later Mac mini
- 2013 and later Mac Pro
Good luck, and good downloading!