All macOS versions from 2001 to 2022

Apple has released a large number of operating systems for their computers. OS X and macOS were originally Apple’s System Software, but then it was split in 2001. Then there was Mac OS X, which lasted until 2021, OSX which lasted to 2016 and this year is technically macOS with a few more releases in the pipeline. A lot of people are confused about the naming system for macOS and the latest version isn’t expected to change this trend. So today let’s look at all the Apple Mac OS (macOS) Operating Systems versions in order.

Is there any difference between Mac OS X and macOS?

The names of the operating systems for Mac computers are different. Mac OS X is the name for all versions of the operating system released before 10.9 Mavericks. The current version is macOS, which was first introduced in 10.9 Mavericks and replaced OS X in 2013.

Mac OS X is a graphical user interface-based operating system developed by Apple Inc., while macOS is a graphical user interface-based operating system developed by Apple Inc.

The article below will tell you all the different operating systems that Apple has put out in order of their release date.

List of macOS versions

Here are all the Mac OS (macOS) Operating Systems versions in order:

Grail1Z4 / Titan1U – Rhapsody Developer Release (August 31, 1997)
Hera – Mac OS X Server 1.0 (March 16, 1999)
Unknown – Mac OS X Developer Preview (March 16, 1999)
Kodiak – Mac OS X Public Beta (September 13, 2000)
Cheetah – Mac OS X 10.0 (March 24, 2001)
Puma – Mac OS X 10.1 (September 25, 2001)
Jaguar – Mac OS X 10.2 (August 24, 2002)
Panther – Mac OS X 10.3 (October 24, 2003)
Tiger – Mac OS X 10.4 (April 29, 2005)
Leopard – Mac OS X 10.5 (October 26, 2007)
Snow Leopard – Mac OS X 10.6 (August 28, 2009)
Lion – Mac OS X 10.7 (July 20, 2011)
Mountain Lion – OS X 10.8 (July 25, 2012)
Mavericks – OS X 10.9 (October 22, 2013)
Yosemite – OS X 10.10 (October 16, 2014)
El Capitan – OS X 10.11 (September 30, 2015)
Sierra – macOS 10.12 (September 20, 2016)
High Sierra – macOS 10.13 (September 25, 2017)
Mojave – macOS 10.14 (September 24, 2018)
Catalina – macOS 10.15 (October 7, 2019)
Big Sur – macOS 11 (November 12, 2020)
Monterey – macOS 12 (October 25, 2021)

Apple has had 9 major operating system versions before Mac OS X was released. The previous versions were renamed ‘Classic macOS’ by developers today. Let’s take a look at those classic Apple betas below too.