Is macOS Catalina security update 2026-001 genuine for a late 2013 Mac?

macOS catalina security update 2026-001 10.15.8 has just popped up on my screen. Is this some sort of phish or genuine ? I thought Apple stopped supporting my mac years ago ( late 2013 )



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Phishing or Genuine ?

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 2, 2026 12:18 PM

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Posted on Feb 3, 2026 8:10 AM

You can get this update from system Preferences/Software Updates where apart from the update to a higher System you should see a 'more updates' link.


This updates apparently only includes the security certificates neccesary to prevent apps such as Facetime stopping working in 2027.


Be warned: I did this and it took 30 minuts with three (automatic) restarts. It scrambled most of my 3rd-party email accounts; with assistance on the phone from Support I had to delete and then reinstall all the accounts (for which you need not only your password but the server details). This still threw up an error warning in each cazed: you have to click 'Trust' then set the first opotion to Always Trust': you need to do this twice (imcoming and outgoing) for it to settle down. This may not happen with your email accounts (no problem with iCloud) but it took me over an hour. (I was also signed out of YouTube though there was no problem signing back in.)


So don't start this unless you allow plenty of time.


8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 3, 2026 8:10 AM in response to fitshappenin

You can get this update from system Preferences/Software Updates where apart from the update to a higher System you should see a 'more updates' link.


This updates apparently only includes the security certificates neccesary to prevent apps such as Facetime stopping working in 2027.


Be warned: I did this and it took 30 minuts with three (automatic) restarts. It scrambled most of my 3rd-party email accounts; with assistance on the phone from Support I had to delete and then reinstall all the accounts (for which you need not only your password but the server details). This still threw up an error warning in each cazed: you have to click 'Trust' then set the first opotion to Always Trust': you need to do this twice (imcoming and outgoing) for it to settle down. This may not happen with your email accounts (no problem with iCloud) but it took me over an hour. (I was also signed out of YouTube though there was no problem signing back in.)


So don't start this unless you allow plenty of time.


Apr 13, 2026 5:04 PM in response to lapinlapin

I finally got it to work. I cleared out 150GB of space and then the update installed correctly. Gemini suggests that 30-40GB would have been enough.


But be warned: when I did this, I lost all of my Safari tabs and tab groups. I solved this by closing Safari, going into iCloud settings, unchecking then re-checking the box for syncing Safari, hit okay to merge my computer's settings, then reopening Safari.



Feb 3, 2026 1:52 PM in response to fitshappenin

I have an iMac (27-inch, Late 2023) running Catalina 10.15.7. It appears to have downloaded the security update. When I hit the Update Now button in the Software Update section of System Preferences, the computer restarts. But when I log in again, it still shows that the update has not been installed. I tried this many times with the same result. Anyone know how to resolve this?

Feb 28, 2026 6:15 AM in response to fitshappenin

Bonjour,


Depuis cette mise à jour, mon iMac (27 pouces de fin 2013) est aussi en version Mac OS Catalina 10.15.8, mais je ne peux plus me connecter à mon "identifiant apple" : il mentionne un "échec de vérification et une erreur inconnue est survenue."


Quelqu'un pourrait-il m'aider pour que je puisse m'identifier à nouveau ?



Merci d'avance pour votre aide 🙏🏻


Fabrice ✻

Feb 28, 2026 8:00 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Bonjour,


Depuis cette mise à jour, mon iMac (27 pouces de fin 2013) est également en version Mac OS Catalina 10.15.8, mais je ne peux plus me connecter à mon "identifiant apple" : il mentionne un "échec de vérification et une erreur inconnue est survenue."


Quelqu'un pourrait-il m'aider pour que je puisse m'identifier à nouveau ?



Merci d'avance pour votre aide 🙏🏻


Fabrice ✻

Is macOS Catalina security update 2026-001 genuine for a late 2013 Mac?

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