Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Some Mac users not receiving macOS 12.1 download prompt

Last updated

Some users are now reporting that they are unable to see the macOS 12.1 update on their M1 Macs.

On Monday, Apple released an update for macOS Monterey 12.1, which brought SharePlay, Hide My Email, Apple Music Voice, alongside the usual battery of bug fixes.

However, as 9to5Mac has pointed out, not everyone is seeing the update. Certain users, specifically those with M1 Macs, are not prompted to download the update when viewing System Preferences.

The issue was also reported on Reddit's r/MacOS board, with users saying that it seems to affect some M1 Mac users, but not others.

Additionally, Microsoft Senior Cloud Developer Advocate Christina Warren reports that downloading the installer from the Mac App Store stalls out halfway through. Other users have verified this issue, leaving affected users without an easy workaround.

Reddit posters have suggested that particularly impatient users suffering from the issue can boot into Recovery and reinstall macOS. The Recovery tool will download the latest version of macOS. AppleInsider recommends that users ensure that they have a current backup should they use the Recovery tool method.



6 Comments

stuartf 22 Years · 63 comments

Command-R no longer triggers a refresh in Software Update

Clicking on Advanced then OK seems to do the trick

redgeminipa 14 Years · 555 comments

Mine showed it, then I got an error message. After that, it showed up to date at 12.0.1.

EDIT: Clicking Advanced allowed it to update, as Stuartf mentioned. 

13" M1 MPB



tjod 4 Years · 1 comment

I'm seeing this issue on 2 M1 MacMinis and 1 M1 MBAir

MacsWithPenguins 4 Years · 82 comments

Being in the public beta, I already have the 12.1 RC2 version, which is likely the same as the final build.

These kind of download issues aren't exactly new, though: updating an iDevice or a Mac the same day as the update comes out is guaranteed to make you compete with a lot of other people wanting to update at the same time. This will probably settle itself within a day or two, if history is any indication.

MplsP 9 Years · 4053 comments

Being in the public beta, I already have the 12.1 RC2 version, which is likely the same as the final build.

These kind of download issues aren't exactly new, though: updating an iDevice or a Mac the same day as the update comes out is guaranteed to make you compete with a lot of other people wanting to update at the same time. This will probably settle itself within a day or two, if history is any indication.

Exactly. I wonder if it isn’t a server capacity management issue.