On December 3rd, Apple released an update for Safari that applies across all of its supported versions of OS X; however, soon after its release, undisclosed problems with the update had Apple pull it from its software update distribution services. This resulted in only a small percentage of downloads, followed by people not being able to apply the update. Today, Apple has rectified the still-unknown problems with the update, and has re-released them under new version numbers that are available to all users, even those who were able to install the prior updates.
To get these updates, go to the Apple menu and choose Software Update, or for Yosemite users, go to the App Store and then to the Updates section (you can also choose About This Mac and then click the Software Update button there). If you have installed the prior Safari updates, then be sure you apply this latest patch, as unknown errors with the prior one could results in system or application instability.
As always, be sure you have a full backup of your system before applying these updates. If a problem with them or any others is found and updates are pulled, then one option you will have is to revert your system to avoid any unwanted problems from a faulty update. If you can manage, then be sure to double-up on your backups, since Time Machine supports more than one backup destination.
Does anyone know of actual links to these updates? I’d rather load them from work where I have a super-fast internet connection, but the catch is that at work I’m on a Windows 7 machine. Otherwise I have to run Software Update from my Mac at home (slow connection).
Since Safari is now considered to be part of OS X there are no standalone updates to download. The ONLY way to get a Safari update is through the App Store. And there’s something else a lot of people don’t know. You cannot delete/trash Safari (without using terminal commands). So the old troubleshooting method of delete/reinstall no longer works because you cannot get a standalone copy of Safari. If you do manage to delete Safari via the terminal and don’t have a backup you are forced into reinstalling OS X to get Safari back. Oh, I’m sure some power users (like Topher) can find a way but the normal user can’t.
Hello,
On my rMBP13″ with 10.9.5, Software Update tells me that Safari 7.1.2 is available, says that it is being installed, shows it as installed in the list of previous installations, but does not. After quitting Software Update, I’m told that a new update is available, Safari 7.1.2