A few mindful notes before installing Apple’s 10.10.3 update

SoftwareUpdateIconXApple has released its 10.10.3 update today, which can be installed on any Mac running Yosemite and which brings a number of security and stability fixes. However, in addition, Apple has made the change to use the new Photos app as a replacement for iPhoto.

This new software is a blend of the offering in Apple’s iOS platform, which unifies the experience, but which also may have some initial bugs, so as with all updates, be sure you have a full and restorable backup of your system before applying it. There are several approaches for doing this, including manual backups of iPhoto libraries and other documents, as well as creating a system clone immediately before updating; however, most people will do best by setting up Time Machine, and then ensuring a backup has run before updating.

Apple pushes this update to most users through its software update services, which are best for ensuring you only download the components needed to update your system; however, if you plan on updating multiple systems, then you can save bandwidth and perhaps some time by downloading the Combo updater, which will update any installation of OS X Yosemite (versions 10.10.0 through 10.10.2). Note that if you have multiple systems running OS X 10.10.2, then the universal Delta updater will include the files necessary to bump this up to 10.10.3 on any Mac.

  • OS X 10.10.3 Delta updater
  • OS X 10.10.3 Combo updater

Since the Photos app is new, be sure to launch it first-thing and put it through its paces. Unfortunately iPhoto may not work on future versions of OS X, so sooner or later if you use iPhoto you will need to make the transition.

13 thoughts on “A few mindful notes before installing Apple’s 10.10.3 update”

  1. thomasul8

    On my system iPhoto is still present after the update and can be started and loads it´s library

  2. neal

    iPhoto seems to work fine so far. Photos is terrible. No events, edit in external editor, and limited sorting.

  3. B. Jefferson Le Blanc

    I’ll be waiting to see feedback on how well, or even if, OS X 10.10.3 fixes the long-standing bugs in Yosemite. In the meantime, I will install the update only on my test partition.

  4. FixMaX

    So far, so good here after installing the combo Mac OS X 10.10.3. Both iPhoto and Photos are in the Applications folder.

  7. D C

    Just an FYI, 10.10.3 completely broke ‘floating’ windows for me in all versions of Webstorm. Clicking on the main program window results in the ‘floating’ window being hidden 100% of the time. Re-showing the window causes it to ‘snap to’ the mouse pointer (it forgets it’s previous location)

  8. Sandeep

    10.10.3 does not install even after restarting.

    The 10.10.3 update is out on Appstore but strangely and unfortunately it seems to have the same problem as 10.10.2 had for me. It’s strange. It just does not install after restarting. Worse is that the force installation method discussed in https://macissues.com/2015/01/28/how-to-force-os-x-10-10-2-to-install-on-your-mac/#comment-2395 by Topher Keslar is not working this time for 10.10.3 as it did for 10.10.2. I don’t know coding so could not really work out the solution.

    Are other people having the same issues with this update also? Can anybody help?
    Thanks

  9. Julie

    Updated to the 10.10.3, now cannot open photos, it just turns off and says there’s a problem and Mac needs to be restarted. Help!

  11. Diane Gail

    Fortunately, my iPhoto library remained intact. I don’t like the new Photos program. Apple is beginning to act like Microsoft and adding things to your computer that you didn’t ask for, or want.

    iPhoto is far superior to Photos. I’d like to get rid of Photos. It seems redundant to have all my pictures in two applications. I want to keep my iPhotos, I never had a problem with it.

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