How to see the exact dates when apps and macOS were last updated on your Mac

If you’re trying to troubleshoot an issue on your Mac and know when it first occurred, you likely want to get more information about what happened on your system on that particular day (or range of days).

Was it an app update that may have caused the problem? Did something go wrong during the last macOS update?

To help narrow down your search, you can easily check your Mac for all installations and when they occurred. Here’s how to see the exact dates for app and macOS updates on Mac.

macOS Installations in System Information Featured

Get to your Mac’s System Information

There are two quick ways to see System Information on your Mac:

  1. Click the Apple icon  from your menu bar.
  2. Select About This Mac.
  3. Under Overview, click System Report.

or

  1. Open the Utilities folder from your applications.
  2. Click System Information.
Utilities System Information in Applications Folder

Review your installations

You’ll end up in the same spot with whichever method you use above. Now, just scroll down to the last section on the left labeled Software and expand it with the arrow if necessary (you can collapse the Hardware and Network sections if you like).

Click on Installations. You will see columns for Software Name, Version, Source, and Install Date on the right side.

If you’re looking for a particular date or software name, it’s easier to click on the column and sort by it. For instance, the screenshot below shows the installations sorted by Install Date. You can see that GarageBand and TickTick were updated on January 10.

App Update Installations in System Information

In this next screenshot, you can see it’s sorted by Software Name. This shows all installations and updates for various macOS versions.

macOS Installations in System Information

Even if you don’t need this information to troubleshoot a problem, it can still come in handy. Maybe you’d like to see which version of an app or macOS you have or review other installations that happened behind the scenes. Let us know if you find this information about your installations helpful!

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