macOS 12.1 now showing up on your M1 Mac? Here’s how to force the update

If you’ve got a Mac, you might have been eagerly awaiting the macOS 12.1 update. The biggest part of the update? SharePlay, which lets you share your screen or watch the same content with other people on a FaceTime call. Perfect timing, with omicron about to put us back into social distancing.

That’s not all that’s coming; with Apple’s Hide My Email feature for creating burner emails, new family safety controls for Messages, and the new Apple Music Voice Plan also included in the update.

Sounds great, right? Well, for some users of M1-powered Macs, the update isn’t even showing up. Here’s how to force it to appear.

Here’s how to force the macOS update on your M1-powered Mac

At this time, we’re not really sure why the update isn’t showing up. It seems only M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max users, are affected, and even the full macOS Monterey installer doesn’t work to get macOS 12.1 installed.

This workaround (found by a 9to5Mac commenter) seems to do the trick:

Doing all of that should get your Mac downloading the macOS 12.1 update. Once downloaded, you shouldn’t have to do anything out-of-the-ordinary to get it installed.

We’re still scratching our heads as to why this is necessary. Hopefully, Apple fixes the issue so you don’t have to resort to workarounds to get your update.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.