OS X Lion
OS X Lion, also known as Mac OS X Lion, (version 10.7) is the eighth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers.
| Version of the macOS operating system | |
Screenshot of OS X Lion | |
| Developer | Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| OS family | |
| Source model | Closed, with open source components |
| General availability | July 20, 2011 |
| Latest release | 10.7.5 (Build 11G63) / October 4, 2012 |
| Update method | Apple Software Update |
| Platforms | x86-64 |
| Kernel type | Hybrid (XNU) |
| License | Apple Public Source License (APSL) and Apple end-user license agreement (EULA) |
| Preceded by | Mac OS X Snow Leopard |
| Succeeded by | OS X Mountain Lion |
| Official website | Apple - OS X Lion - The world's most advanced OS. at the Wayback Machine (archived June 9, 2012) |
| Tagline | The world's most advanced desktop operating system advances even further. |
| Support status | |
| Obsolete, unsupported as of about October 2014. iTunes is no longer supported as of September 2015. | |
| Part of a series on |
| macOS |
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A preview of OS X 10.7 Lion was publicly shown at the "Back to the Mac" Apple Special Event on October 20, 2010. It brought many developments made in Apple's iOS, such as an easily navigable display of installed applications, to the Mac, and includes support for the Mac App Store, as introduced in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard version 10.6.6. On February 24, 2011, the first developer's preview of Lion (11A390) was released to subscribers to the Apple Developer program. Other developer previews were subsequently released, with Lion Preview 4 (11A480b) being released at WWDC 2011.
Lion was released to manufacturing on July 1, 2011, followed by its final release via the Mac App Store on July 20, 2011. Apple reported over one million Lion sales on the first day of its release. As of October 2011, OS X Lion had sold over six million copies worldwide.
Lion is the first version of macOS that did not support 32-bit processors and is also the final release whose development was overseen by Bertrand Serlet, considered to be the "founding father of Mac OS X".
Although originally paid, Apple later allowed free downloads of the OS, especially for customers of older and no longer officially supported Mac computers, starting on June 30, 2021. The same practice was applied to its successor, OS X Mountain Lion.