Apple releases OS X 10.9.1 with Mail, Safari, and VoiceOver fixes

Apple releases OS X 10.9.1 with Mail, Safari, and VoiceOver fixes: Nearly two months after the initial release of Mavericks, Apple has issued the first major update for the operating system. OS X 10.9.1 can be downloaded automatically through the Mac App Store’s Updates tab, but if you’d like to install it manually the package is also up on Apple’s support site. The package for the 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros is here, while the update package for all other supported Macs is here.

The built-in Mail app is a major focus for OS X 10.9.1, which improves Gmail support, brings “fixes for users with custom Gmail settings,” makes Mail’s search and Smart Mailbox functions more reliable, and “fixes an issue that prevented contact groups from working properly in Mail.” The update brings Safari 7.0.1 in tow, which improves the behavior of Credit Card Autofill, fixes VoiceOver issues with facebook.com, and periodically updates the “Shared Links” list in the Safari sidebar.

10.9.1 fixes a few more obscure problems as well, including VoiceOver’s inability to read sentences containing emoji, and a bug that could cause the “Local items” keychain to become unlocked. It also fixes a problem that “prevented iLife and iWork apps from updating on non-English systems.”

Betas of OS X 10.9.1 issued through Apple’s developer portal apparently also listed graphics drivers as a focus area for the new update, so if you’ve been having graphics-related bugs since your Mavericks upgrade, there’s a chance that the new build could iron those out too. Apple’s full release notes for the patch aren’t up yet (they’ll show up here when they are), but we’ll update this article if there are other major innovations.