An Update on This Article:  Almost two months after Apple released Catalina 10.15.2 (12/10/19) that caused the breakages, they released Catalina 10.15.3 (1/28/2020) which fixed the tethered capture bugs.  The other problem I reported regarding that “Disk Error” message persisted even after updating to 10.15.3.  I never found anyone with an answer to what was causing that, but I discovered on my own that it was a file permissions issue that was somehow introduced with the 10.15.2 upgrade.  I had to modify folder permissions to allow Lightroom and Photoshop to have read and write access to the folder containing the files, even though in earlier versions there was no problems with this.  I am still experiencing intermittent problems with my Mail app since upgrading.  Not sure what the cause is. Very frustrating.

I have a MacBook Pro and recently upgraded to the latest Mac OS Catalina 10.15.2 and have been TOTALLY regretting having done so.  I am hearing from several of my former students that they are also running into problems since upgrading to Catalina 10.15.2.

I have personally encountered several problems that I would categorize as SERIOUS and I hope will be addressed ASAP. 

Here’s what a rep at Adobe says about Catalina upgrades on Mac: “You may want to remain on your current version of macOS until these issues have been resolved.”

For me, it was specifically the upgrade from 10.15.1 to 10.15.2 that started causing the most grief.

• Strange behavior in my Mac Mail app, intermittently not being able to connect to my mail servers, but then the problem goes away, and then comes back again.  Seem awfully coincidental with having just upgraded the OS.
• The latest version of Adobe Lightroom Classic CC Version 9.1:
  • Tethered capture connecting via USB to any Canon DSLR (I have 3) simply does not work at ALL any more.  Tethered capture is totally broken.
  • The Edit In Photoshop command when using the “Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments” is totally broken.  Now I just get an error claiming there is a “Disk Error” but there is no problem with my hard drive (after scanning with Disk Utility for problems).  The only time I get this error is when doing this one command from Lightroom.  It simply does not work any more, at all.
  • I have heard from a couple of other people who were having problems opening their catalogs, although I haven’t encountered this problem (yet, at least).
• Canon EOS Utility (3.11.1 latest version)
  • Tethered capture connecting via USB to any Canon DSLR (I have 3) simply does not work at ALL any more.  Tethered capture is totally broken by any means, whether using Canon’s utility or Adobe’s.
  • Canon tech support says 3.11.1 is compatible with the latest Catalina, but I am experiencing results that are contrary to that.
• My battery on my MacBook Pro is virtually brand new.  I just replaced it a couple of months ago.  I am noticing the power is draining at a much faster rate than it ever did before.  At the moment, my battery is at 50%, but one hour ago it was at 100%.  Checking to see what app has been the biggest power consumer, it reports Photoshop is the culprit.  BUT I didn’t have this problem until I “upgraded” to Catalina 10.15.2.
  • p.s. 5 minutes have passed since I type this and I am already down to 40%

SO the bottom line is unless you have a very compelling reason you just need to upgrade to Catalina 10.15.2, I’d say DON’T DO IT.  

Some people respond saying they haven’t experienced a problem with Catalina, but I am not sure that is relevant because lots of people ARE experiencing problems like this and if you search, you will find a lot of discussion and frustration over the problems.  So if you upgrade, maybe you’ll be fine, or maybe you will totally regret it.  I am in the latter category.  :-/

I guess I’ll have to look into rolling back my MacOS to a previous version.  That’s a pain also though.  I am hoping Apple will make some fixes to resolve these problems OR I am hoping that Adobe and Canon can put out releases that work around these problems caused by the most recent Catalina release.

p.s. If anyone is curious about my particular model of MacBook Pro, here are the specs: Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013 model,2.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB w/Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB; Hard drive: Apple SSD SM1024F

Kevin's book "30 Practical Tips for Better Photographs" is available in print and on Kindle devices!