Java With Us

How to Update Java on Mac

Updated on 2026-04-21 Reviewed by the Java With Us editorial team

Update Java on Mac by running brew upgrade (if you used Homebrew) or downloading and running a new .pkg file from Adoptium. The update takes two minutes and does not break existing projects.

Homebrew update

brew update           # refresh brew's formula index
brew upgrade openjdk@21   # upgrade to the latest 21.x patch

If you run multiple LTS versions, upgrade each explicitly:

brew upgrade openjdk@17 openjdk@21

Homebrew may print a new symlink command after upgrade. Re-run it if prompted:

sudo ln -sfn $(brew --prefix)/opt/openjdk@21/libexec/openjdk.jdk \
    /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk-21.jdk

.pkg update

  1. Go to adoptium.net and download the new Java 21 macOS .pkg for your architecture (aarch64 or x64).
  2. Double-click the .pkg and follow the installer — it replaces the previous build.
  3. Open a new Terminal and verify: java -version.

Verify the update

java -version
/usr/libexec/java_home -V   # list all installed JDKs

JAVA_HOME after update

If you set JAVA_HOME with a hard path (e.g. /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/temurin-21.0.1.jdk/...), the patch update changes the directory name and breaks the hard path. Use the dynamic form instead:

export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 21)

This always resolves to the highest installed 21.x, regardless of patch version.

Automatic updates

Homebrew does not auto-upgrade packages. Run brew upgrade periodically or set up a cron/launchd job. For the .pkg path, some vendors offer update notifications — Temurin does not. Subscribe to adoptium.net/releases or follow the @adoptium account for release announcements.

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