Since late 2012 (or OS 10.6, Snow Leopard), Apple has excluded the Java plugin from all Mac compatible web browsers. In fact, around that time Apple released an update containing a function that expressly removes the Java plugin from OS X.
Since then, Apple has stopped including Java as part of its OS X install.
The rationale behind this, is that with Java’s ubiquity running on Windows, OS X and Linux platforms, it has become one of the most widely exploited software packages by hackers.
For those who require the use of Java for sites that you may visit and interact with, there are three things to note concerning Java and OS X:
- you will need to install Java on your OS X and;
- there are two versions of Java that run on OS X; a version from Oracle and the other from Apple. Depending on the applications you run which require Java, installing just one may be insufficient, e.g. Minecraft and most of the Adobe Creative Suite requires Apple’s version of Java to run
- good news is, you can install both versions of Java, Oracle and Apple’s version which will run in tandem without issue
You can find the respective versions of Java here: