Apple Seeds Second macOS Sierra 10.12.1 Beta to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra update to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, nearly a week after seeding the first beta and a week after releasing the new operating system to the public.

macOS Sierra 10.12.1 beta 2, build 16B2333a, can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center (developers only), Apple's beta testing website (beta testers only) and through the Software update mechanism in the Mac App Store for those who previously installed the first 10.12.1 beta.

macossierra
macOS Sierra 10.12.1 appears to focus on bug fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements to address issues that have been found since the operating system's release. Few outward-facing changes were discovered in the first beta, but it does include Photos support for the new iPhone 7 Plus Portrait feature introduced with the iOS 10.1 beta.

Any new features that are discovered in the second 10.12.1 beta will be listed below.

macOS Sierra is a significant update that brings features like Siri support, a new storage optimization option, cross device copy paste, auto unlocking with the Apple Watch, and more.

Related Forum: macOS Sierra

Popular Stories

iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.4 With Sleep Alarm Update

Tuesday April 1, 2025 10:34 am PDT by
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...

Top Rated Comments

theitsage Avatar
111 months ago
10.12.1 beta 1 brought newer and better drivers for Polaris GPUs. It added a new kext file AMDRadeonX4100.kext which solely contains PCI IDs for Polaris 11 GPUs.

References of Polaris GPUs in AMD9500Controller.kext


Radeon RX 480 is almost fully functional in tower Mac Pro (with 2 kext edits)


Attachment Image

Attachment Image
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ka-spot Avatar
111 months ago
awesome! they are fixing bugs faster for the next month's release of Macbook Pro's :) can't wait :D

just give me my precious !
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
canny Avatar
111 months ago
Why can't I type into Siri? So it's maybe merged with Spotlight? Does Apple expect me talk to my computer in a quiet office with a dozen other people?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GIZBUG Avatar
111 months ago
what about iPhone beta 2?
This thread is for macOS Sierra...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theitsage Avatar
111 months ago
Possibly related to the new Macs?
Absolutely. A handful of people (myself included) have tried RX 460/470/480 GPUs in the tower Mac Pro with success. Fiji GPUs benefit from these new drivers as well.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
\-V-/ Avatar
111 months ago
Why can't I type into Siri? So it's maybe merged with Spotlight? Does Apple expect me talk to my computer in a quiet office with a dozen other people?
I don't think they expect you to do anything. If you can't use it in your office, then don't. It's a feature that requires your voice. Getting upset at a feature for things it wasn't designed to do just seems silly.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)