Apple Seeds First Beta of macOS High Sierra to Public Beta Testers

Thursday June 29, 2017 2:06 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today seeded the first public beta of macOS High Sierra to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to download and test the update for the first time since it was introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5. The first public beta of macOS High Sierra corresponds to the second developer beta, which was updated this morning.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will be able to download the macOS High Sierra beta through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

macos hs beta
Those who want to be a part of Apple's beta testing program can sign up to participate through the beta testing website, which gives users access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas.

Potential beta testers should make a full Time Machine backup before installing macOS High Sierra, and it should not be installed on a primary machine because betas are unstable and often have many bugs. Caution should be used with macOS High Sierra in particular because when installing it, there's an option to switch to the new Apple Filesystem (APFS), an update that takes some time.

macOS High Sierra is designed to improve and refine macOS Sierra. Along with a new, more efficient file system designed for modern storage, the update introduces Metal 2, the next-generation version of Apple's Metal graphics API with support for machine learning, external GPUs, and VR content creation.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

High Efficiency Video Encoding (HEVC aka H.265) is coming in macOS High Sierra, and many of the existing apps are being updated. Photos features a new persistent side view and editing tools for Curves, Selective Color, and Live Photos, while Siri is gaining a more natural voice and support for more music-related commands.

Safari offers a new autoplay blocking feature for videos and Intelligent Tracking Prevention to protect your privacy, while Mail storage is being optimized to take up 35 percent less space. iMessages can now be stored in iCloud, and there are new iCloud Drive file sharing options and new iCloud storage family plans.

For a complete picture of all of the new features you can expect to see when macOS High Sierra is released in the fall, make sure to check out our full macOS High Sierra roundup.

Related Forum: macOS High Sierra

Popular Stories

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by Joe Rossignol

Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

• 136 comments

Apple Releases First Betas of iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3

Monday December 16, 2024 10:06 am PST by Juli Clover

Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after Apple released iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2. iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software update. There's no word yet on what's included in iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3, ...

• 53 comments

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol

The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...

• 166 comments

Apple 'Working' on Redesigned Magic Mouse With a Long-Awaited 'Fix'

Sunday December 15, 2024 8:43 am PST by Joe Rossignol

Apple is working on a redesigned Magic Mouse that will address some "longstanding complaints," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said Apple in recent months has been working on a "full overhaul" of the Magic Mouse with a design that "better fits the modern era." However, he does not expect the new Magic Mouse to be released in the "next 12 to 18...

• 213 comments

AirTag 2 Expected to Launch Next Year With 'Considerable' Upgrade to Item Tracking

Sunday December 15, 2024 2:57 pm PST by Joe Rossignol

Apple plans to release a second-generation AirTag next year with "considerably" longer range for item tracking, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new AirTag will use Apple's second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, or equivalent technology. The chip debuted last year in the iPhone 15 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple said it offers up...

• 72 comments

Here is Everything New for the Apple TV in the tvOS 18.3 Update So Far

Tuesday December 17, 2024 6:25 am PST by Joe Rossignol

Apple on Monday seeded the first tvOS 18.3 beta to developers for testing. The update will likely be released in January. So far, there are only minor changes for the Apple TV, with one new feature and a few code changes discovered. Below, we outline what is new in tvOS 18.3 so far. Robot Vacuum Support in Home App First, tvOS 18.3 will add robot vacuum support to the Home app on the...

• 57 comments

Top Rated Comments

Scott6666

98 months ago

boot your computer while holding down both the command key and the r key.

People who do not know what the recovery partition is should not be trying beta 1's

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

DocoBob

97 months ago

...The top secret way that Apple makes a fortune along with other companies is "Planned obsolescence." They just make it not work on purpose to make more money on upgrades. An operating system that breaks half of your programs is not a good one in my opinion no matter what enhancements it offers. If more people made this known, they wouldn't do it...

After working in Silicon Valley for almost 40 years, with just about all the major players there (directly and indirectly) I can tell you that they really don't have secret meeting to enforce "planed obsolescence" to make money. Its the nature of technology to need to grow it, improve it and expand its capabilities. In all the meetings I attended, from the hardware/ software design engineers, marketing gurus legal department all the way up tp the CEOs, no one ever thinks of planned obsolescence as a strategy. They do talk about focusing on specific areas they believe that consumers will want in the future. Its that constant consumer demand that causes the changes to happen. Think about it, do you still want to use a computer with an 8086 processor? or floppies? or a huge CRT that can only display 13" of viewable area? or 20MB hard disk drives that spin as fast as my washing machine? I don't and there are millions of consumers that spend billions each year to upgrade to newer, better, faster features. Its all about voting with your wallet and consumers have voted for ongoing process.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

dogslobber

98 months ago

Downloading now. Also I live in California, so should I be high when I install High Sierra?

I'd recommend you download it, drive to the High Sierra mountain, climb it, then install High Sierra on top of High Sierra. I just hope when you're climbing you don't hit too many bugs and fall off!

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)