macOS High Sierra public beta is on its way and here's what you need to know about it!
Apple has released the public beta for the upcoming version of macOS High Sierra. That means you can register to try it out, enroll your Mac, download it, and start to experience what's coming this fall. It's a real beta, though. So you shouldn't put it on your primary Mac, and you should know how to downgrade back to macOS Sierra if you need to. That's where this guide comes in!
- How to prepare your Mac for the macOS High Sierra public beta
- How to download the macOS High Sierra public beta
- macOS High Sierra first look
- macOS High Sierra FAQ
- How to send macOS High Sierra public beta feedback
- How to downgrade from macOS High Sierra to macOS Sierra
How to prepare your Mac for the macOS High Sierra public beta
Before you get started with the macOS High Sierra public beta, there are some ways you can prepare Mac — and yourself — to improve the overall experience.
How to install the macOS High Sierra public beta
Apple has been offering public betas for OS X for a couple of years now as a way for those interested in testing out the upcoming software on their Macs, and providing feedback. If that's you, you'll need to sign up, enroll your Mac, download macOS High Sierra, and install it. It's not an overly complicated process, but we're here to walk you through it and, if you need it, a place to get extra help.
macOS High Sierra first look
It may not be big on the outside, but it's got it where it counts. Mobile Nations Editor in Chief, Rene Ritchie, dug through all the complicated jargon and came out with his opinion of what macOS High Sierra means to Mac users.
macOS High Sierra: Everything you need to know!
macOS High Sierra won't ship until later this fall, but it's been shown off on the WWDC 2017 stage and it's in developer preview and public beta, so it's already gotten a lot of attention. That means you've gotten a lot of questions, and that means we're going to be providing a lot of answers!
How to send macOS High Sierra public beta feedback
Betas are for testing. Developer betas are for developers to test with, and they have Bug Reporter—colloquially known as "radar"—to handle any problems they may encounter. Non-developers on the public beta have Feedback Assistant. If you're running the macOS Sierra public beta, it's on your Mac and it's easy to use!
How to downgrade from macOS High Sierra to macOS Sierra
The macOS High Sierra public beta is a way to test the next generation of Mac software. If it turns out you don't enjoy the process, or would prefer to wait and try again later, you can go back to macOS Sierra. Downgrading is a simple process, but it's also a bit of a chore. Don't worry, though, we'll walk you through it!
Running beta software
- FAQ: Apple's beta software
- Should you run beta software?
- iOS 11 public beta: The ultimate guide
- macOS High Sierra public beta: The ultimate guide
- iOS 11 developer beta: The ultimate guide
- macOS developer beta: The ultimate guide
- iOS 11: Everything you need to know
- macOS High Sierra: Everything you need to know
Reader comments
macOS High Sierra public beta: The ultimate guide
One "bug" I reported... There's no UTC/GMT choice in the Notification Center's World Clock widget...
It's BETA...... as such there WILL be issues (but hey "official releases" have had tons of issues the past couple of years (did anyone say 'after the death of Steve' ?) .... anyhow..... have it running on a late 2009 macBook with only 3 gigs of ram..... runs noticeably faster than Yosemite...... does have a lot of bugs (yes... been sending in reports .... about 1 per day (like Safari with upside down URL's displaying at times :) ) ...... It was NOT smaller to install than 10.10...... (as promised in some of the early reports on it.... expect this to change when it gets a final release) .....
That's interesting, the upside-down URL thing was in the El Cap public beta too
El Cap is farther along toward being stable than Windows 10 was only a month or so ago...
... And Windows 10 isn't integrating an entirely new graphics API and running its desktop compositor on that. El Cap is! Someone is doing something right.
To be fair, it's always been like this. Windows was always beta until the first service pack was released, even then you'd run into odd issues
I have high hopes for this version of OS X...... maybe not as good at Snow Leopard but might just breathe new life into older Macs (and also a real candidate as an OS for a tablet some day)
do not install the fist public beta.
as a note, before i state why below:
my login password and my iCloud password were the same (on purpose) when you install the beta you can't go further unless you change the local login password to some other password. Fair enough, so i did.
it was working fine. But over the last two days given i'm on iOS11 beta on my iPhone 6 and tvOS11 beta on my Apple TV4 i've had all this wifi weirdness.
So tonight...i was using my laptop on my lap using my wifi (i don't do that much to be honest - normally the 2014 rMBP has the USB3 to gigabit ethernet adapter in at my desk.
It locked up.
totally.
forced power reboot.
typed the new password i was forced to create. Nope.
Typed the previous password...yep. hmmmmm not good.
none of my keychain passwords worked for email, Adium, and various other apps and sites.
My web hosting site was no longer in my keychain - i had to reset my passwords for the website and the various email accounts i have.
Not trusting keychain anymore i saved the password into a Notes post and locked it and checked on my iPhine i could unlock it ( i could).
Not my old Mac Mini won't get past me logging in on the old password and just powers off.
The keychain n the rMBP is not checked in iCloud. and i was hoping i could log in to the MAc Mini as my one source of truth.
So i'm pretty f'ed right now.
Add to that my keychain is stored in the iCloud and my funds on my c'card aren't enough which i think caused this whole thing as the beta was fine yesterday.
Can't get an Apple chat supprot person as it's July 4th.
aaaah. a great combination of worse case scenarios.
Bottom line - once i get this sorted? the keychain will not be on iCloud once i understand what that actually entails in terms of an Apple iCloud outage for example given effectively i've had an outage due to the iCloud payment not working.
Thoughts welcomed.