I am running the Sequoia MacOS16 Beta 4 on my MiniMac. The Sequoia macOS16 Beta 5 updates were announced for MacOS two days ago but are not being found by the updater in Settings and it says my platform is up to date. What do I have to do to get the latest?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Mac mini, 15.1
Try a Safe boot.
Sequoia is Mac OS 15. There is no support for the beta software, but you can review the FAQ's here and also use the Feedback link, although you cannot expect a reply:
Yep and there is no guidance given. Your only option is to factory reset to Sonoma, then if you want to try the beta again, see what will show up for you. Sorry, but you are on your own other than the little bit of information that Apple tells you in the link already provided. Betas may be pulled after announcement or may not even work at all.
If it is pulled, Support best practices require that a recall announcement be made with the same level of effort as the release announcement. The point being is that it appears there were a bunch of users that picked it up in the wild and they tipped over. there may be other users that picked it up.
Just as a point of reference, going back to Sonoma is a non-starter since this is the Fifth iteration of the Beta Cycle and a number of people have already picked it up to install on top of their prior 4 iterations. My suspicion, as a software professional with 50 years experience, is that the only thing that would require such a fallback procedure would be the case where the error was in the first iteration and, even then, there ARE less radical fallback options available to developers who had such a misfortune.
You are still capable of restoring to the latest Sonoma release.
Apple Beta — Restore Shipping Software
This is not a radical fallback option and is standard procedure when you encounter a problem. Apple clearly states this here:
Beta software may contain errors or inaccuracies and may not function as well as commercially released software. We encourage you to submit feedback when you encounter these issues. If you need further assistance, please note that you must restore to previously-released software prior to contacting AppleCare.
There is not going to be any recall announcement and it is expected that you are going to experience problems. You are just a tester and should not be doing it on a mission critical device where you can afford to lose any data. Of course you should already have a backup from Sonoma before the beta was installed, and that is where most people get into trouble.
In addition to all else stated here about Apple Betas, discussion of any Apple betas are not permitted in these communities. The only recourse when testing Apple betas is via the feedback channel provided in betas provided by Feedback Assistant app or find beta discussion groups elsewhere on the internet, which by the way break the terms of the Apple beta terms of use by not discussing betas in public arenas.
The issue was less about the fact that I was running Sequoia and more about the method of announcing released software that was not available when the announcement was made which seems to be common using these products.
mfstanton wrote:
If it is pulled, Support best practices require that a recall announcement be made with the same level of effort as the release announcement.
Good thing it’s explicitly a beta, then.
And since it’s a beta, you can wipe it and revert to your pre-beta macOS backup, or can factory reset to macOS 14 with no restoration. Or can wipe it, and re-load the macOS 15 beta.
More generally, if you need your Mac to work, your apps and services to work, and your local and your iCloud data to remain available and uncorrupted and unconverted, then you should not be running a beta.
Or to put it differently — and to borrow your phrasing — “best practices” usually suggests not running a beta in production.
thank you, mea maxima culpa
thank you, mea maxima culpa
And I haven't even seen macOS Beta 4 Sequoia available yet!:)
i was just wrong, thank you, mea culpa
Take care my friend. :)
Announced availability of macOS Beta 5 Sequoia updates not being found.
