Apple has released the first public beta for macOS High Sierra and it is available to download for enrolled Macs from the App Store. Feature wise, it is the same build as the second developer beta, which was released last week.
Apple has a beta software program, where users register to download the work in progress builds of iOS, macOS and now tvOS, to their devices. Despite being different than developer betas, these are still not as stable as final builds, so it is recommended that you do not install them on your primary devices.
Enroll your Mac for macOS High Sierra beta
- First things first: backup your Mac. If you have a spare external drive, use Time Machine with to backup your data.
- Login to the Apple public beta software program and download the public beta access utility.
- Install the utility on your Mac and open Mac App Store. Go to the Updates tab and it will show macOS High Sierra public beta for download.
- Begin the download and when the installer starts, make sure to check ‘Covert HD to APFS’ to use the new Apple File System in macOS High Sierra.
If you find that High Sierra is not stable enough for your daily usage, you can unenroll your Mac from the macOS public beta program. This will not downgrade your Mac back to Sierra though as this has to be done manually.
To unenroll your Mac:
- Open System Preferences on your Mac and go to App Store.
- Click the ‘Change’ button next to the option which says: ‘Your computer is set to receive beta software updates’.
- Click on ‘Do not show beta software updates’.
You will now have to restart into recovery to downgrade. You can also create a bootable usb drive for High Sierra for a clean install. You can also dual-boot macOS High Sierra with your existing macOS Sierra installation.
macOS High Sierra has new features like APFS (Apple’s new file system for all its devices), HEVC h.265 codec for video compression which uses 50% less storage space, Metal 2 API and Virtual Reality support. Developers get new APIs like CoreML, Swift 4, APFS, Metal 2, updated WebKit and HEVC. Built-in apps like Messages, Notes, Safari, Siri, iCloud Drive and FaceTime also have useful new upgraded features. Read our detailed coverage of new features in macOS High Sierra.
Apple also released iOS 11 public beta today.
