Apple announced macOS Sonoma during its WWDC event in June but it won’t be available for public consumption until this fall. But those who don’t like to wait don’t have to — the first public beta is now available for download.
Apple has already seeded a handful of betas to developers to help it iron out the biggest kinks and it’s now of the opinion that the public can start testing it too. The public beta is good to go for those who like to live life dangerously, and we’d only suggest that those people apply here.
Public beta updates might be safer than early developer ones, but issues should still be expected. Apps could misbehave and random weirdness is likely, so keep that in mind before installing the macOS Sonoma public beta onto a Mac that you rely on.
New macOS, new features
Still want to take macOS Sonoma for a spin ahead of that fall release date? You can head to the Apple Beta Software Program website to kick things off.
Once installed macOS Sonoma will offer a few changes of note, not least a series of stunning new Apple TV-like screensavers. Apple is also bringing widgets to the desktop just like on the iPhone and iPad, too.
Improvements to video conferencing, Messages, and Safari are also present and correct while macOS Sonoma will also allow people to turn websites into apps for the first time.
Apple is also focusing on gaming, adding a new Game Mode that will make more GPU and CPU resources available when they’re required.
All of that and more is coming to Macs around the world later this year or, if you prefer, right now. Most modern Macs will work just fine with macOS Sonoma, but check out the best Mac Prime Day deals if it’s upgrade time for you.