We’re still many months away from being able to plunk down $3,500 for an Apple Vision Pro. But if you absolutely can’t wait and you happen to own a Meta Quest Pro, you can get an idea of what Apple’s mixed reality headset interface will be like.

With its Nova UI framework, Supernova Technologies built a visionOS simulation that can run on the Quest Pro. It doesn’t do much, though. It uses eye tracking, which means it requires Meta’s Quest Pro, and you can swipe between screens with your fingers, but that’s all it really does. None of the app icons are real or functional. See the video below.

During the demo, after moving through simulated visionOS screens, the user swipes down to bring up a grey control panel. That’s not part of visionOS, it’s a set of controls for Nova UI.

Supernova has made the demo available to the public, so if you’re savvy enough to implement it, you can download the Vision OS Demo from GitHub.  

Apple has released a visionOS software development kit for anyone interested in creating apps for the Vison Pro. Labs are coming to Cupertino, London, Munich, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo so developers can test apps and get support from Apple engineers. Apple will also be providing developer kits (which include a Vision Pro) in the future. Currently, developers can run visionOS simulations in Xcode.

Our Apple Vision Pro guide has everything users need to know about Apple’s headset.

Virtual Reality

We’re still many months away from being able to plunk down $3,500 for an Apple Vision Pro. But if you absolutely can’t wait and you happen to own a Meta Quest Pro, you can get an idea of what Apple’s mixed reality headset interface will be like.

With its Nova UI framework, Supernova Technologies built a visionOS simulation that can run on the Quest Pro. It doesn’t do much, though. It uses eye tracking, which means it requires Meta’s Quest Pro, and you can swipe between screens with your fingers, but that’s all it really does. None of the app icons are real or functional. See the video below.

During the demo, after moving through simulated visionOS screens, the user swipes down to bring up a grey control panel. That’s not part of visionOS, it’s a set of controls for Nova UI.

Supernova has made the demo available to the public, so if you’re savvy enough to implement it, you can download the Vision OS Demo from GitHub.  

Apple has released a visionOS software development kit for anyone interested in creating apps for the Vison Pro. Labs are coming to Cupertino, London, Munich, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo so developers can test apps and get support from Apple engineers. Apple will also be providing developer kits (which include a Vision Pro) in the future. Currently, developers can run visionOS simulations in Xcode.

Our Apple Vision Pro guide has everything users need to know about Apple’s headset.

Virtual Reality

The words “generative AI” are on everyone’s lips at the moment. These technologies can create text, images, or video clips from simple prompts, and could change the media landscape as we know it. Adobe certainly thinks generative AI is worth further investigation, and is putting its marketing muscle behind Generative Fill, a new Photoshop feature that allows you to edit or manipulate your images in entirely new ways.

You can see for yourself how it works in the image below: drag the slider left and right to see the before and after. The blank areas were filled in–which is to say, extrapolated from what’s in the rest of the image–by Photoshop’s artificial intelligence. Thanks to technologies like this it has never been easier to transform images in portrait format into landscape format.

Generative Fill is still officially in beta. We’ve been using the Photoshop beta for several weeks now, and continue to be surprised by it on an almost daily basis. Some of the results are incredibly realistic. Others are so inaccurate they’re funny.

Installing and using the Photoshop beta

If you’d like to install the Photoshop beta, you’ll need a valid license for Adobe Creative Cloud and an active internet connection, as the Generative Fill feature requires cloud processing. Once you’ve got a license, open Creative Cloud and select Beta Apps in the lefthand tab. Select this and you can then install the Photoshop beta and start using it straight away.

Save 30% on Adobe Creative Cloud

Photoshop Generative Fill: Limitations

With great power comes great responsibility. Fortunately, Adobe knows that you can do great damage with AI, so there are many rules to maintain “the high quality of creative content.” Anyone who does not follow the Adobe Generative AI beta user guidelines risks having their account blocked.

Adobe prohibits the use of generative AI for certain purposes:

• Pornographic material or explicit nudity
• Hateful or highly offensive content that attacks or dehumanizes a group based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, serious disease or disability, gender, age or sexual orientation
• Graphic violence or gore
• The promotion, glorification, or threats of violence
• Illegal activities or goods
• Self-harm or the promotion of self-harm
• Depictions of nude minors or minors in a sexual manner
• Promotion of terrorism or violent extremism
• Disseminating misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive content that could lead to real-world harm
• Personal or private information of others (like full name, home address, phone number, email address, government-issued IDs, or any other information relating to an identifiable individual)

Photoshop Generative Fill: How to get started

The Generative Fill AI saves time. A lot of time. It retouches unwanted picture elements, enables new perspectives, and creates new things, all via text command. The possibilities are limitless. You simply select the area, using the appropriate selection tool (shortcut: M), in which the AI is to do its work.

To fill in the rest of an image, you’ll want to leave the search field blank to let Adobe’s AI scan the image and fill in the blank area. Photoshop then creates three different variants for you to choose from.

You can cycle between the different options. If you don’t like any of the options, you can try the process again or add some descriptive words to the search box.

Photoshop Generative Fill: False realities and extraordinary landscapes

At first glance, this appears to be a normal picture. At a second glance, you notice minor inconsistencies, such as the door handles and the house’s windows in the background. Things aren’t quite right.

Photographed Neuschwanstein Castle in portrait orientation, but want something more panoramic? No problem, Photoshop will fill in the rest.

Of course, the results have nothing to do with reality. Anyone familiar with the surroundings of Neuschwanstein Castle will recognize that the content created by the AI is artificial. It’s an image manipulation. But to the untrained eye, it’s pretty spectacular.

Photoshop still has big problems with people and animals. While the dog in the image below looks quite realistic, it’s immediately obvious that something is wrong with the man’s face.

Hands also pose a problem for Photoshop’s AI. The fingers are often distorted and look unnatural and occasionally have extra digits.

Realistic textures and large-scale AI content can also be problematic. It depends entirely on the subject. While AI can handle images from nature well, architecture is evidently more of a challenge.

AI manipulation is easiest to spot if you know the original image, of course, but large-scale changes can also be obvious. Small changes are the key to success. Would you even notice if we only extended the image by a few pixels? The AI proves particularly handy in cases where, for example, you want to turn a 3:2 image into a 16:9 one.

In another test, we took an image of a church tower (left), cropped it (center), and then set Photoshop to reconstruct the tower (right). Other than the church clock, the result is quite respectable.

This article originally appeared on Macwelt and was translated and edited by David Price.

Professional Software

One of the joys of Touch ID on a Mac laptop is using Apple Pay without needing an iPhone or iPad at hand to validate a secure credit or debit card transaction. This was extended to M-series Macs with the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, which allows a Mac mini, iMac, or Mac Studio to add Touch ID through a special wireless connection to an M-series Mac’s Secure Enclave module.

But some readers have found Apple Pay disabled. In  > System Preferences/Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay, macOS offers the explanation “Apple Pay has been disabled because the security settings of this Mac were modified.” Several different causes could be the root, and Apple omits one for M-series Macs in the document linked via a Learn More button in the pane–the company says it doesn’t apply, though I found in testing that it does.

Full Security on an Intel or M-Series Mac

To ensure Apple Pay works, system security must be set to Full Security on both Intel and M-series Macs. This requires restarting or starting up in recoveryOS and then using the Startup Security Utility to reset system security.

You may have downgraded security on an Intel Mac to boot off an external volume or to install some low-level drivers for third-party software. With an M-series Mac, the most likely reason is you enabled its Reduced Security mode to install a kernel extension required by some software that taps into low-level drivers, such as MacFuse or SAT SMART for drive monitoring.

With a reduced-security macOS startup, Apple may be unable to create the level of integrity it and the credit-card system requires for mobile payments that match the degree offered by a point-of-sale system accepting a chip on a card. If so, Apple Pay is disabled on the Mac. (Apple explains in technical detail how this relates to the M-series boot security policy process in this platform security document.)

There are separate paths on how to re-enable Full Security by Mac architecture type. Apple offers a full page walkthrough on reverting to Full Security with an Intel Mac with a T2 Security Chip. For an M-series Mac, look at the “Change the security policy” heading in this support document.

Other causes

Apple also suggests other causes:

• If you have a laptop, its lid must be open. This makes sense because how would you otherwise use the Touch ID sensor? There’s an exception: you can still use the sensor on a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID with an M-series Mac with the lid closed. (Apple doesn’t list this exception; I tested it, and it works.)
• A necessary security update may not have been installed. In the Software Update preference pane, click Advanced: the “Install system data files and security updates” box should be checked for automatic installation.
• Apple also notes more ambiguously that macOS disables Apple Pay “when it detects third-party software or malware that affects its ability to keep your payment information secure.”

You might wonder why Safari continues to allow you to fill in stored credit and debits cards from Safari > Preferences > Autofill if Apple Pay is disabled? Safari doesn’t perform a mobile payment transaction when it auto-fills card information—it just drops the information in without additional typing. If you’ve stored the Card Verification Code (CVC, also known as CVV and by the names), Safari will fill that in, too.

Credit-card processors that manage transactions for online retailers treat form-entered cards as among the most potentially fraudulent transactions; they don’t differentiate—nor do they have a way to—between browser auto-filled card details or those entered manually. Apple Pay mobile payments are among the least likely to be fraudulent because of the way the transaction is created and validated and are scored for risk accordingly.

Ask Mac 911

We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently, along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com, including screen captures as appropriate and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

Mac, MacOS

If you don’t want to wait to install the next version of macOS – which we now know will be called Sonoma after Apple revealed all the details at WWDC in June, you can join the beta program and try it out on your Mac before it is released to the public in September or October.

The developer beta of macOS 14 Sonoma is already available to download. This year the developer beta isn’t just available to developers who have paid to join Apple’s Developer Program (which costs $99/£79), Apple has opened it up to anyone who is a registered developer. We explain how to get a free developer account below.

The slightly more stable public beta version will be available for anyone to sign up for the public beta program around the beginning of July.

Even though macOS 14 is now in beta, the beta program is still running for macOS 13 with testers currently running macOS 13.5. If you would prefer to run that beta you can do so.

In this article, we’ll run through what you need to do to get your hands on the beta of the next version of the Mac operating system, how to install it, and what you should bear in mind if you don’t want to end up in a pickle. If you would prefer to wait for the full version of macOS Sonoma here’s how to update macOS on your Mac.

Update 7/5/23: Apple has released the beta 3 of macOS Sonoma to developers.

macOS Sonoma beta release date

The first version of the developer beta of Ventura arrived after the WWDC keynote on June 5, 2023 as expected. On July 5, Apple released the third developer beta.

The surprise was that Apple made this Developer Beta available to anyone who had registered as a developer, even if they weren’t a paid-up member of Apple’s Developer Program. As a result, people who have a basic free developer account are able to download the macOS Sonoma developer beta already, and we will show you how to register below.

Whether you should download the developer beta if you aren’t a developer is another question. We don’t recommend you install the developer beta if you aren’t a developer. Instead, our recommendation is to wait a few more weeks until the public beta arrives.

macOS Sonoma public beta release date and differences

The public beta of Ventura was released on July 11, 2022, so we expect a similar timescale for macOS Sonoma, perhaps July 10, 2023.

There are a few differences between the public and developer betas. The public beta is not the same as the beta that is released through the developer program.

Developers get updates to their beta first, and possibly more frequently. But you should keep in mind that betas are by nature not stable, and because the public beta comes after the developer beta it could be a little safer to install.

The most significant difference is probably the motive of the testers: Developers usually have the aim of ensuring their apps work when the updated macOS is released to the general public, while public beta testers are essentially helping Apple detect bugs and offering feedback on the features. Because of this developers may get to test new features not available in the public beta. 

If you want to get the public beta the first thing you need to do, if you haven’t already, is join Apple’s beta programs read this for more information: How to become an Apple beta tester.

How to get a free developer account

If you just want a free Apple Developer account so you can access the beta you can get this via Xcode or the Apple Developer app in iOS. Here’s how to do it via the Apple Developer app on an iPhone:

1. Get the Apple Developer App from the App Store. 
2. Open the app on your iPhone. 
3. Tap on Account. 
4. Tap on Sign In. 
5. Sign in using your usual Apple ID. 

If you wish to actually publish applications to the App Store or receive support, you’ll need to pay $99/£79 per year for a paid account. You can compare the free and paid accounts here.

How to get the macOS Sonoma beta

The Sonoma developer beta should show up on your Mac if you are running macOS Ventura 13.4 or later, have paid $99/£79 to enroll in Apple’s Developer program (here) or if you have a free developer account (follow the instructions above).

When the Public Beta becomes available it will also show up on your Mac in macOS Ventura 13.4, as long as you have signed up for the Public Beta program on Apple’s beta webpage, signed the NDA, and enrolled your Mac.

Before you download a few warnings:

• We strongly advise that if you aren’t a developer you don’t download the developer beta.
• We also strongly recommend that you back up your Mac before you upgrade to the Sonoma beta.
• We recommend that you do not run Sonoma on your primary Mac; ideally, you run it in a separate volume. This should minimize any risks to you.

If you are running macOS Ventura 13.4 or later:

1. Open Software Updates on your Mac. (System Settings > General > Software Updates.)
2. You should see two options: Automatic Updates and Beta Updates. Click on the (i) beside Beta Updates.
3. You can now turn on Beta Updates (if they weren’t already on).
4. Choose the beta you want to download.
5. If your developer account is tied to a different Apple ID to your usual one you can change that here.
6. Click Done.
7. Now your Mac will Check for updates and eventually show the Sonoma Developer Beta as an upgrade. Click on Upgrade Now.

If you are running macOS Ventura 13.3 or earlier:

Apple changed the way it delivers betas in Ventura 13.4. If you aren’t yet running that version of macOS you will need to download the macOS Developer Beta Access Utility or macOS Public Beta Access Utility.

If you were already running an earlier macOS Public Beta you’ll find the new macOS beta as an upgrade via Software Update. Just click on Upgrade Now. You may have to update to the latest version of your current beta before you can do so, if not follow the steps below to get the beta access utility.

1. If you are enrolled in the Developer Program, go to Apple’s beta download page. Click on Install Profile to download the new macOS Developer Beta Access Utility to your Mac.
2. If you are enrolled as a public beta tester, download the macOS Public Beta Access Utility.
3. Go to Downloads on your Mac and click on the macOS Beta Access Utility to open it.
4. Double-click on the dmg file and the installer will run.
5. Once the new macOS beta is installed Software Update will check to see if there are any updates. Click Update and the latest version will download.
6. You’ll see a prompt to install the latest macOS beta, click on Continue.
7. Agree to the Ts&Cs (more on them below).
8. Click Install.

How to update macOS beta versions

Once you are running the beta the updates will come through to your Mac automatically, you just need to click to install.

1. You will receive a notification when the next update to the beta is available.
2. Updates will be available via Software Update (in System Settings/System Preferences)

Everything else you need to know about beta testing

That covers how to get the betas, but once you have them what can you do, and what should you do? We’ll cover that below.

Is the macOS beta stable?

By its nature, a beta has the potential to be unstable. Therefore it’s not advised that you install it on a Mac that you rely on. If you have a second Mac that isn’t mission-critical then install it there. We strongly recommend that you don’t risk all by putting the macOS beta on your primary macOS, especially not in the early days of the beta development. 

If you don’t have a second Mac there are a couple of ways you could run macOS beta on your Mac without running the risk of losing data or finding your Mac stops working:

• We recommend installing it on a partition – which these days is really a volume (and is much easier to create than a partition was). Read about how to do that here: How to dual-boot Mac: Run two versions of macOS on a Mac.
• Alternatively, you could install the macOS beta on an external drive and run it on that.

We discuss the safety of the macOS beta and the risks you might be taking in more detail in a separate article.

If the stability of the beta worries you then you are probably better off waiting until the final version is out, or at least waiting until testing has been happening for a few months before getting the beta.

How to prepare your Mac for the beta

Update your software: We recommend you have the latest full version of macOS installed, although Apple says that the macOS Developer Beta Access Utility requires macOS 10.8 or later.

Make space: We’d recommend at least 15GB of available space because the macOS betas tend to be very large. If you end up requiring more space read: How to free up space on Mac. Note that we always recommend that you have at least 10% space free on your Mac at any time, so if you don’t have that expect problems!

Back up: Before you install a beta on your Mac you should make a backup of your data and files. You can find out how to use Time Machine to back up your Mac. We also have a round-up of suitable backup solutions.

How to send feedback to Apple

Should you come across an error or a bug you should use the Feedback Assistant app to provide feedback to Apple. Launch the app and follow the appropriate steps, selecting the area about which you’re providing feedback and then any specific sub-area. Then describe your issue in a single sentence, before providing a more detailed description, including any specific steps that reproduce the issue. You’ll also be able to attach other files.

You’ll also have to give permission for the Feedback Assistant app to collect diagnostic information from your Mac.

It won’t always be obvious whether something is a bug or just not as easy to use as you might have hoped. Either way, if your feedback is that something appears to work in an illogical way, Apple will want to know that.

If you are having trouble with a third-party app you can let Apple know by reporting it through the 3rd-party Application Compatibility category in the Feedback Assistant. However, we’d suggest that you also provide feedback to the app’s developer who will no doubt be grateful.

Will I be able to update from macOS beta to the final version?

Beta users will be able to install the final build of the OS on release day without needing to reformat or reinstall.

Can I talk about the beta publicly?

According to Apple and the license agreement all beta testers must agree to, the beta is “Apple confidential information”. By accepting those terms, you agree not to discuss your use of the software with anyone who isn’t also in the Beta Software Program. That means you can’t “blog, post screenshots, tweet, or publicly post information about the public beta software.”

However, you can discuss any information that Apple has publicly disclosed; the company says that information is no longer considered confidential.

How to downgrade from the macOS beta

You can always revert to an earlier version of macOS, though depending on how you back up, it’s not necessarily a painless process.

Start by making sure the data on your drive is backed up, then erase the drive and install the latest public version of macOS. When you first startup your Mac you can use the Migration Assistant to import your data from the backup. Here’s a more detailed tutorial on downgrading from the macOS beta we also have a tutorial on downgrading to an older version of the Mac OS.

Personal Software

If you don’t want to wait to install the next version of macOS – which we now know will be called Sonoma after Apple revealed all the details at WWDC in June, you can join the beta program and try it out on your Mac before it is released to the public in September or October.

The developer beta of macOS 14 Sonoma is already available to download. This year the developer beta isn’t just available to developers who have paid to join Apple’s Developer Program (which costs $99/£79), Apple has opened it up to anyone who is a registered developer. We explain how to get a free developer account below.

The slightly more stable public beta version will be available for anyone to sign up for the public beta program around the beginning of July.

Even though macOS 14 is now in beta, the beta program is still running for macOS 13 with testers currently running macOS 13.5. If you would prefer to run that beta you can do so.

In this article, we’ll run through what you need to do to get your hands on the beta of the next version of the Mac operating system, how to install it, and what you should bear in mind if you don’t want to end up in a pickle. If you would prefer to wait for the full version of macOS Sonoma here’s how to update macOS on your Mac.

Update 7/5/23: Apple has released the beta 3 of macOS Sonoma to developers.

macOS Sonoma beta release date

The first version of the developer beta of Ventura arrived after the WWDC keynote on June 5, 2023 as expected. On July 5, Apple released the third developer beta.

The surprise was that Apple made this Developer Beta available to anyone who had registered as a developer, even if they weren’t a paid-up member of Apple’s Developer Program. As a result, people who have a basic free developer account are able to download the macOS Sonoma developer beta already, and we will show you how to register below.

Whether you should download the developer beta if you aren’t a developer is another question. We don’t recommend you install the developer beta if you aren’t a developer. Instead, our recommendation is to wait a few more weeks until the public beta arrives.

macOS Sonoma public beta release date and differences

The public beta of Ventura was released on July 11, 2022, so we expect a similar timescale for macOS Sonoma, perhaps July 10, 2023.

There are a few differences between the public and developer betas. The public beta is not the same as the beta that is released through the developer program.

Developers get updates to their beta first, and possibly more frequently. But you should keep in mind that betas are by nature not stable, and because the public beta comes after the developer beta it could be a little safer to install.

The most significant difference is probably the motive of the testers: Developers usually have the aim of ensuring their apps work when the updated macOS is released to the general public, while public beta testers are essentially helping Apple detect bugs and offering feedback on the features. Because of this developers may get to test new features not available in the public beta. 

If you want to get the public beta the first thing you need to do, if you haven’t already, is join Apple’s beta programs read this for more information: How to become an Apple beta tester.

How to get a free developer account

If you just want a free Apple Developer account so you can access the beta you can get this via Xcode or the Apple Developer app in iOS. Here’s how to do it via the Apple Developer app on an iPhone:

1. Get the Apple Developer App from the App Store. 
2. Open the app on your iPhone. 
3. Tap on Account. 
4. Tap on Sign In. 
5. Sign in using your usual Apple ID. 

If you wish to actually publish applications to the App Store or receive support, you’ll need to pay $99/£79 per year for a paid account. You can compare the free and paid accounts here.

How to get the macOS Sonoma beta

The Sonoma developer beta should show up on your Mac if you are running macOS Ventura 13.4 or later, have paid $99/£79 to enroll in Apple’s Developer program (here) or if you have a free developer account (follow the instructions above).

When the Public Beta becomes available it will also show up on your Mac in macOS Ventura 13.4, as long as you have signed up for the Public Beta program on Apple’s beta webpage, signed the NDA, and enrolled your Mac.

Before you download a few warnings:

• We strongly advise that if you aren’t a developer you don’t download the developer beta.
• We also strongly recommend that you back up your Mac before you upgrade to the Sonoma beta.
• We recommend that you do not run Sonoma on your primary Mac; ideally, you run it in a separate volume. This should minimize any risks to you.

If you are running macOS Ventura 13.4 or later:

1. Open Software Updates on your Mac. (System Settings > General > Software Updates.)
2. You should see two options: Automatic Updates and Beta Updates. Click on the (i) beside Beta Updates.
3. You can now turn on Beta Updates (if they weren’t already on).
4. Choose the beta you want to download.
5. If your developer account is tied to a different Apple ID to your usual one you can change that here.
6. Click Done.
7. Now your Mac will Check for updates and eventually show the Sonoma Developer Beta as an upgrade. Click on Upgrade Now.

If you are running macOS Ventura 13.3 or earlier:

Apple changed the way it delivers betas in Ventura 13.4. If you aren’t yet running that version of macOS you will need to download the macOS Developer Beta Access Utility or macOS Public Beta Access Utility.

If you were already running an earlier macOS Public Beta you’ll find the new macOS beta as an upgrade via Software Update. Just click on Upgrade Now. You may have to update to the latest version of your current beta before you can do so, if not follow the steps below to get the beta access utility.

1. If you are enrolled in the Developer Program, go to Apple’s beta download page. Click on Install Profile to download the new macOS Developer Beta Access Utility to your Mac.
2. If you are enrolled as a public beta tester, download the macOS Public Beta Access Utility.
3. Go to Downloads on your Mac and click on the macOS Beta Access Utility to open it.
4. Double-click on the dmg file and the installer will run.
5. Once the new macOS beta is installed Software Update will check to see if there are any updates. Click Update and the latest version will download.
6. You’ll see a prompt to install the latest macOS beta, click on Continue.
7. Agree to the Ts&Cs (more on them below).
8. Click Install.

How to update macOS beta versions

Once you are running the beta the updates will come through to your Mac automatically, you just need to click to install.

1. You will receive a notification when the next update to the beta is available.
2. Updates will be available via Software Update (in System Settings/System Preferences)

Everything else you need to know about beta testing

That covers how to get the betas, but once you have them what can you do, and what should you do? We’ll cover that below.

Is the macOS beta stable?

By its nature, a beta has the potential to be unstable. Therefore it’s not advised that you install it on a Mac that you rely on. If you have a second Mac that isn’t mission-critical then install it there. We strongly recommend that you don’t risk all by putting the macOS beta on your primary macOS, especially not in the early days of the beta development. 

If you don’t have a second Mac there are a couple of ways you could run macOS beta on your Mac without running the risk of losing data or finding your Mac stops working:

• We recommend installing it on a partition – which these days is really a volume (and is much easier to create than a partition was). Read about how to do that here: How to dual-boot Mac: Run two versions of macOS on a Mac.
• Alternatively, you could install the macOS beta on an external drive and run it on that.

We discuss the safety of the macOS beta and the risks you might be taking in more detail in a separate article.

If the stability of the beta worries you then you are probably better off waiting until the final version is out, or at least waiting until testing has been happening for a few months before getting the beta.

How to prepare your Mac for the beta

Update your software: We recommend you have the latest full version of macOS installed, although Apple says that the macOS Developer Beta Access Utility requires macOS 10.8 or later.

Make space: We’d recommend at least 15GB of available space because the macOS betas tend to be very large. If you end up requiring more space read: How to free up space on Mac. Note that we always recommend that you have at least 10% space free on your Mac at any time, so if you don’t have that expect problems!

Back up: Before you install a beta on your Mac you should make a backup of your data and files. You can find out how to use Time Machine to back up your Mac. We also have a round-up of suitable backup solutions.

How to send feedback to Apple

Should you come across an error or a bug you should use the Feedback Assistant app to provide feedback to Apple. Launch the app and follow the appropriate steps, selecting the area about which you’re providing feedback and then any specific sub-area. Then describe your issue in a single sentence, before providing a more detailed description, including any specific steps that reproduce the issue. You’ll also be able to attach other files.

You’ll also have to give permission for the Feedback Assistant app to collect diagnostic information from your Mac.

It won’t always be obvious whether something is a bug or just not as easy to use as you might have hoped. Either way, if your feedback is that something appears to work in an illogical way, Apple will want to know that.

If you are having trouble with a third-party app you can let Apple know by reporting it through the 3rd-party Application Compatibility category in the Feedback Assistant. However, we’d suggest that you also provide feedback to the app’s developer who will no doubt be grateful.

Will I be able to update from macOS beta to the final version?

Beta users will be able to install the final build of the OS on release day without needing to reformat or reinstall.

Can I talk about the beta publicly?

According to Apple and the license agreement all beta testers must agree to, the beta is “Apple confidential information”. By accepting those terms, you agree not to discuss your use of the software with anyone who isn’t also in the Beta Software Program. That means you can’t “blog, post screenshots, tweet, or publicly post information about the public beta software.”

However, you can discuss any information that Apple has publicly disclosed; the company says that information is no longer considered confidential.

How to downgrade from the macOS beta

You can always revert to an earlier version of macOS, though depending on how you back up, it’s not necessarily a painless process.

Start by making sure the data on your drive is backed up, then erase the drive and install the latest public version of macOS. When you first startup your Mac you can use the Migration Assistant to import your data from the backup. Here’s a more detailed tutorial on downgrading from the macOS beta we also have a tutorial on downgrading to an older version of the Mac OS.

Personal Software

iCloud Keychain is end-to-end encrypted among all your devices and uses iCloud just for syncing your password and other shared keychain entries. As I’ve written previously in “Why iCloud Keychain may prompt you for a device password used with other Apple hardware you own,” Apple relies on device passcodes in a special way as you add additional devices to an iCloud Keychain set.

With your first device, you’re simply enabling syncing. Apple requires that you enter the password or passcode on that device to prime the pump. That encrypted password is used to wrap all your iCloud Keychain entries. The next device you add will prompt you to enter the passcode or password of the one you initiated iCloud Keychain with. Entering the secret unlocks the iCloud Keychain sync and adds your new device to the set of legitimate keychain sync partners. Because you’re entering the passcode or passphrase on a device under your control, it’s never leaving your hardware: Apple doesn’t learn it; it’s just a secret only you know to unlock the syncing operation.

One reader, however, was shocked when restoring an iPhone that they were prompted to enter the password of a computer they no longer owned—one they double-checked had been removed from their set of registered devices. Surely that was a security leak? They were concerned that whoever possessed their old computer might have access to their keychain secrets.

Fortunately, that’s not the case, though Apple surely should have a way to resolve this problem when devices are removed from iCloud—but possibly not with a restored backup. Only the encrypted passcode of that older device lingered, likely within the iPhone backup. When prompted to enter it, the reader was only unlocking their local keychain set.

While this request looked sketchy or problematic, it was poorly labeled rather than a security hole.

When the reader disabled iCloud Keychain on all their devices and re-enabled it, they weren’t prompted for the password on an old Mac again—or any passcode at all. The devices all retained enough mutual security elements associated with the iCloud identity that re-authentication wasn’t required.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Andrea.

Ask Mac 911

We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently, along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com, including screen captures as appropriate and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

iCloud, Security Software and Services

Apple’s two-factor authentication system deflects access to your Apple ID account by requiring that in addition to your password you also have to provide a code that arrives either through a trusted device (an iPhone, iPad, or Mac) or a trusted phone number—one that’s been verified after having been added. Trusted devices are an easier set to manage, because they represent all devices logged into the same Apple ID for use with iCloud. Trusted numbers are a different matter.

I’ve long recommended adding not just your own cellular or other phone numbers as trusted numbers, but also that of someone trustworthy who is close to you, like a life partner or family member. That gives you a backup in validating your account should suffer a massive theft, an accident that destroys gear, or you lose all your hardware.

But I’ve received occasional correspondence, particularly from businesses, who want to remove trusted numbers because they no longer trust the person whose number it is or they no longer have an association with that person.

It’s simple to remove a trusted number, but you must be sure first that you still have access to trusted accounts for the account. Otherwise, you could lock yourself out.

You can test whether you have trusted devices associated properly by attempting to log into the Apple ID website. It always requires a second-factor code to access your account details if you don’t used a stored identity in versions of iOS, iPadOS, or macOS and Safari that support that. You should receive an alert on all trusted devices noting that someone is trying to access your account, with a small preview of a map and two buttons: Allow or Don’t Allow.

If you see this, tap or click Allow, enter the code that appears in the appropriate locations on the Apple ID site, and confirm the login was successful.

If you don’t receive the Allow/Don’t Allow prompt on any device, you should troubleshoot why that is. You may have set up two-factor authentication for an Apple ID account you don’t have logged into an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. I’ve recommended this as a way of dealing with Apple IDs used solely for purchasing media and apps, something many of us wound up with if we used Apple’s systems for a long time, as purchasing and cloud-based systems once used separate accounts.

In that scenario, you need to re-associate a trusted device with the account so you don’t unintentionally lose access when deleting a trusted phone number. I’ve recommended using a secondary account on a Mac that has its iCloud account set to be your purchasing Apple ID. (An iPhone or iPad can only be associated with a single Apple ID for iCloud; on a Mac, each account can have a separate iCloud-associated Apple ID, but they’re only active when you’re logged into that Mac account.)

If you’ve done that, log into that Mac account and see if you receive the two-factor prompt and code there. If not, you should use an existing trusted phone number under your control to set up that secondary Mac account.

Now you can remove trusted number you don’t want to keep active:

• In iOS or iPadOS, go to Settings > account name > Password & Security, then tap Edit next to the Trusted Phone Numbers label. Tap the red remove button to the number’s list and then confirm removal.
• In macOS 13 Ventura, go to System Settings > account name > Password & Security, select a trusted phone number, and click the minus (-) button to remove it.
• In macOS 10.15 Catalina through 12 Monterey, go to System Preferences > Apple ID > Password & Security, click Edit next to the Trusted Phone Numbers label, select a trusted phone number, and then click the minus (-) button to remove it. Confirm its removal by clicking Remove.
• In macOS 10.14 Mojave or earlier, go to System Preferences > iCloud > Account Details > Security, select a trusted phone number, and click the minus (-) button to remove it. Confirm its removal by clicking Remove.
• At the Apple ID site, log into your account and then click the Edit button next to the Security section, click the “x” next to a trusted number to remove it, and finally confirm by clicking Remove.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by an anonymous Macworld reader.

We also have the following articles that might be useful:

• How to remove a previous owner’s Apple ID from a used iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
• How to reset Apple ID if you forgot the password
• How to unlock an Apple ID that’s locked of disabled
• How to fix an iPhone that keeps asking for Apple ID password
• Also see How to unlock an iPhone, iPad or Mac when its owner passed away

Ask Mac 911

We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com including screen captures as appropriate, and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

Apple Inc, iCloud, iOS