Apple on Monday seeded the ninth beta of macOS 10.15 Catalina to developers and public beta testers. The new beta comes two weeks after the release of the eights beta.
The new developer build can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center by participants in the program, or as a software update for Macs that have previous versions of the Catalina beta installed.
The public beta build of the new operating system can be downloaded via the Apple Beta Software Program website by users signed up to take part in the testing program.
Feature that will be available with the public release of macOS 10.15 Catalina include:
- The iTunes app is replaced with three new apps designed to simplify the way Mac users enjoy their favorite music, TV shows, movies and podcasts.
- Sidecar allows users to use their iPad as an extended display for Mac and a high-precision drawing tablet across supported Mac apps.
- Apple is introducing new assistive technologies.
- Screen Time makes the move over from iOS and gives users insight into how they spend time in apps and on websites, and the tools to help decide how to spend their time on their Mac.
- Photos features a beautiful new browsing experience that intelligently showcases the user’s best pictures.
- Safari has an updated start page that uses Siri Suggestions to elevate frequently visited sites, bookmarks, iCloud tabs, Reading List selections and links sent in Messages.
- Mail in macOS Catalina adds the ability to block email from a specified sender, mute an overly active thread and unsubscribe from commercial mailing lists.
- Notes now has a brand new Gallery View, more powerful search tools and additional collaboration options.
- Reminders has been redesigned with an all-new user interface that makes it easier to create, organize and track reminders.
As usual, MacTrast and Apple both warn users to not install any betas on your daily driver Mac computer, instead only install it on a device set aside for testing purposes. 32-bit Mac apps will not work on macOS 10.15 Catalina, so keep that in mind before installing the beta for the first time.
macOS 10.15 Catalina is compatible with the following Macs:
- MacBook: 2015 and later
- MacBook Air: 2012 and later
- MacBook Pro: 2012 and later
- Mac mini: 2012 and later
- Mac: 2012 and later
- iMac Pro: 2017 and later
- Mac Pro – 2013 and later
As usual, MacTrast and Apple both warn users to never install betas on your daily driver Mac, instead only install it on a Mac set aside for testing purposes.