Apple Seeds Sixth OS X 10.10.4 Yosemite Beta to Developers and Public Beta Testers

os_x_yosemite_round_iconApple today seeded the sixth beta of OS X 10.10.4 to developers and public beta testers, approximately one week after releasing the fifth OS X 10.10.4 beta and nearly two months after releasing the first OS X 10.10.4 beta. OS X 10.10.4 has been in testing since mid-April, following the early April release of OS X 10.10.3, which included the new Photos for OS X app.

The new beta, build 14E36b, can downloaded through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store or through the Mac Developer Center.

OS X 10.10.3 brought several consumer-facing changes including the new Photos for OS X app, a redesigned emoji picker, and diversified emoji, but OS X 10.10.4 appears to be an under-the-hood update that brings performance enhancements and bug fixes.

Thus far, OS X 10.10.4 betas have not included outward facing design changes or feature additions, but the fourth beta introduced a significant behind-the-scenes update that may improve networking performance for users who have experienced issues with OS X Yosemite.

Discoveryd, a somewhat problematic networking process that has been linked to multiple bugs in OS X 10.10, was removed in favor of the older bug-free mDNSresponder.

It is not clear when Apple plans to release OS X 10.10.4 to the public, but the fact that we've now received six betas suggests we may be nearing the end of the beta testing period. It's possible we could see the public release of OS X 10.10.4 on June 30, the same day Apple plans to release iOS 8.4 with the new Music app and Apple Music service.

Related Forum: OS X Yosemite

Popular Stories

Apple Glass

Apple Smart Glasses: Everything We Know So Far

Wednesday May 21, 2025 8:21 am PDT by
Google made waves yesterday by showcasing a set of lightweight smart glasses featuring deep Gemini integration and an optional in-lens display. The demo has reignited interest in Apple's own smart glasses project, which has been the subject of rumors for nearly a decade. Here's a recap of where things stand. Current Development Status Apple is actively working on new chips specifically...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Battery Capacity and Weight Allegedly Revealed

Monday May 19, 2025 2:22 am PDT by
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
WWDC 2025 Banner

Apple Announces WWDC 2025 Schedule, Including Keynote Time

Tuesday May 20, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced a more detailed schedule for its annual developers conference WWDC, which runs from June 9 through June 13. The schedule confirms that Apple's keynote will begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream to be available on Apple.com, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16,...
macOS 16 visionOS Inspired Feature 1

macOS 16: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday May 20, 2025 7:31 am PDT by
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple's annual developer and software-oriented event, is less than three weeks away. We haven't heard a great deal about macOS 16 ahead of its announcement this year, so we could be in for some major surprises when June 9 rolls around. Here's what we know so far about the next major update to Apple's Mac operating system. macOS 16 Name? Every year ...
maxresdefault

OpenAI Buys Jony Ive's AI Startup to 'Completely Reimagine What It Means to Use a Computer'

Wednesday May 21, 2025 10:27 am PDT by
OpenAI is acquiring io, the hardware-based AI startup co-created by Jony Ive, OpenAI announced today. Ive has been working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on io for two years, and the duo expects to develop a family of AI devices. In a video shared by OpenAI, Altman and Ive outlined their partnership and what they expect to create as a result of the merger. "I have a growing sense that everything ...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...

Top Rated Comments

sniffies Avatar
130 months ago
Yosemite is history.

Give us El Capitan beta 2, Apple Music, and Apple News.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TMRJIJ Avatar
130 months ago
OS X Yosemite? What is this nonsense? El Capitan is where it's at. I barely remember Yosemite. What version was that . . OS X 10.3? I'm pretty this came before Tiger right? hmmm . . . . .
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MikhailT Avatar
130 months ago
How many more betas are there gonna be of 10.10.4? Damn. It's been in testing for 2 months!
As many as it takes to get the quality of the update to be as bug-less as possible, especially as this may the last update to Yosemite before they shift to El Cap completely. Complex software like an OS update takes months to test, validate, and finish.

The whole reason Yosemite was buggy as heck was because they didn't take their time to do it right.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AZhappyjack Avatar
130 months ago
So.. We get yet another Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 BETA just one week after the last one, but still no iOS 9 BETA2 to fix the battery drain? :(
iOS beta releases have not come more frequently than about 2 week intervals, historically. OS X dev previews have pretty much followed suit in terms of release schedule, at least for the .0 releases.

Your patience will be rewarded.

This chart is iOS beta releases, and is included for reference:



Attachment Image
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mw360 Avatar
130 months ago

3 - Insane battery drain. I was getting 20+ hours under iOS 8 two weeks ago. Now I'm getting 4-6 hours with iOS 9 beta 1. This is easily the highest priority bug to fix - it impacts me every day and renders my iPhone for the later part of the day. This isn't a small problem that requires a bit of tweaking - this seems like a massive issue that needs to be fixed immediately. It may be a small issue code wise... maybe just a busy loop somewhere wasting power in the background... but it has a huge impact on user experience
Nothing is a massive issue in beta 1. Even if the OS crashed every 30 seconds beta testers aren't supposed to go around getting their knickers in a twist about it. You would submit a bug report, and advise you are unable to test further and wait for beta 2. You don't demand a beta 2 'immediately.'

If your user experience is being impacted every day then you shouldn't have installed a developers' beta 1 OS on your phone. If this were a release candidate, you might have a point, but there are months ahead where the beta process will take its usual course. You may find the battery drain is actually a very low priority bug right now, depending on how much Apple know about the causes, and how much work would be involved to fix it.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
star-affinity Avatar
130 months ago
The whole reason Yosemite was buggy as heck was because they didn't take their time to do it right.
I wouldn't call it ”buggy as heck”. Yosemite is and has been working very well for me overall.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)