Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of macOS Sierra to Developers

Monday August 1, 2016 10:05 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today released the fourth beta of macOS Sierra, the newest operating system designed for the Mac, to developers. macOS Sierra beta 4 comes two weeks after the release of the third beta and almost two months after the software was first unveiled at Apple's 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Developers can download today's beta update through the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store or through the Apple Developer Center.

macOS Sierra is a significant update bringing Siri to the Mac for the first time, allowing users to conduct voice searches to quickly find files, look up information, and more. New Continuity features offer an "Auto Unlock" option for unlocking a Mac with an Apple Watch and a Universal Clipboard for copying something on one Apple device and pasting it on another.

Deeper iCloud integration makes files stored on the desktop or the Documents folder of a Mac available on all of a user's devices, and Photos features deep learning algorithms for improved facial, object, and scene recognition. There's a Memories feature for displaying photo collections, and Messages has rich links, bigger emoji, and "Tapback" response options.

Apple Pay is coming to the web in macOS Sierra, with payments authenticated through an iPhone or Apple Watch, and new features like multiple tabs, Picture in Picture multitasking, and optimized storage are also available.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

During the beta testing period, Apple will tweak and refine the features introduced in macOS Sierra. In macOS Sierra beta 4, Apple has introduced new emoji promoting gender equality and introduced a new look for many existing emoji with new textures and design tweaks.

macOS Sierra is currently available to developers and public beta testers, and it will see a wider public release this fall. For full details on all of the new features included in macOS Sierra, make sure to check out our macOS Sierra roundup.

Top Rated Comments

JDHiro

62 months ago

The 17" is a niche product at this point. Most people don't want the hassle of carrying around a laptop of that size.

That's your opinion. When the 17" MBP was an option, me and almost all my co-workers had them. Many of us do serious work on the road, and having a full workstation experience with a big screen with essential. 15" is still a bit too small to be comfortable. A 16-17" display in a rMBP-thin body would be absolutely wonderful for me.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

bpeeps

62 months ago

Gotta hand it to MR, the production quality of the videos and graphics you guys create have increased tenfold from the past.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

You are the One

62 months ago

Anyone noticed the download speeds have been improved or am I just high?

Both may be true ^^

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

JDHiro

62 months ago

I said it was a niche product, not that there is absolutely no one who would buy one. If the 17" had been a best seller for Apple it'd have never been discontinued.

A 15" redesign to have a larger 16" screen with the same footprint size and smaller bezels could happen and I would certainly welcome it.

I don't think Apple had the technical means to sell a 17" Retina MacBook (the first-gen 15" ones had enough problems as is), and it didn't make sense to keep a big/expensive low-res screen in the lineup next to a better 15" screen. So, it kind of made sense to discontinue it at the time. But as the technology becomes more commonplace, it makes sense for Apple to offer more variants to expand the market back out.

Anyways, I hope they do it because it's absolutely the product I want.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

ncc1701d

62 months ago

I must be one of the few people that don't use Siri on my iPhone and I can't imagine using it on my main computer. Is it that popular?

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

mr.bee

62 months ago

Ugh.. why got this thread hijacked by ancient technology wishes by a handful of stubborn people.

*Expects to see replies regarding it's not ancient and there are more then 5 people wanting this... ok, 7*

I'm curious about this new beta,if enough bugs are solved I might install it on my daily workhorse :))

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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