Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.4 update to developers, just under one week after seeding the fifth macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta and over a month after releasing macOS Sierra 10.12.3.
The sixth macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta is available for download through the Apple Developer Center or the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store for those who have previously installed a beta.
macOS Sierra 10.12.4 brings iOS's Night Shift mode to the Mac for the first time. First introduced on iOS devices with iOS 9.3, Night Shift is designed to gradually shift the display of a device from blue to yellow, cutting down on exposure to blue light. Blue light is said to disrupt the circadian rhythm and is believed to interrupt sleeping patterns.
Night Shift can be activated through the Displays section of System Preferences, where a setting to have it come on at sunset and turn off at sunrise is available. Night Shift can also be toggled on manually through the Notification Center or via Siri.
The 10.12.4 update focuses mainly on Night Shift, but also includes dictation support for Shanghainese, cricket scores for Siri, improved PDFKit APIs, and iCloud Analytics options.
Update: Apple has also made the sixth beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.4 available for public beta testers.
Top Rated Comments
I was hoping for APFS in-place migration for external volumes but I guess that will wait until 10.13.
[doublepost=1489430035][/doublepost] It's already in macOS Sierra, although it's worth noting that volumes formatted with 10.12.0 may not work on later versions.
If you mean when macOS will be able to use APFS for startup volume, as well as missing support for FileVault, Time Machine, and Fusion Drive, I would say 10.13 in October. Furthermore, many major apps don't work with APFS startup volume (due to hard coded case insensitive file path).