Apple Seeds Third Beta of macOS High Sierra to Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the third public beta of an upcoming macOS High Sierra update to public beta testers, two weeks after releasing the second public beta. The third public beta of macOS High Sierra is likely identical the fourth developer beta, which was provided to developers earlier this week.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program are able to download the third macOS High Sierra beta through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store after the proper profile has been installed.

macos hs beta
Those who want to be a part of Apple's beta testing program can sign up to participate through the beta testing website, which gives users access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas. For instructions on how to install the public beta, check out our how to, and make sure to make a backup before giving the software a try. Don't install the beta on a main machine, as betas are notoriously unstable. High Sierra runs on all machines that support Sierra.

The macOS High Sierra update is designed to improve and refine the existing macOS Sierra operating system. Along with a new, more efficient file system (APFS) designed for modern storage, the update introduces Metal 2, the next-generation version of Apple's Metal graphics API with support for machine learning, external GPUs, and VR content creation.


High Efficiency Video Encoding (HEVC aka H.265) is coming in High Sierra, and many of the existing apps are being updated. Photos features a new persistent side view and editing tools for Curves, Selective Color, and Live Photos, while Siri is gaining a more natural voice and support for more music-related commands.

Safari offers a new autoplay blocking feature for videos and Intelligent Tracking Prevention to protect your privacy, while Mail storage is being optimized to take up 35 percent less space. iMessages can now be stored in iCloud, and there are new iCloud Drive file sharing options and new iCloud storage family plans.

For a full overview of the new features you can expect to see when macOS High Sierra is released in the fall, make sure to check out our macOS High Sierra roundup.

Related Forum: macOS High Sierra

Top Rated Comments

Crazy Badger Avatar
87 months ago
Updated without any issues, but it's too slow to test anything at the minute. Will let Spotlight do it's stuff and play tomorrow, although I did notice iTunes 12.6.2 downloaded with it and that crashes when opening.

I'd be expecting another 2-4 PB's before we're getting close to a GM.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lycanthrope Avatar
87 months ago
Sincerely hope this is an improvement on beta 2! Machine has been running like an oven the last couple of weeks...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonwatso Avatar
87 months ago
If there are any testers reading this comment; is it close to being released to the public yet?
It runs pretty well, there is the occasional bug but other than that I using it on my daily Mac and I have no issues.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LarryJoe33 Avatar
87 months ago
Yes, it comes up immediately
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jbachandouris Avatar
87 months ago
Did you reload the update page in the App store? (cmd+r), it never shows for me either if i just click on the update tab
Reloaded several times. Quit app store and came back to it. No update showed until I re-downloaded the beta profile.

Interesting note: On the updates installed list, it says I have the High Sierra Developer Version 4 installed and Version 3 before that. Usually it says that it's the Public Beta. I realize they are the same, but interesting how it's now listed as the Developer Beta on my machine. I assure you, I am not a developer.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dogslobber Avatar
87 months ago
I didn’t see the PowerPC build, only Intel?!?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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