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

by

Apple today seeded the fourth public beta of an upcoming macOS High Sierra update to public beta testers, two weeks after releasing the third public beta. The fourth public beta of macOS High Sierra is likely identical to the fifth 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 fourth 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, because betas are notoriously unstable.

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.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

High Efficiency Video Encoding (HEVC aka H.265) is coming in High Sierra, and many existing apps are being updated. Photos features a new persistent side view and editing tools for Curves, Selective Color, and Live Photos, for example, while Siri gains 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, and Mail storage is being optimized to take up 35 percent less space. iMessages can now be stored in iCloud, plus 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

Popular Stories

Apple Announces Special Event in New York Feature

Apple Announces Special Event in New York, London, and Shanghai on March 4

Monday February 16, 2026 6:05 am PST by
Apple today announced a "special Apple Experience" in New York, London, and Shanghai, taking place on March 4, 2026 at 9:00am ET. Apple invited select members of the media to the event in three major cities around the world. It is simply described as a "special Apple Experience," and there is no further information about what it may entail. The invitation features a 3D Apple logo design...
Read Full Article • 160 comments
M3 iPad Air

Apple's Next Two Products Are Coming Soon

Thursday February 12, 2026 11:17 am PST by
Apple plans to release an iPhone 17e and an iPad Air with an M4 chip "in the coming weeks," according to the latest word from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "Apple retail employees say that inventory of the iPhone 16e has basically dried out and the iPad Air is seeing shortages as well," said Gurman. "I've been expecting new versions of both (iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air) in the coming weeks."...
Read Full Article
Apple Sales Coach App

Apple Launching New 'Sales Coach' App

Friday February 13, 2026 2:01 pm PST by
Apple plans to launch a rebranded "Sales Coach" app on the iPhone and iPad later this month, according to a source familiar with the matter. "Sales Coach" will arrive as an update to Apple's existing "SEED" app, and it will continue to provide sales tips and training resources to Apple Store and Apple Authorized Reseller employees around the world. For example, there are articles and videos...
Read Full Article • 26 comments
Coffee Burgundy and Purple iPhone 18 Pro Mock

Five iPhone 18 Pro Features Revealed in New Report

Friday February 13, 2026 8:43 am PST by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still seven months away, an analyst has revealed five new features the devices will allegedly have. Rumored color options for the iPhone 18 Pro models In a research note with investment firm GF Securities on Thursday, analyst Jeff Pu outlined the following upgrades for the iPhone 18 Pro models: Smaller Dynamic Island: It has been rumored...
Read Full Article • 57 comments
iOS 26 Home Feature

Three New Apple Home Products Rumored for 2026

Friday February 13, 2026 4:18 pm PST by
Apple has a long list of new products rumored for 2026, including a series of home products that will see the company establishing more of a presence in the smart home space. Robots are on the horizon for 2027, but the 2026 releases will be a little tamer. HomePod mini We're expecting a new HomePod mini 2 to launch at any time. Apple isn't going to update the device's design, but we could...
Read Full Article • 65 comments

Top Rated Comments

OperatorJ81 Avatar
OperatorJ81
111 months ago
I gave up on this Beta unfortunately. My MacBook (mid 2015 Retina Pro) basically got bricked by the 3rd beta. My MacBook refused to download or run anything, Box/Dropbox/Cloud sync service applications stopped working, and I wound up calling Apple. They couldn't even get my MacBook to properly screen share so I could show them anything. Tried restoring from Time Machine Backups and when it formatted my Hard Drive it formatted it into 4 strange partitions instead of 1 Mac OS journaled. Took me about a week to get everything back up. :(
I don't understand this. Why do people constantly install BETAS on their primary machines? If you NEED the machine to work, BETAS are not for you.

Orrrrrrr, do what I do. Install the BETA in a virtualized environment. I run High Sierra as a VM via VMWare Fusion on my 2017 MBP just fine. I test what I need/want without borking up my production system.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
justperry Avatar
justperry
111 months ago
I'm not seeing it under updates on the App Store for some reason?
Me neither
Try to reload the page in Appstore menu.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
torquer
111 months ago
You know what would be super helpful? If people would post in this thread (and every other beta version thread) saying they aren't installing the beta.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hustler1337 Avatar
Hustler1337
111 months ago
Was just thinking of installing High Sierra on my 2011 MBP and getting a bit excited but after reading the comments it seems like a 4th beta isn't yet reliable enough. :(
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nutmac Avatar
nutmac
111 months ago
My Mac was setup clean with macOS Sierra few weeks ago. I installed PB3 immediately after.

Updating to PB4 is a disaster, with fatal black screen of death with about 5% remaining. Rebooted and it seemingly recovered and finished updating.

I rebooted into single user mode to run fsck, which didn't find any issue.

Rebooted again and it tries to resume update, with "Completing Installation: About 2 minutes remaining." The update is seemingly complete 2 minutes later, but every subsequent update triggers this "completing installation" process.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kaibelf Avatar
Kaibelf
111 months ago
Can someone post the build number?
17A330h
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments