Apple Releases First Beta of macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 to Public Beta Testers

Friday January 26, 2018 12:10 PM PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released the first beta of an upcoming macOS High Sierra 10.134 update to public beta testers, two days after seeding the update to developers and a few days after releasing macOS High Sierra 10.13.3.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will be able to download the new macOS High Sierra beta through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.


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.

macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 introduces support for some features that are also available in iOS 11.3, like Messages on iCloud, which uploads all of your iMessages to the cloud. It will also support Business Chat, a feature coming when iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4 are released to the public.

The new macOS update also includes the smoke cloud wallpaper that was previously only available on the iMac Pro, and it introduces a warning when opening up a 32-bit app as part of an effort to phase them out.

In the future, Apple plans to phase out 32-bit Mac apps, just like it did with 32-bit iOS apps. Apple says macOS High Sierra is the last version of macOS that will support 32-bit apps without compromises.

Related Roundup: macOS High Sierra
81 comments


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nicholasg
7 months ago
What happened to your library?

Photos version 3.0 (3271.12.200) it totally dorked my photos library. Thank goodness for my Carbon Copy Cloaner backup.

Rating: 3 Votes
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tywebb13
7 months ago

10.14 will not allow 32-bit apps. So now they're going to begin warning people in the current 10.13, so when 10.14 is released this September, people aren't surprised when their 32-bit apps stop working.


And we don't really have to wait till 10.14 to see what it will be like when the 32 bit apps are disabled.

You can try this out now to get an idea of what it will be like:

You can disable the 32 bit apps like this in terminal:

sudo nvram boot-args="-no32exec"

Then restart computer.

If you don't like it you can re-enable them like this:

sudo nvram boot-args=""

Then restart computer.
Rating: 3 Votes
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randyhudson
7 months ago
I'm glad they are dropping support for 32-bit apps. I'll get back the 25Mb of space needed to support both
Rating: 3 Votes
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potatis
7 months ago

10.14 will not allow 32-bit apps. So now they're going to begin warning people in the current 10.13, so when 10.14 is released this September, people aren't surprised when their 32-bit apps stop working.


Ok. Earlier it was said 10.13 was the last to run 32-bit apps without compromise, 10.14 would have the warnings and 10.15 would cut the support. I guess they revised the plan.
Rating: 2 Votes
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OldSchoolMacGuy
7 months ago

I thought it was said these warnings would come in macOS 10.14.


10.14 will not allow 32-bit apps. So now they're going to begin warning people in the current 10.13, so when 10.14 is released this September, people aren't surprised when their 32-bit apps stop working.
Rating: 2 Votes
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The Friar
7 months ago

10.14 will not allow 32-bit apps. So now they're going to begin warning people in the current 10.13, so when 10.14 is released this September, people aren't surprised when their 32-bit apps stop working.

Adobe has his work cut out for them then, nearly all the Adobe apps running on my Mac are 32 bit.
Rating: 2 Votes
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ikir
7 months ago
eGPU test time :D
Rating: 2 Votes
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nortonandreev
7 months ago

it safe to put on primary Mac ?

Don’t think so.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Shirasaki
7 months ago

I don't think 32-bit apps will be completely deprecated by 10.14. I think they will be able to run, with some sort of "compromise." We'll probably find out what that is at WWDC.

Based on how Apple treats iOS 32-bit apps, I think they will just cut the support like removing a tumor, without hesitation.
Rating: 2 Votes
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fischersd
7 months ago

Seems most people that are using the betas as their primary driver don't ever have back ups and then come back on the forums freaking out. But yes, I agree.

Heh....I think that's one of the least endearing things about this place. Doesn't seem to matter what verbiage Apple puts in front of them, many/most aren't going to read it before they sign up.

"High tolerance for software defects!? I never agreed to that!" :D
Rating: 1 Votes
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