Apple Seeds First Beta of Upcoming macOS Catalina 10.15.4 Update to Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming macOS Catalina 10.15.4 update to its public beta testing group, with the new public beta coming five days after the release of the first developer beta.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will be able to download the new ‌macOS Catalina‌ beta through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper profile.

Catalina
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.

The macOS Catalina 10.15.4 update introduces Screen Time Communication Limits, a feature that was brought to the iPhone in the iOS 13.3 update. Screen Time Communication Limits allow parents to limit who their children contact and when communication apps are available.

The update also includes a new Head Pointer Accessibility option that allows the mouse cursor to be controlled with head movements using the Mac's built-in camera.

References to new AMD processors were discovered in the macOS 10.15.4 beta, leading to speculation that Apple is working on AMD-based Macs, but it's not clear if these references are simply for internal testing rather than evidence of an AMD Mac.

Though not directly related to ‌macOS Catalina‌ 10.15.4, Apple is adding a new universal purchase option for macOS and iOS apps, which will allow Apple device users to purchase one app that works across multiple platforms.

Related Forum: macOS Catalina

Popular Stories

iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
Johny Srouji

Apple's Chipmaking Chief Johny Srouji Responds to Report About Him Potentially Leaving

Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future. "I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
Johny Srouji

Apple Chip Chief Johny Srouji Could Be Next to Go as Exodus Continues

Sunday December 7, 2025 10:41 am PST by
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...
google pixel 10

Switching Between iPhone and Android Will Get Easier With New Apple and Google Collaboration

Monday December 8, 2025 11:10 am PST by
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta. Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...
Intel Inside iPhone Feature

Apple's Return to Intel Rumored to Extend to iPhone

Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone. In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
Apple Fitness Plus expansion hero

Apple Fitness+ Coming to 28 New Regions With Digital Voice Dubbing

Monday December 8, 2025 6:19 am PST by
Apple today announced that Fitness+ is expanding to 28 new markets on December 15 in the service's largest international rollout since launch, accompanied by new language dubbing and a K-Pop music genre. Apple Fitness+ will become available in Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and additional regions on December 15, with Japan scheduled to follow early next year....

Top Rated Comments

Freida Avatar
76 months ago
Catalina is the first macOS that I'm completely skipping. I'll wait for WWDC and see what gets introduced there but I really hope they will focus on performance, stability etc. We need another snow leopard :)
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MikhailT Avatar
76 months ago

Catalina is the first macOS that I'm completely skipping. I'll wait for WWDC and see what gets introduced there but I really hope they will focus on performance, stability etc. We need another snow leopard :)
What we need is a longer release cycle where Apple developers can spend several months optimizing and debugging like in Snow Leopard and previous releases with 18-36 month release schedule.

Snow Leopard wasn't that good the first year, it was buggy and has some really bad bugs like the guest account deleting data. It was only the second year where they managed to make it work. The second year part is what we're missing badly, they're just shipping too fast and not spending enough time fixing their bugs.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
katewes Avatar
76 months ago
The one year release cycle, introduced by Tim Cook, is the hallmark of Apple being now controlled by a bean-counter rather than someone driven by the engineering. Apple literally cannot care a stuff about perfecting their macOS software. One year is not enough to get it rock stable.

I used to remember how horrific each new OSX was at launch that I used to postpone upgrading, such as with Snow Leopard, until around version .7. That is laughable now since it never gets to version 7.

The thing I hate about the one year release cycle is that major software gets incompatible with each macOS, and many software developers charge big money to upgrade every year.

e.g.
Microsoft - previous versions not compatible.
VMWare Fusion - every version is not compatible, and they charge lots of money for upgrades
Phase One - Capture One - every version is not compatible, and they charge lots of money for upgrades

Virtually every software developer has to update their software. (Do Windows developers have to do this with every annual update?)

If the features of each upgrade were worth it, I would sort of not mind. But most macOS updates are irrelevant to me. I just use basic features. So each cycle of macOS every year, even if Apple does not charge money, is a major expense for me because software vendors do charge for the upgrades!@()(*W*$%&&^W#)_$(
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Max T Avatar
76 months ago
I hope the urgently needed bug fixes are finally coming.
Since I updated my iMac to Catalina, Bluetooth devices like mouse and keyboard, as well as the Wifi connection are extremely unstable.
I would have no problem with an update cycle of 24-36 months as long as the system is stable.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
luvbug Avatar
76 months ago
Given the number of issues that seem to touch an iCloud-related-dependent function, I'd suggest that not all these issues may be Catalina. Keep in mind that Apple, in a much less transparent way (is that possible?), is updating the iCloud infrastructure and software on an ongoing, virtually continuous, basis. There are so many moving parts to the OS/App/Cloud/Network entity that is getting "really complicated" to keep it all running perfectly. This all supports the notion that a one-year update cycle is just crazy. Meanwhile, Apple can't manage to update TimeMachine to support its OS migration to APFS, go figure.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
benshive Avatar
76 months ago

The update also includes a new Head Pointer Accessibility option that allows the mouse cursor to be controlled with head movements using the Mac's built-in camera.
Oh that's pretty cool. I hadn't heard of this feature. Has anyone tried this out yet and know how well it works?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)