Apple Seeds Fourth macOS Monterey 12.3 Beta to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming macOS macOS Monterey 12.3 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after the release of the third macOS Monterey 12.3 beta.

macOS Monterey on MBP Feature
Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and after the appropriate profile is installed, betas will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences.

macOS Monterey 12.3 is a major update that introduces Universal Control, a feature that Apple first teased at WWDC and then delayed for several months. ‌Universal Control‌ is designed to allow you to use a single mouse/trackpad and keyboard across multiple Macs and iPads (with iPads running iPadOS 15.4).

After updating your devices to macOS 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4, ‌Universal Control‌ works automatically, allowing your Mac's cursor and keyboard to work on the iPad and vice versa. It's simple and intuitive to use.

macOS Monterey 12.3 adds support for updating the AirPods firmware when the earbuds are connected to a Mac, plus it deprecates kernel extensions used by Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive, and it eliminates Python 2, with Apple instructing developers to use an alternative scripting language like Python 3 going forward.

There are also new emoji characters, including melting face, biting lip, heart hands, bubbles, beans, face with diagonal mouth, palm up hand, eggs, troll, low battery, coral, lotus, and more.

Related Forum: macOS Monterey

Top Rated Comments

Realityck Avatar
27 months ago
Hope this addresses some of the outstanding issues.
macOS 12.3 beta 4 (21E5222a)

[SPOILER="macOS Monterey 12.3 Beta 4 Release Notes"]
[HEADING=2]FaceTime[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS Monterey 12.3 Beta 4[/HEADING]

* Fixed: On iOS and macOS, it’s possible to trigger taking a photo of a participant when in a Group FaceTime call. On iOS, this could occur when you tap the Grid button or the bottom-left corner of the screen. On macOS, this could occur when you click the Grid button or the top-right corner of the window. (88720303)

[HEADING=2]Kernel[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Deprecations[/HEADING]

* The kernel extensions used by Dropbox Desktop Application and Microsoft OneDrive are no longer available. Both service providers have replacements for this functionality; Dropbox is currently in beta. (85890896)

[HEADING=2]LibreSSL[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS Monterey 12.3 Beta 4[/HEADING]

* Fixed: LibreSSL 3.3 has changed the default digest type of openssl enc Terminal command to SHA256. Files previously encrypted with an older version of OpenSSL might fail to decrypt. (87763613)

[HEADING=2]Python[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Deprecations[/HEADING]

* Python 2.7 was removed from macOS in this update. Developers should use Python 3 or an alternative language instead. (39795874)

[HEADING=2]Safari[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS Monterey 12.3 Beta 4[/HEADING]

* Fixed: Safari might crash upon loading webpages on a Mac with Apple silicon. (88222677)

[HEADING=2]ScreenCaptureKit[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS Monterey 12.3 Beta 4[/HEADING]

* Fixed: In ScreenCaptureKit ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/screencapturekit'), if an origin other than (0,0) is specified in the destinationRect ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/screencapturekit/scstreamconfiguration/3919822-destinationrect') or sourceRect ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/screencapturekit/scstreamconfiguration/3919829-sourcerect'), the contentRect is incorrect. (87363220)

[HEADING=2]Universal Control[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]

* Unexpected disconnections might occur on initial connection. (88106231)
Workaround: Sleep, then wake the device, and try again.
* Drag-and-drop scenarios might not work for some file types and apps. (88106322)
* Some third-party keyboards and mice might encounter issues when using additional functionality, like scroll wheels. (88106362)

[HEADING=2]WebKit[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS Monterey 12.3 Beta 4[/HEADING]

* Fixed: Using the App Store might lead to an authentication loop in which the HTML sheet has no content. (87850345)

[HEADING=3]Deprecations[/HEADING]

* Support for inline viewing of PostScript files is no longer available. (88172449)


[/SPOILER]

This one is important if it actually has been addressed.

* Fixed: Safari might crash upon loading webpages on a Mac with Apple silicon. (88222677)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
johnalan Avatar
27 months ago
I've been using macOS/X since Panther.
It's always felt ultra compressed - perfect in form.

I've been aware of sloppy stuff since Catalina.

For example, you can see your trusted devices on iCloud.com and it lists all devices and their Apple Pay cards. On id.apple.com, the cards are missing from the Macs, not from the iDevices. On System Preferences, the same.


It's getting messy, even look at this stylistic disparity in the same config Window in macOS:







* Want / Wish
* a 30 day period / 30 days to




This might seem minor, and it is, but this is the type of slop that's been slowly creeping in.

Attachment Image

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Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jimmy_Banks Avatar
27 months ago
Memory leak fixes please.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DHagan4755 Avatar
27 months ago

Hope this addresses some of the outstanding issues.
Yeah like the Apple Music app sucking ('https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/can-we-talk-about-how-apple-music-is-a-mess-on-monterey.2335508/').
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MallardDuck Avatar
27 months ago
Maybe this one will finally fix the USB bugs
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Realityck Avatar
27 months ago
Beta 4
Safari Version 15.4 (17613.1.17.1.5)

System Firmware Version: 7459.101.2 (M1 based Macs)

Darwin Kernel Version 21.4.0: Mon Feb 14 22:26:41 PST 2022; root:xnu-8020.101.3~4/RELEASE_ARM64_T8101 arm64

Beta 3
Safari is Version 15.4 (17613.1.16.1.6)

System Firmware Version: 7459.100.504.0.1 (M1 based Macs)

Darwin Kernel Version 21.4.0: Mon Feb 7 21:32:19 PST 2022; root:xnu-8020.100.429.131.1~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8101 arm64
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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