Apple today seeded the fourth beta of macOS 13 Ventura, the next-generation version of the Mac operating system that's set to launch this fall. The fourth beta comes three weeks after Apple provided the third beta to developers.
Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and once the appropriate profile is installed, betas will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences.
macOS Ventura introduces Stage Manager, a new feature that lets Mac users focus on a task while keeping other apps at the ready for easy swapping between tasks. The update adds Continuity Camera, which is designed to let you use the iPhone as a webcam for your Mac. It supports Center Stage, Desk View (for showing off your desk), and Studio Light.
Handoff is now available for FaceTime so you can transfer calls between iPhone, iPad, and Mac at will, and Messages supports features for marking an iMessage as unread, unsending an iMessage, and marking as unread. SharePlay also now works in the Messages app.
The Mail app supports scheduling and undoing emails for up to 10 seconds after they're sent, and there are now Weather and Clock apps that are available on the Mac. System Preferences has been renamed System Settings, and it features an iOS-like design.
Safari supports Shared Tab Groups and Apple is working on Passkeys, a next-generation credential that replaces the password. There are updates to Spotlight, Photo Library has new features, and Metal 3 is included in macOS Ventura for better graphics in games.
For everything new in macOS Ventura, we have a dedicated roundup that goes through all of the features. macOS Ventura is set to see a public release this fall.
Top Rated Comments
I favor the new Settings app, btw; but Apple cannot deny they are moving to unify their operating systems, even after publicly denying it.
[HEADING=2]AppKit[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Deprecations[/HEADING]
* Placing an NSToolbarItem item taller than the toolbar height is not supported and will result in clipping. When drawing a custom badge, use alignmentRectInsets of the control to describe where the button is and draw within the inset area. (94956438)
[HEADING=2]Calendar[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: The “Enable this account” checkbox found in Calendar > Preferences > Accounts won’t function for certain account types, such as iCloud or Google. You can still enable and disable Calendar accounts from System Settings > Internet Accounts. (93464496)
[HEADING=2]Clock[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: In the Clock app, you might not be able to type a digit into the timer hour, minute, or second fields. (92776027)
[HEADING=2]CoreGraphics[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Deprecations[/HEADING]
* To improve security, CGImageCreate enforces parameter correctness on macOS 13 Ventura, iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, and tvOS 16. Passing an incorrect CGImageByteOrderInfo is no longer supported, and will result in images failing to load. (94855401)
[HEADING=2]DeviceDiscoveryUI[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]
* Devices running beta 4 will not be backwards compatible with devices on previous seed releases. (95233878)
[HEADING=2]DVD Player[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: DVD Player crashes at launch on Intel-based Mac computers. (92734830)
[HEADING=2]Foundation[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: Using the inflection capabilities of AttributedString(localized:…) in conjunction with a quantity won’t work for text written in the Spanish language. (93126015)
[HEADING=2]Game Controllers[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: Motion controls for the DualShock 4 and DualSense wireless controllers can not function correctly. (93671115)
[HEADING=2]Kernel Management[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: Users on Apple Silicon Macs can experience a panic when updating to macOS 13 Ventura (94484697)
[HEADING=2]Mail[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: When searching for words that contain diacritics, suggestions for some languages might display apostrophes instead of accented characters. (92679833)
* Fixed: After updating to iOS & iPadOS 16 beta, it might take 24 hours or longer until search features function as expected. (61137313)
* Fixed: Searching for “me” doesn’t show suggestions for yourself or your “me” card. (93228606)
* Fixed: Pasting text into the search field and searching via Search Mail for Contact on a contact card doesn’t work in languages other than English. (93613150)
* Fixed: The High Priority Mail search suggestion isn’t available. (93266352)
* Fixed: Mail Search doesn’t offer many temporal suggestions. (93109504)
* Fixed: Send Later always offers Send Now, Send Tonight, Send Tomorrow Night, and Send Later (custom option), without the refinement to have more awareness of the current time. (93925346)
* Fixed: Searching using the NOT Boolean operator doesn’t work. (93230372)
* Fixed: Notifications for fired Remind Me messages don’t appear. (90661689)
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]
* Moving a Remind Me message to another mailbox doesn’t remove the Remind Me banner. (93685824)
* Highlighted search snippets might stay visible after closing search. (91830631)
Workaround: Switch mailboxes to refresh the list.
[HEADING=2]MapKit[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: Apps compiled for Intel-based Mac computers while running in Rosetta 2 on a Mac with an M1 chip might encounter MapKit map views with a black base map. (93589887)
[HEADING=2]Metal[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: When using the new Metal mesh shaders feature, render pipeline state objects (PSOs) created with a mesh shader stage but without a object shader stage can fail to compile or fail to work correctly on some devices. (89836551)
* Fixed: When using mesh shaders on Apple Silicon, mesh shader invocations or geometry output can be unexpectedly dropped on large workloads when calling set_threadgroups_per_grid from only a single thread in the threadgroup in a object shader or when calling set_primitive_countfrom only a single thread in the threadgroup in a mesh shader. (94376391)
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]
* The MTLResource.gpuHandle is deprecated. (92862429)
Workaround: Use gpuResourceID ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metal/mtlaccelerationstructure/3974095-gpuresourceid') instead, which functions as a replacement.
[HEADING=2]Metal Offline Compiler[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: AppStore TestFlight distribution of apps with Metal Offline Compiler GPU binaries fails and results in validation errors. (93124006)
* Fixed: Adding a pipeline descriptor that uses MTLLinkedFunctions ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metal/mtllinkedfunctions') to a MTLBinaryArchive ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metal/mtlbinaryarchive') is unsupported and has undefined runtime behavior. (90776424)
* Fixed: When using Metal mesh shaders on a device with Apple silicon, object or mesh shaders producing large amounts of output data can result in incorrect rendering and device instability. (93797539)
* Fixed: When using Metal mesh shaders on a device with Apple silicon, vertex buffers set at indices 29 or 30 can become unset after calling any of these methods: drawMeshThreadgroups, drawMeshThreads, drawMeshThreadgroupsWithIndirectBuffer. (93797408)
* Fixed: When using Metal mesh shaders on a device with Apple silicon, graphics corruption can occur when emitting a metal::mesh with a large number of primitives and using the viewport_array_index, render_target_array_index, or primitive_culled per-primitiveattributes. (93797184)
* Fixed: The names of classes in MetalFX ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metalfx') headers don’t match WWDC session. (93712694)
* Fixed: MTLFXTemporalScaler ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metalfx/mtlfxtemporalscaler') currently only supports an input resolution of ≥ 1280 x 720 and an output resolution of exactly 2x. Creating MFXTemporalScalingEffect with other attibutes returns nil for the object creation. (92913479)
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]
* MetalFX effect outputs aren’t designed to be consumed by the CPU. Outputting to a texture that is read only by the CPU might result in synchronization issues. (91515075)
Workaround: If a CPU reading of the MetalFX output is desired, instead of encoding the MetalFXeffect as the last item in a command buffer, encode a dummy blit that consumes the MetalFXoutput texture (a 1-pixel region blit is fine) in the command buffer. After the command buffer with the dummy blit is finished, reading of the MetalFX effect output texture with CPU synchronizes correctly.
[HEADING=2]Networking[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Deprecations[/HEADING]
* FTP is deprecated for URLSession and related APIs. Please adopt modern secure networking protocols such as HTTPS. (92623659)
[HEADING=2]Safari[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: Reordering a Shared Tab Group by one user reorders that Tab Group for every user in the share. (88779674)
* Fixed: When the Show File Extensions option in Finder’s settings is checked, files cannot be renamed in the Save panel. (95241081)
[HEADING=2]Security[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]
* Prompts from installers and upgraders asking for user consent to manage apps are reduced in some scenarios. (94192721)
[HEADING=2]Stage Manager[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]
* With Stage Manager active, windows continue as the key window and receive key events when minimized. (94169311)
[HEADING=2]Stocks[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: The Stocks watchlist widget incorrectly shows Watchlist Deleted, but the watchlist is present in the app. (93070133)
[HEADING=2]StoreKit[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed an issue when calling clearTransactions() ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekittest/sktestsession/3579476-cleartransactions') method on SKTestSession ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekittest/sktestsession') didn’t install a new App Store receipt. (95130387)
[HEADING=3]Deprecations[/HEADING]
* Deprecated the SKDownload API and removed the option to upload nonconsumable in-app purchase assets for Apple to host. In addition, support for managing these assets in App Store Connect is no longer available as of April 2022. (89764253)
[HEADING=2]Swift[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]
* Network.framework resolved an issue that could cause NWBrowser, NWConnection, NWConnectionGroup, NWEthernetChannel, NWListener, and NWPathMonitor to trigger a retain cycle when various Handler blocks are set. Starting with macOS 13, iOS 16, watchOS 9, and tvOS 16, if software using Network.framework targets these releases as the minimum OS, the object releases any blocks they captured once cancelled, breaking the retain cycle. (89677097)
Workaround: For software targeting older versions, the retain cycle can be broken by setting the handler blocks to nil after canceling the object.
[HEADING=2]SwiftUI[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: SwiftUI views log to the console [UIFocus] <typename> implements focusItemsInRect: - caching for linear focus movement is limited as long as this view is on screen. (93428139)
* Fixed: Passing multiple children to a custom Layout fails to compile. (92914226)
* Fixed: Pickers might appear empty and fail to update when the initial selection is bound to a value that doesn’t correspond to a tag. (92282222)
* Fixed: Subitems in an OutlineGroup can display the layout incorrectly. (93248032)
* Fixed: Both HStack and VStack no longer conform to Layout. (95611618)
* Fixed: Pickers in Catalyst, optimized for Mac idiom, don’t display their labels. (93897594)
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]
* A view-based NavigationLink in a List fails to update the visible selection of the list. (92193873)
* Providing actions to a navigationTitle modifier has been deprecated. Use the toolbarTitleActions() modifier or ToolbarTitleActions type in a toolbar modifier instead. (93658035)
[HEADING=2]Swift Charts[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: Charts might crash after repeatedly rendering charts with cubic curve lines. (93476090)
* Fixed: Audio graphs might appear unexpectedly on each bar in a bar chart. (93617442)
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]
* Automatic accessibility elements aren’t yet available for marks other than bars. (92035605)
* Audio graphs aren’t yet available for marks other than bars. (58689362)
[HEADING=2]System Settings[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: Network Account Server isn’t available in Users & Groups settings for macOS. (91719458)
[HEADING=2]Texts and Fonts[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Deprecations[/HEADING]
* ATS and ATSUI APIs are fully deprecated. Code using these APIs will fail to compile and link when the deployment target is set to 13. Code targeting earlier versions of macOS will continue to compile, link, and run. macOS 13 is the last release where code depending on ATS or ATSUI will run. All runtime functionality will be removed in next major release of macOS. (83581159)
[HEADING=2]Third-Party Apps[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: Windows virtual machines (VMs) in Parallels might initially render black. (92891101)
[HEADING=2]Virtualization[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: If directory sharing is enabled for a macOS guest, the guest can become unstable. (95138139)
[HEADING=2]Wallet[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in macOS 13 Ventura beta 4[/HEADING]
* Fixed: Devices running macOS can unexpectedly register for ordering tracking updates. (91342464)
* Fixed: Some cells in the Apple Pay sheet might have an unexpected yellow tint in Dark Mode. (92171434)
* Fixed: In an Apple Pay transaction, changing the shipping address might not recalculate the final amount if shipping charges apply. (93434317)
* Fixed: The Touch ID glyph might disappear from the Apple Pay sheet. You might be unable to authorize the transaction. (93460787)
* Fixed: Wallet & Apple Pay can be missing from System Settings after performing Erase All Content and Settings. (92108213)
[/SPOILER]
There were categories, none of which made sense.
Why was "Language & Region" in the same category as "Mission Control" and "Desktop & Screensaver"?
"Language and Region" should be with "Date and Time" and other related things.
Why was "General" all about random things to do with the system colors and buttons? Those aren't General, those are appearance, which is where they are in the new "Settings."
"General" now houses actual "General" things like Software Updates.
A: macOS 14 won't change anything back to how it used to be.
B: You're not going to use an operating system simply because of a settings panel?
A settings panel you'll get used to after like... a week of using?
Ok...
* Let me clarify: what I mean is, have they refined the UI so that the particular items are in logical places? Or reorganized the items so that they are in more logical locations? Because when I used Beta 3, the items were still mysterious and often in illogical locations, and I had to resort to using the search functionality to locate particular setting items. I don't want to have to search to find these items...