Apple Seeds Sixth Public Beta of macOS 13 Ventura

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Apple today seeded the sixth beta of macOS Ventura to its public beta testing group, allowing non-developers to test the new macOS Ventura operating system ahead of its release. The sixth beta comes following the fifth public beta and it corresponds with eighth developer beta released earlier this week.

clock weather macos ventura
Public beta testers can download the macOS 13 Ventura update from the Software Update section of the System Preferences app after installing the proper profile from Apple's beta software website.

macOS Ventura introduces Stage Manager, a new multi-tasking option for focusing on a task while having other apps waiting in the wings. ‌Stage Manager‌ puts your main app front and center, tucking your other apps to the side for quick access.

Continuity Camera allows you to use your iPhone as a webcam for your Mac, offering much better camera quality than the built-in Mac camera. Apple is building special stands to hold the ‌iPhone‌ with a Mac, and there are neat features like Desk View, which uses the Ultra Wide lens.

Handoff now works with FaceTime so you can answer calls on the Mac and then transfer them over to another device, and Messages is gaining undo, edit, and mark as unread features. SharePlay now works in Messages in addition to ‌FaceTime‌, and the Mail app has been overhauled. Search is more relevant, emails can be scheduled, and there's even an option to undo an email for up to 10 seconds after it's sent.

Apple brought the Weather and Clock apps to the Mac, redesigned System Preferences and renamed it System Settings, and added support for Shared Tab Groups. Passwords are being replaced with more secure Passkeys in iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, and there are updates to Spotlight, Visual Lookup, Live Text, and more.

There are a ton of other features in macOS Ventura, and we have a full rundown available in our dedicated macOS Ventura roundup.

Related Forum: macOS Ventura

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Top Rated Comments

AboveGroundLevel Avatar
AboveGroundLevel
44 months ago

I'm not super excited about most of the features in Ventura but the (unexciting) mail ones seem the most useful: better searching and ability to undo a send. I just think 10 seconds is not enough time to undo. I would prefer they let the user set the time available to cancel a sent email (and adding a corresponding delay in sending), I'd want it more like 30-90 seconds and I wouldn't mind if my emails got delayed by that much.
You can choose between 10, 20 or 30 seconds.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiRez Avatar
HiRez
44 months ago
I'm not super excited about most of the features in Ventura but the (unexciting) mail ones seem the most useful: better searching and ability to undo a send. I just think 10 seconds is not enough time to undo. I would prefer they let the user set the time available to cancel a sent email (and adding a corresponding delay in sending), I'd want it more like 30-90 seconds and I wouldn't mind if my emails got delayed by that much.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AdrianCobon Avatar
AdrianCobon
44 months ago
Downloading the public betas to my M1 iPad Air 5G and my M1 Mac Mini now... I can't wait until the actual releases are made in a bit. I hopped on the beta bandwagon due to the expanded focus modes - they actually made it possible to separate my work and home lives without having to use separate accounts on my Mac. (I am a freelance writer working from home.)

This makes me curious about Apple's plans for iWork. I dumped Office for iWork '09 and have been a fanboy ever since. Paired with Scrivener and the occasional forays with Google Docs, I have never needed to use Microsoft Word. Though I will admit I miss the old full-screen mode from Pages '09. The new one just isn't the same.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rpmurray Avatar
rpmurray
44 months ago
Have they fixed the slowdowns in Safari? I won't ask about System Settings since that's a dumpster fire that will take until the middle of next year to work out.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr. Dee Avatar
Mr. Dee
44 months ago
I have yet to upgrade from Big Sur to Monterrey. It’s gonna be a while before I upgrade to Ventura. Based on all the bugs iOS 16 GM is experiencing, it’s safe to say, Ventura will have its share.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AdrianCobon Avatar
AdrianCobon
44 months ago

Did you have any issues with Focus modes previously?
I tried to use them because I genuinely find the idea great - but no matter what I set up it always told my partner that I had notifications silenced.
Which I didn’t. In fact, she’s set up one of the few people who get through even when I’m on “Sleep”.
The main problem was with email. I have separate email accounts for work, personal, and junk. Beforehand I could only figure out how to block the mail app entirely, which wasn't ideal considering I needed to get messages from clients while working. Ventura allows me to specify the email accounts and people to craft focus modes perfect for the situation. For instance, I have my work mode set up for between 8-12 and 1-6 with a separate lunch mode from 12-1. I get notifications of personal emails during lunch but not after, and business emails are silenced during lunch. Junk isn't available until after I clock out at six when it and personal get unblocked, though with business getting blocked.

Similar thing with my cellphone. Outside of work hours, all my business contacts get shunted to voicemail or silenced until the start of the next day. While at work, I only allow clients and immediate family (my husband and one of my brothers) to call/text me.

For your problem - it may be worth it to dump all of the focus modes on your devices and start from scratch. I found that sharing focuses between devices can be *interesting* at times, with one device saying/doing one thing and the rest doing something else. So dump it and write your own from scratch!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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