Apple today seeded the third beta of macOS Ventura 13.1 to its public beta testing group, allowing non-developers to try out the new features ahead of the software's release. The public beta comes one week after Apple released the second public beta.
Public beta testers can download the macOS 13.1 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 13.1 introduces the Freeform app, which Apple has designed for creative collaboration. The app can be used for brainstorming, planning out ideas, jotting down notes, and more. Users can insert drawings, sticky notes, shapes, text boxes, photos, videos, PDFs, links, and other documents, with Freeform serving as a blank canvas.
Freeform "boards" can be shared with other people and discussed over FaceTime, with updates from all participants synced to everyone in real-time.
The update also introduces support for an updated Home app architecture that improves performance for smart home devices.
Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by Eric Slivka
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking!
Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Update: Apple has released iOS 27.
During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14.
iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update.
Below, we have highlighted eight new features and changes coming with iOS...
Saturday September 12, 2026 3:27 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
As noted by Nicolas Lellouche, who writes for the French tech website Numerama, Apple has updated its tech specs pages for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max to clarify which models are equipped with its new C2 cellular modem and where.
Apple now says the iPhone 18 Pro has a C2 modem worldwide, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max uses the chip in every country except for the U.S.
According...
How many betas do these usually have? Wondering whether it will release next week (before Thanksgiving) or early December. I'm waiting for its release to upgrade from Monterey.
Monday Dec 12th its when it is expected to be publicly released. (last 2 years were Dec 13, Dec 14)
Is Freeform shared only through FaceTime? This might be useful for education if it could be done with 20+ people at the same time.
I teach at a small college and see a lot of potential in a tool like Freeform.
But it's only for Apple devices, right? Only about 4 in 10 of my students have Macs, 1 in 10 have iPads, most have Windows laptops and a few have non-Apple tablets.
So unless Freeform becomes available for non-Apple platforms, I won't be able to use it.
But there are already other products that work across platforms and provide similar functionality as Freeform.
How's ventura shaping up? I'll install it this december when 13.1 will be released.
Can't speak for others but it's been a mixed bag for me. Most things are working as expected. A few are not. Wifi connections to remembered networks I use every day take a bit longer to connect sometimes. And I cannot connect to my employer's networked printers at all since upgrading one of my two Macbooks to Ventura. The other Macbook, still running Monterey 12.6.1, continues to connect to the networked printers just fine.
The new features of Ventura have not really improved my workflows or general usability of my Macbook, so it's been all downside for me. (Fortunately, not TOO much downside.)
I think I'm going to start doing what you do - wait until X.1 to install a major new macOS version.
