Apple Releases First Public Beta of macOS Ventura 13.3

Apple today seeded the first beta of macOS Ventura 13.3 to its public beta testing group, letting the general public test out the features ahead of the software's release. The public beta comes one day after Apple provided the beta to developers.

macos ventura roundup header
Public beta testers can download the macOS 13.3 Ventura update from the Software Update section of the System Preferences app after installing the proper profile from Apple's beta software website.

Like iOS 16.4, ‌macOS Ventura‌ 13.3 adds support for new emoji characters that include shaking head, pink heart, blue heart, gray heart, donkey, moose, black bird, goose, wing, jellyfish, hyacinth, pea pod, ginger, fan, comb, flute, maracas, left hand, and right hand.

It also supports updating to the new HomeKit architecture that Apple has reintroduced after the update was pulled from iOS 16.2.

The Messages app now supports content previews for shared Mastodon links, and there are new options in Shortcuts for creating workflows that include Siri notification announcements.

Apple says that ‌macOS Ventura‌ 13.3 will be released in the spring, a timeline that ranges from March 20 to June 20.

Related Roundup: macOS Ventura
Related Forum: macOS Ventura

Top Rated Comments

AdamNC Avatar
6 weeks ago

Did they revert system preferences to the pre-Ventura version?
That’s not going to happen. Get used to it. It’s not bad if you spend time using.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
erikkfi Avatar
6 weeks ago
Did they revert system preferences to the pre-Ventura version?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HVDynamo Avatar
6 weeks ago

That’s not going to happen. Get used to it. It’s not bad if you spend time using.
That's true, but I do really prefer the old layout better.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
StellarVixen Avatar
6 weeks ago

That's true, but I do really prefer the old layout better.
I tend to agree. Problem is not that they redesigned it, problem is how they redesigned it, with seemingly infinite vertical scrolling and controls that are clearly optimized for touch, which can only mean 2 things: touch screens are coming to Macs soon or reusing assets (laziness, cheaping out and inconsideration), you know… “it’s good enough”. Once upon a time “it’s good enough” wasn’t accepted answer at Apple, but alas…
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
erikkfi Avatar
6 weeks ago

Not going to happen. It was a bad interface anyway, it’s much better now. People complained also when Microsoft changed their control panel, but nobody would want the old messy one now. The same will happen with macOS. Some people just don’t like any change, but they’ll get used to it and then they won’t want the old thing back anymore.
But why is it so narrow on a widescreen display? How is this a System Preferences interface designed for the Mac?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Realityck Avatar
6 weeks ago
So far so good with MacOS 13.3 beta 1 for my usage on M1 iMac and M1 Max 16" MBP.

Released yesterday to devs and today to PB testers
iOS 16.4 beta (20E5212f) - February 16, 2023
iPadOS 16.4 beta (20E5212f) - February 16, 2023
macOS 13.3 beta (22E5219e) - February 16, 2023
watchOS 9.4 beta (20T5222g) - February 16, 2023
tvOS 16.4 beta (20L5463g) - February 16, 2023

MacOS 13.3 beta 1

* Safari Version 16.4 (18615.1.21.11.5)
* System Firmware Version: 8422.100.610.0.1 (M1 based Macs)
* Darwin Kernel Version 22.4.0: Fri Feb 10 08:10:32 PST 2023; root:xnu-8796.100.721.505.3~4/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103 arm64

MacOS 13.2.1

* Safari Version 16.3 (18614.4.6.1.6)
* System Firmware Version: 8419.80.7 (M1 based Macs)
* Darwin Kernel Version 22.3.0: Mon Jan 30 20:39:35 PST 2023; root:xnu-8792.81.3~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103 arm64

MacOS 13.2RC same as public 13.2 release

* Safari Version 16.3 (18614.4.6.1.5)
* System Firmware Version: 8419.80.7 (M1 based Macs)
* Darwin Kernel Version 22.3.0: Thu Jan 5 20:49:43 PST 2023; root:xnu-8792.81.2~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103 arm64

Safari 16.4 changes
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/safari-release-notes/safari-16_4-release-notes
[HEADING=2]Media[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]New Features[/HEADING]

* Added improvements to audio quality for web video conferencing.
* Added support for a subset of the AudioSession Web API.
* Added support for AVCapture virtual cameras.
* Added support for inbound rtp trackIdentifier stat field.
* Added support for the AV1 codec in the MediaCapabilities API.
* Added support for video stats overlay with developer tools enabled.
* Added support for VTT-based extended audio descriptions.
* Added support to allow a site to provide an “alternate” URL to be used during AirPlay.
* Added video-only support for Web Codecs.
* Added WebRTC support for hardware AV1 decoding on supported device configurations.

If you look at Develop menu I see these unchecked
WebCodecs AV1 codec
WebRTC AV1 codec
WebRTC H256 codec
WebRTC VP9 profile 2 codec

Of course so far YouTube doesn't show AV1 running.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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