Apple today released the third beta of macOS Ventura 13.4 to its public beta testing group, allowing the general public to try out the software ahead of its official launch. The third macOS Ventura 13.4 public beta comes two weeks after Apple seeded the second public beta and a day after the beta was provided to developers.
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.
The macOS Ventura 13.4 beta adds a new beta installation method where developers and public beta testers can opt-in to receive beta updates without the need for a profile to be installed. For developers, an Apple ID needs to be associated with a developer account to get access to a developer beta, while public beta testers need to sign up on Apple's public beta website with their Apple ID and then elect to receive beta updates using the System Settings app.
Work on macOS Ventura is winding down as Apple prepares to shift its focus to macOS 14, the as-of-yet-unnamed next-generation version of macOS that we expect to see introduced this June at WWDC.
Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie.
"Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Monday February 9, 2026 6:24 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
The feature is currently available in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to launch in at least seven more in the future.
To set up the...
Tuesday February 10, 2026 4:27 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models as soon as early March, but if you can, this is one generation you should skip because there's something much better in the works.
We're waiting on 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, with few changes other than the processor upgrade. There won't be any tweaks to the design or the display, but later this...
Tuesday February 10, 2026 6:33 am PST by Joe Rossignol
It has been a slow start to 2026 for Apple product launches, with only a new AirTag and a special Apple Watch band released so far. We are still waiting for MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the iPhone 17e, a lower-cost MacBook with an iPhone chip, long-rumored updates to the Apple TV and HomePod mini, and much more.
Apple is expected to release/update the following products...
New MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips could arrive as soon as Monday, March 2, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In today's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the release of new MacBook Pro models is tied to the release of macOS Tahoe 26.3. The launch is said to be slated for as early as the week of March 2. He added that the M4 Pro and M4 Max models on sale today...
Will upgrade to Ventura in October, Monterrey is stable and super reliable. Thank you all for continued beta testing, carry on!
This year was the first time I never updated any of my devices to the "current OS". Every device is a generation back, and I have no issues or problems that I am aware of. When I sit down to work I work for me, not Apple by trying to debug something they have borked.
There's always the hope that bugs are fixed... There's a truly horrendous bug in 13.3.x on Apple Silicon that randomly ejects external hard drives.
That's the BIG one that I care about too. And it's been an ongoing problem since Big Sur, not just 13.3.x. Only some externals are affected, not all. It seems to be a greater problem for HDD-based enclosures than SSD (but SSDs are not immune). Age is not a factor as I've tested some ancient ones (pulled out of retirement enclosures to test this) that work fine, while some much newer ones will NOT stay connected. Many think it is connected to sleep, but I've seen plenty of ejections while actively transferring files to/from affected drives. It is not brand based as I have 2 from the same (good) brand and one works fine while the other "unexpectedly ejects."
Fans will visit every thread about this issue and redirect to cable, settings, user, firmware, etc- anything other than Apple/macOS- but same drive + cable hooked to an older Mac running macOS BEFORE Big Sur is typically just fine.
There are also plenty of posts by people who simply upgraded on the SAME Mac and crashed into this problem- fine with the prior macOS version, "unexpected ejections" on newer macOS. It mattered enough to some of those people to downgrade back to the prior version of macOS and all was fine again- no cable change, same user, no firmware change, etc. Particularly in those cases, it seems it can only be macOS bugs because EVERYTHING else remained the same.
There are LOTS of threads about this both here and elsewhere (including Apple's own support forums). For some reason, this (almost certainly) buggy port management code cannot seem to get attention at Apple (yet). Hopefully, THIS time someone finally got to it. I've got a great external temporarily retired because I can't keep it attached while using it... unless I hook it back up to any other Mac (or a PC I now own too) and all is fine again. Older Macs running older macOS? All just fine. Latest, greatest, "most powerful ever" Mac running latest macOS? "Unexpected ejections." I really miss "just works" Apple.
I'm kind of meh on Ventura. I haven't seen anything new that would have me champing at the bit to install it on my work machine. Apple's penchant of breaking two things for every one thing they fix isn't instilling a lot of confidence in me.
I will see about using OCLP to install Ventura on my 2011 27 inch iMac just to see how that goes. Just used OCLP to install the latest Monterey and everything is good, despite a slight hiccup with Safari.
