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.
Apple's iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models will feature a number of significant display, thermal, and battery improvements, according to new late-stage rumors.
According to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital," the iPhone 17 Pro models will feature displays with higher brightness, making it more suitable for use in direct sunlight for prolonged periods. The iPhone 16 Pro and...
Thursday September 4, 2025 7:38 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
We're only days away from Apple's "Awe dropping" fall event scheduled to take place on Tuesday, September 9 – and along with the new iPhone 17 series, we're going to get a new version of the Apple Watch Ultra for the first time since 2023.
By the time the Ultra 3 is unveiled, it will have been two years since the previous model arrived. The intervening period has left plenty of room for...
Friday September 5, 2025 9:33 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is set to unveil the iPhone 17 series in just four days from now, and the biggest design mystery surrounding the Pro models has finally been solved.
In a report outlining his expectations for Apple's event next week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the iPhone 17 Pro models will have "a new cutout area on the bottom two-thirds of the phone that doubles as the wireless charging area."...
Wednesday September 3, 2025 1:19 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 introduces an Adaptive Power Mode on the iPhone, alongside the existing Low Power Mode.
Apple says Adaptive Power Mode can make "performance adjustments" when necessary to extend an iPhone's battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness, allowing some activities to "take longer," and automatically turning on Low Power Mode when the iPhone's remaining battery life...
Tuesday September 2, 2025 1:50 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Just one week before Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 17 series, an analyst has shared new price estimates for the devices.
Here are J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee's price estimates for the iPhone 17 series in the United States, according to 9to5Mac:
Model
Starting Price
Model
Starting Price
Change
iPhone 16
$799
iPhone 17
...
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.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
