Apple Seeds First Beta of macOS Sonoma 14.4 to Developers

Monday January 29, 2024 9:11 am PST by Juli Clover

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming macOS Sonoma 14.4 update to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after the release of macOS Sonoma 14.3.

sonoma desktop wwdc
Registered developers can opt-in to the beta through the Software Update section of the System Settings app. Note that an Apple ID associated with an Apple Developer account is required to get the beta.

macOS Sonoma 14.4 introduces some of the features in the iOS 17.4 beta, such as new emoji characters. We don't know what Mac-specific features are included, but if we find anything new in the beta, we'll update this article.

Related Forum: macOS Sonoma

Popular Stories

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...

• 223 comments

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...

• 69 comments

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...

• 23 comments

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...

• 76 comments

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...

• 58 comments

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...

• 70 comments

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by Juli Clover

iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...

• 211 comments

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...

• 34 comments

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

• 84 comments

Top Rated Comments

Realityck

18 months ago

Comparison of 14.4 beta to previous 14.3 RC

macOS 14.4 beta (23E5180j)

* Safari Version 17.4 (19618.1.11.11.3)
* System Firmware Version: 10151.100.738.0.1 (M1 based Macs)
* Darwin Kernel Version 23.4.0: Fri Jan 12 22:41:06 PST 2024; root:xnu-10063.100.610.0.2~19/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103 arm64

macOS 14.3 RC (23D56)

* Safari Version 17.3 (19617.2.4.11.8)
* System Firmware Version: 10151.81.1 (M1 based Macs)
* Darwin Kernel Version 23.3.0: Wed Dec 20 21:30:27 PST 2023; root:xnu-10002.81.5~7/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103 arm64

* Apple Music/TV now 1.4.4.29 was 1.4.3.27

Note the higher build letter to start "j"

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Realityck

18 months ago

SDK notes say:

* Updates to macOS 14.4 starting from macOS 11.0–12.3.1 will not work. (120548971)
Workaround: Update to macOS 12.4 or later, and then update to macOS 14.4.

I wonder if that is why some Big Sur users got pushed to Sonoma MacOS 14.3 accidentally, instead of with admin permissions.

[SPOILER="macOS Sonoma 14.4 Beta Release Notes"]
[HEADING=2]CreateML ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#CreateML')[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved Issues ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Resolved-Issues')[/HEADING]

* Fixed: When using the transfer learning algorithm option, the CreateML app and framework object detection template might fail to converge and cause poor model quality and produce more than expected false positives. (114480994)

[HEADING=2]Finder ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Finder')[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved Issues ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Resolved-Issues')[/HEADING]

* Fixed: Resolves an issue where tiling a window causes the desktop picture to turn black. (118044617)

[HEADING=2]Messages ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Messages')[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Known Issues ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Known-Issues')[/HEADING]

* Memoji and 3rd party Stickers do not display in the tray. (120994483)

[HEADING=2]Software Updates ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Software-Updates')[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Known Issues ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Known-Issues')[/HEADING]

* Updates to macOS 14.4 starting from macOS 11.0–12.3.1 will not work. (120548971)
Workaround: Update to macOS 12.4 or later, and then update to macOS 14.4.

[HEADING=2]StoreKit ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#StoreKit')[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]New Features ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#New-Features')[/HEADING]

* You can use the productDescriptionHidden(_:) API to configure the visibility of product descriptions in ProductView, StoreView and SubscriptionStoreView instances within a view hierarchy. When building with Xcode 15.3, you can use this view modifier even if your app is running on iOS 17.0, iPadOS 17.0, macOS 14.0, tvOS 17.0, watchOS 10.0, visionOS 1.0, or later.
If you implement your own product view style, you can support this new view modifier by checking the descriptionVisibility property on the configuration value. (110414819) (FB12261973)
* You can use SubscriptionStoreView ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/subscriptionstoreview') to present promotional offers by adding the subscriptionPromotionalOffer(offer:signature:) modifier.
If you’re already using inAppPurchaseOptions(_:) ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swiftui/view/inapppurchaseoptions(_:)') modifier to support promotional offers for StoreKit views, you should adopt the new API instead when your app is running on iOS 17.4, iPadOS 17.4, macOS 14.4, tvOS 17.4, watchOS 10.4, visionOS 1.1 or later. Do not use both APIs to apply a promotional offer for the same view. (115358806)

[HEADING=3]Resolved Issues ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Resolved-Issues')[/HEADING]

* Fixed: The isEligibleForIntroOffer ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/product/subscriptioninfo/3803203-iseligibleforintrooffer') property and isEligibleForIntroOffer(for:) ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/product/subscriptioninfo/3791958-iseligibleforintrooffer')method now reflect ineligibility in cases where a customer would otherwise be eligible for the offer if they weren’t actively subscribed. This means a customer which is not currently eligible for an introductory offer may become eligible in the future.
Customers who redeem an introductory offer for a given subscription group will continue to never be eligible for another introductory offer in that subscription group. You can detect this case this by checking if any one transaction with a matching subscriptionGroupID ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/transaction/3749718-subscriptiongroupid') has the type ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/transaction/offer/4307073-type') property on offer ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/transaction/4307076-offer') set to introductory ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/transaction/offertype/3822309-introductory'). (103604770) (FB11889732)

[HEADING=2]SwiftUI ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#SwiftUI')[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]New Features ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#New-Features')[/HEADING]

* Table now supports dynamic numbers of columns with the new TableColumnForEach. (79492167) (FB9189673)

[HEADING=3]Resolved Issues ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Resolved-Issues')[/HEADING]

* Fixed: DatePicker in macOS reset focus to the first date component when its bound date changes and timeZone is overriden in the environment. (97376561)

[HEADING=2]Weather ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Weather')[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Known Issues ('https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-14_4-release-notes#Known-Issues')[/HEADING]

* Weather might crash on launch on Intel macOS hardware. (121294923)

[/SPOILER]

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Realityck

18 months ago