The macOS Sonoma beta was released last month after the announcement but it was exclusive to developer accounts. But finally, the beta is available for everyone who wants to test the new macOS Sonoma early. Unlike developer beta builds, the public beta has less number of bugs. This is because Apple already invested a month in squashing bugs that were present in early developer betas to improve the macOS performance. So, if you’re someone who wants to test the new macOS Sonoma but doesn’t want to deal with major bugs, then you can install macOS Sonoma Public Beta on your Mac. And this guide is about that.
macOS 14 Sonoma – New Features
macOS Sonoma has a good number of features that makes it even better to use your supported macOS device. There are a good number of new features such as
Easily Add Widgets From your iPhone To macOS Desktop Game Mode to help maximize system resources when gaming Separate Safari browser profiles Facetime camera reactions Improved Autocorrect and Predictive text
Check out the list of all features here.
Supported Devices
Before we dig into the steps of how you can easily install the public beta for macOS Sonoma, it’s best to take a look at what macOS devices are eligible to update and install macOS Sonoma.
iMac Pro: 2017 and newer iMac: 2019 and newer Mac Mini: 2018 and newer Mac Pro: 2019 and newer Mac Studio: 2022 and newer MacBook Air: 2018 and newer MacBook Pro: 2018 and newer
How to Install macOS Sonoma Public Beta
Now that you know what devices are eligible to install the macOS Sonoma update, it’s finally time to take a look at the steps that you need to follow to get the public beta of macOS Sonoma on your macOS device. Requirements:
Take a backup of important data Make sure at least 20GB of space free on the drive Since it is a public beta it can have bugs
Take a Backup of your Mac
It is important to take a backup of your Mac before installing a beta update. So if you haven’t taken a backup, make sure to backup your data using Time Machine. Backup always comes in handy if you want to downgrade to the previous version of macOS.
Enroll for macOS Sonoma Public Beta
Here are the steps to get access to the public beta of macOS Sonoma
On your macOS device, launch the Safari web browser and head over to the official Apple Beta Software Program website. Click on the button that says Sign Up to create a new Apple ID account or click on the Sign In button to sign in with your existing Apple ID. You will be asked to agree to the terms and conditions of the program. Agree to the terms and conditions. Now, on the next screen, you will see different Apple devices software, click on macOS. Scroll down and look for the macOS Public Beta Access Utility. Click on it to download the utility tool. After downloading the tool, install it on your Mac. It will check for the backup, and if it doesn’t find the backup you will receive the prompt to take a backup. On the beta program page, click on Enroll Your Devices.
Download and Install macOS Sonoma Public Beta
Now that you have registered your Apple ID and your macOS device for the public beta of macOS Sonoma, it’s time to now download the public beta to your Mac.
How to Install macOS Sonoma Public Beta on External Drive
In case your Mac storage is running low or you don’t want to install it on the main disk, then you always have the option to install macOS on an external drive or on a different partition on your Mac. But you need to have an empty drive in order to install it. Here’s what you need to do: If you had macOS installed on two drives, you can easily choose the drive to boot. To do this on Apple Silicon Mac, press and hold the power button when turning on your PC. This should give you the option to boot into the partition of your choice. And if you have an Intel-based Mac hold the Options key while booting your Mac. This concludes the guide on how you can sign up for the public beta as well as download the macOS Sonoma public beta on your supported macOS device. If you have questions or queries, feel free to leave them in the comments section below. Also, do share with us your experience in using macOS Sonoma. Tell us what you think is great and maybe things that you feel can be improved with the stable release for the public. Also Check:
macOS 14 Sonoma Features, Supported Devices, and General Availability How to Download and Install macOS 14 Sonoma on your Mac Download macOS Sonoma Wallpapers [6K Resolution] macOS 14 Sonoma Supported Devices Official List and Features
