Apple has finally released the first public beta of its next Mac operating system, so public beta testers can now try out the new macOS High Sierra.
The company announced the upcoming macOS High Sierra at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2017 earlier this month, so the first public beta was bound to drop soon enough. It's not a major new release with massive upgrades or overhauls, but it does fine-tune the OS and adds some neat features such as HEVC video support, a new file system, and more.
Beta Testing
Before proceeding with the download and installation, keep in mind that this is the first beta of macOS High Sierra, so it's a long way from the final release. The final version will hit the scene this fall, after Apple goes through several beta versions to ensure it addresses any and all issues before the official launch.
Public beta versions allow those who sign up as beta testers to check out the upcoming software and report any bugs to Apple so that it can improve the experience. Any beta software, however, may be riddled with bugs and cause problems on the device it's on, so don't expect smooth sailing at all times. The beta version may often crash or freeze, some apps may not work at times, and it may not be very stable.
With that in mind, it might be best to avoid installing the beta version on a Mac you heavily rely on. If you have a Mac as a secondary machine, however, installing the beta can give you a taste of what's to come, and you can give valuable feedback to Apple so it can work on problem areas.
How To Get macOS High Sierra Public Beta
If you're not registered as a public beta tester already, you can sign up for Apple's public beta program on the company's website. If you're already signed up, just grab the software from the same website and give it a go.
Before installing the beta version, however, it's highly recommended to take some precautions to protect your data. First of all, back up your computer so that if anything goes awry, you can recover your data. You can create a backup either using Time Machine or some other tool designed for this purpose. This way, if you get tired of the beta or it's too glitchy to keep it up, you can simply restore your system and return to your stable OS.
If at some point you decide you no longer want to use the public beta, you can find instructions on Apple's website on how to leave the public beta and how to restore your computer.
macOS High Sierra Compatibility
The upcoming macOS High Sierra will play nice with MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and Mac Pro models from 2010 and later, and iMac models from late 2009 and later. Older devices will not support the new OS version, but that's not entirely surprising.
If you already grabbed the macOS High Sierra public beta, drop by our comments section below and tell us what you think of it so far.
