Apple

How to Get the macOS High Sierra Public Beta Now

Published

7 years ago

06/29/2017

To download the public macOS High Sierra beta, you need to sign up for the public beta program. You may have already signed up for the public iOS 11 beta, and if so you are almost done. After a lengthy wait, the macOS High Sierra public beta is available for anyone to install today.

The free macOS High Sierra beta program allows you to test out the new macOS High Sierra features on your Mac months before the public release. Unlike the developer beta that is designed to help developers make apps work with macOS High Sierra, this is focused on getting the feedback from regular users. Apple can use this to fix macOS High Sierra problems and even change features based on what you have to say.

We’ll show you how to sign up for the macOS High Sierra public beta, walk you through the reasons to try the beta and the reasons to skip installing the public macOS 10.13 beta and what you need to do before you install the beta.

How to Sign Up for the Public macOS High Sierra Beta

It’s almost easier to install the developer beta, but the public macOS 10.13 beta will often deliver a friendlier experience for the average user so we recommend this route. You don’t need to pay for anything, you just need to register your Apple ID with the program.

Go to the Apple Beta Software Program Website
Sign Up or Login
Read and Agree to the Beta Agreement

You may have already agreed to the beta agreement when you signed up for the iOS 11 beta. If so, you are already signed up for the macOS High Sierra public beta as well. You just need to download and install it. You cannot do this until it is available through the Apple Beta Program and on the Mac App Store.

How to Install the Public macOS High Sierra Beta

You can install the public macOS High Sierra beta directly to your current Mac as an upgrade. This will replace the installation of macOS Sierra that is currently on your machine. You can also make a partition or install to a second hard drive if you prefer to test in that manner. Most users will install as their primary operating system on a spare Mac.

You cannot follow these instructions until Apple releases the macOS High Sierra beta to the public, which is “Coming soon”, likely in the next day or two.

Take these steps to prepare for the macOS High Sierra beta.
After you have a backup and are ready you can proceed.
Log in to the Apple Beta Program Website.
Click on Redeem Code.
If needed enter the code in the Mac App Store or simply click Download.
Wait for the 5+GB download to complete.
Open the public macOS High Sierra beta installer.
Follow the installer directions.

Once this completes you will be on the public macOS High Sierra beta. You can downgrade from the macOS High Sierra beta to macOS Sierra if you run into too many problems. If you are on the fence, check out this list of reasons to install the macOS High Sierra beta and reasons not to install it. You can also check out the new macOS High Sierra features to see if there is something you want to try.

3 Reasons Not to Install macOS High Sierra Beta & 5 Reasons You Should

Install for High Sierra Photos Features

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The new macOS High Sierra Photos app includes a ton of cool features that will allow you to edit your photos in new ways without using a third party tool. If you love punching up your photos, this is a major reason to use the beta. Just make sure you keep a separate safe copy of your photos in case you run into any beta problems.

You now have access to more powerful controls in macOS High Sierra, including an option to adjust the photo Curve and other higher level controls. Apple adds a new sidebar to better keep track of albums and an easier way to organize your photos with a selection counter.

Edit Live Photos like never before to make them share-worthy and access the new memories options that include your pets and the ability to recognize more events in your life. The People album is improved with more faces, and this will sync to your other devices through iCloud.

Apple also adds in support for third party tools to edit and then pass the edited version back into your Photo library, but that may not be ready just yet.