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Apple today seeded the second beta of macOS 10.15 Catalina for testing purposes, two weeks after the new Mac operating system update was first unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

The new macOS Catalina beta can be downloaded using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences. As with all new betas, you're not going to want to install macOS Catalina on a primary machine as it is early release software and could have major bugs.

test-macOS-10.15-800x522.jpg

macOS Catalina eliminates the iTunes app, splitting it into Music, Podcasts, and TV apps. The Apple Music and Apple Podcasts apps are available now, while the Apple TV app is coming later this year.

The new apps are similar in function to iTunes, but are split up by feature. iOS device management is still available on the Mac, but it's now done through Finder rather than iTunes.

With a new Sidecar feature, you can turn your iPad into a second display for your Mac with just the click of a button. The Apple Pencil works with Sidecar, so you can turn your iPad into a drawing tablet in apps like Photoshop and Illustrator.

Your Apple Watch can be used to approve security prompts in macOS Catalina, and Macs with a T2 chip support Activation Lock. There's a new Find My that brings the Find My Mac app to the Mac for the first time and even lets you track your devices when they're offline.

Screen Time is now available on the Mac as well as iOS devices, and Project Catalyst, a new Apple initiative, will let developers easily port their iPad apps over to the Mac.

There's a new Photos interface that surfaces your best photos organized by day, month, or year, there's a new start page in Safari, Mail has new tools for muting email threads and blocking senders, and the Reminders app has been overhauled.

32-bit apps no longer work in macOS Catalina, which is something to be aware of before installing the beta. Right now, Catalina is limited to developers, but Apple plans to release a public beta in July ahead of a fall public launch.

For more details on macOS Catalina, make sure to check out our macOS Catalina roundup.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Second Beta of macOS Catalina to Developers
 

macintoshmac

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May 13, 2010
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Installing now (upgrading from Beta 1) on a spare MacBook Air.
So far, no issues on Beta 1, but still afraid to install on my regular MacBook.

Do share your thoughts when you have taken the second beta for a spin.

I tried the first, and found some fundamental workflow issues that meant I had to downgrade the system back to Mojave. Things like apps not reflecting in Launchpad, Finder not updating quick enough, some other basic things. I did like the overall system snappiness on my Air 2017. Positive step. Waiting for it to iron out some more bugs.

How did you not encounter issues? :)
 

macintoshmac

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May 13, 2010
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This beta has been pretty bug free for me so far. Downloading and installing beta 2 now

Is the launchpad bug a random or maybe device specific bug then, where third party apps do not reflect and if you reset launchpad, the apps downloaded from App Store disappear too?
 

chrisdazzo

macrumors 65816
Apr 11, 2006
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Very curious to see how stable this is, I've experienced issues (beta, duh) which forced me to downgrade in the past, prior to Public beta 2. Just my 2c.
 

Mike Haas

macrumors regular
Aug 7, 2014
193
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Actually I had the same after getting the profile. It launches as a new installer, but hoping it’s just updating...

Yeah - I have the Beta Profile installed as well. However, the 3 hour time is off - it's already approaching 3 GB downloaded in only about 20 minutes, still saying "3 hours."
 

daveedjackson

macrumors 6502
Aug 6, 2009
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Loads of bugs here, photoshop issues when saving out, not changing the extension on images. file preview issues, and associated programs. When downloading zipped files, no longer do the zips get deleted and auto unpack. Hopefully this will iron out those things.
 

Mike Haas

macrumors regular
Aug 7, 2014
193
143
I could not sync my iPhone X. It would show in Finder but I'd get a blank page after it loaded the space remaining data. The Music and Apple TV apps are bare minimum functionality. Photos didn't like my default data file. Fortunately, I had backups. All sorts of weird issues. However, it was stable for a first beta otherwise.
[doublepost=1560795375][/doublepost]
Home Sharing work well with Catalina Beta 1

Where was it? I saw no place to turn it on and nothing showed up on the Apple TV (I have the 4 - it hasn't been updated to the beta).
 

vbctv

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2013
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Cleveland, OH
It seems to only be a full installer of 6.45GB. I even tried reinstalling the beta profile on my macOS after I saw how big, thinking it was a mistake, but it just showed up again. For some reason I remember them doing this a few years ago also and then beta 3 it was changed...
 

tywebb13

macrumors 68030
Apr 21, 2012
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Build number is 19A487l.

Whether or not it is available as a delta update I actually prefer a full installer so as to make a bootable usb for beta 2.

In mojave prerelease betas they made full installers for all of them, which is a major improvement on previous versions where in order to get beta 8 for example you had to install first the full one for beta 1 and then 7 deltas in the proper sequence. With full installers however such pain is no longer required. So I hope they do the same thing for Catalina - and it seems they probably will.
 
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Peace

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Apr 1, 2005
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Build number is 19A487l.

Whether or not it is available as a delta update I actually prefer a full installer so as to make a bootable usb for beta 2.

In mojave prerelease betas they made full installers for all of them, which is a major improvement on previous versions where in order to get beta 8 for example you had to install first the full one for beta 1 and then 7 deltas in the proper sequence. With full installers however such pain is no longer required. So I hope they do the same thing for Catalina - and it seems they probably will.

The first couple of builds are almost always full installs.
 
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