Apple Seeds Second Release Candidate Version of macOS 14 Sonoma to Developers

[MacRumors]

Apple today seeded a second release candidate version of the upcoming macOS 14 Sonoma update to developers for testing purposes. The software update comes over a week after the launch of the first RC.

Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and after the appropriate profile is installed, with the betas available through the Software Update mechanism in System Settings.

macOS Sonoma introduces new Apple TV-like screen savers that also serve as wallpapers after you log in, plus it moves widgets to the desktop. You can use the new widget gallery to choose from a range of widgets, and then drag them to your Mac's desktop.

Widgets can be arranged in any way that's useful, and when you're using an app, they are designed to fade into the background so they're less distracting. Widgets are more interactive than before, so you can use them to do things like play music, turn off the lights in your home, and more. Through Continuity, your iPhone's widgets can also show up on your Mac's desktop.

Video conferencing has improved with a new Presenter Overlay view that shows your desktop or project in new ways, plus Safari now supports web apps for the Dock and the option to create Profiles so you can separate personal browsing from work browsing.

Other new features include improved search that's faster and more responsive, password and passkey sharing, a revamped stickers interface for the Messages app, PDF integration in notes that makes it easier than ever to manage PDFs, and more.

macOS Sonoma is set to see a launch on September 26.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Second Release Candidate Version of macOS 14 Sonoma to Developers

 

[SunMac]

Not upgrading to Sonoma until they fix the VPN vulnerability.

 

[RumorConsumer]

Sweet. I hope iMessage really got a good makeover in its codebase.

 

[Realityck]

Interesting just a few days before Sonoma released on the 26th. Don't see the OTA yet.

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

Not this again. No update showing on M2, yet.

 

[nutmac]

Not this again. No update showing on M2, yet.

Not showing for me either, but I always welcome security fixes. Better this now than having to install macOS Sonoma 14.0.1 shortly after 14.0.

 

[jz0309]

Interesting, upgrades for every device, security fix?

 

[Realityck]

Not this again. No update showing on M2, yet.

If the OTA isn't available yet, why do you assume there are problems? It always takes like a half hour for it to show up.

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

If the OTA isn't available yet, why do you assume there are problems?

The problem is the OTA isn't available, yet. I'm eagerly awaiting the VPN issue to be resolved.

 

[nutmac]

OTA is out now.

 

[zorinlynx]

The problem is the OTA isn't available, yet. I'm eagerly awaiting the VPN issue to be resolved.

Actually something I was wondering is, is it possible to use an IPSW to upgrade a Mac like you can an iOS device, without losing data?

My guess is the answer is "no" but you never know and I wonder if anyone has done it.

 

[Realityck]

OTA is out now.

Yes just came up. People don't seem to realize that larger packages take longer to show up on Apple's servers. For M1 Macs it's 2.17 GB download.

 

[chrfr]

Actually something I was wondering is, is it possible to use an IPSW to upgrade a Mac like you can an iOS device, without losing data?

My guess is the answer is "no" but you never know and I wonder if anyone has done it.

No, you can only use an ipsw file to restore a Mac but one cannot do an OS update without losing all data.

 

[leo491]

Just finished downloading it. Is it supposed to show up as Beta?

 

[podycust]

Just finished downloading it. Is it supposed to show up as Beta?
View attachment 2272768

dont think so what's the apps build number?

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

Just finished downloading it. Is it supposed to show up as Beta?
View attachment 2272768

No, it should not. RC's are supposed to be the final version, thus all "beta" language has been stripped out. Odd. Is anyone else getting the same problem (the 2nd RC build installer saying "beta")?

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

Not upgrading to Sonoma until they fix the VPN vulnerability.

Might be resolved. At least it's working for me again, so they must've done something.

 

[leo491]

dont think so what's the apps build number?

I don’t know. I deleted that installer and checked for updates again. Now it showed up as MacOS Sonoma 14.0
Downloading now

 

[Realityck]

Comparison of RC2 to previous RC

macOS 14 RC2 (23A344)

• Safari Version 17.0 (19616.1.27.211.1)
• System Firmware Version: 10151.1.1 (M1 based Macs)
• Darwin Kernel Version 23.0.0: Fri Sep 15 14:41:34 PDT 2023; root:xnu-10002.1.13~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103 arm64

macOS 14 RC (23A339)

• Safari Version 17.0 (19616.1.27.111.16)
• System Firmware Version: 10151.1.1 (M1 based Macs)
• Darwin Kernel Version 23.0.0: Thu Aug 17 21:24:14 PDT 2023; root:xnu-10002.1.11~3/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103 arm64

Note Darwin kernel and Safari updated, and build used.

 

[SmokyT18]

Of course since previous was an RC I had turned off the developer beta updates. Should have waited, lol.

 

[Robert.Walter]

23A344 is also available as a PB at least on my M2 mba.

 

[Realityck]

Of course since previous was an RC I had turned off the developer beta updates. Should have waited, lol.

It never turned it off, it's just the software update server you usually link Apple ID to wasn't responding.

 

[Kissmo1980]

This release is actually working great.
Previous RC had something - hard to put my hand on what - that didn't feel quite right.

Maybe the animations were not as fluent or too slow - anyway. I am loving Sonoma, quite a lot.

Since Bartender 5 released yesterday, it allows you to make a very interesting menu bar customizations!

 

[JosephAW]

Still waiting for opencore to catch up. I can install it on my 2012 Mac mini but no acceleration.
Ventura works fine though.

 

[djtech42]

Does anyone know if Xcode 14 will run on the release candidate or final versions of macOS Sonoma? It didn't work on the betas (unless you used the executable workaround), but I was wondering if maybe it was something that was just limited to beta versions.