macOS Tahoe 26.0 Beta 5 - Bug fixes, changes, and more

[thertrain]

Where can you download a full installer? I tried perform a recovery reinstall to start fresh and it put Beta 4 back on.

DISREGARD! I just saw it above.

 

[dd93]

Out of interest, how did you get the URL from software update?

Just use the console and log it, when you are downloading the file via terminal and softwareupdate. Filter the console output for InstallAssistant.pkg or swcdn.apple.com and the download link to Apple will show up.

 

[RaoulCapano]

Anyone else's available storage acting weird on this? If I add up my purgeable space and available space, it comes out to be ~2GB of my total capacity on my MBP. That has never been the case.

 

[RaoulCapano]

It also takes forever for my dock to appear, post restart.

 

[mcarvin]

Damn my swift projects are fully broken with new XCode beta crazy stuff the first version was more stable than this for me

How were they broken and did you get them fixed?

 

[Six Mac Abs]

Just use the console and log it, when you are downloading the file via terminal and softwareupdate. Filter the console output for InstallAssistant.pkg or swcdn.apple.com and the download link to Apple will show up.

Of course...And thank you!

 

[Six Mac Abs]

It also takes forever for my dock to appear, post restart.

I noticed after the dev beta 5 install that the desktop wallpaper took a very long time to load after the first boot, so I was presented with a plain dark desktop for about 45 seconds. I'm running it in a VM on UTM though so just put it down to limited resources assigned to the VM. Subsequent reboots have been fine though, everything seems to load, and pronto.

 

[RaoulCapano]

I noticed after the dev beta 5 install that the desktop wallpaper took a very long time to load after the first boot, so I was presented with a plain dark desktop for about 45 seconds. I'm running it in a VM on UTM though so just put it down to limited resources assigned to the VM. Subsequent reboots have been fine though, everything seems to load, and pronto.

Sadly, I'm not so lucky. It just sat here for around 8 minutes and still didn't come up so I used the keyboard command to make it appear and it came up after entering that twice.

 

[Six Mac Abs]

Sadly, I'm not so lucky. It just sat here for around 8 minutes and still didn't come up so I used the keyboard command to make it appear and it came up after entering that twice.

Now you've got it to appear. See if the issue persists again after a reboot. If so, try toggling the dock visibility options in System Settings (instead of using keyboard shortcut), and attempt the reboot again. If toggling the dock view option in System Settings behaves strangely, such as immediately switching back to the previous setting itself, has no immediate effect or even if it solves the issue (temporarily or not),report it to Apple. Buggy / sticky options in System settings have been a problem for some even in Sequoia, though they have mostly been related to sticky network or iCloud settings from my observations. Worth a shot to try and identify where the issue lies and feed it back to Apple.

 

[RaoulCapano]

Now you've got it to appear. See if the issue persists again after a reboot. If so, try toggling the dock visibility options in System Settings (instead of using keyboard shortcut), and attempt the reboot again. If toggling the dock view option in System Settings behaves strangely, such as immediately switching back to the previous setting itself, has no immediate effect or even if it solves the issue (temporarily or not),report it to Apple. Buggy / sticky options in System settings have been a problem for some even in Sequoia, though they have mostly been related to sticky network or iCloud settings from my observations. Worth a shot to try and identify where the issue lies and feed it back to Apple.

It has. Whether boot from off state or restart, dock will not load on startup. I even ran the killdock terminal command and then rebooted.

 

[backslash-f]

Use the command softwareupdate —list-full-installers
Then get one with
Softwareupdate —fetch-full-installer

Only shows betas if you’re signed up for them.

Thanks for this.

 

[backslash-f]

Just use the console and log it, when you are downloading the file via terminal and softwareupdate. Filter the console output for InstallAssistant.pkg or swcdn.apple.com and the download link to Apple will show up.

Thank you for this.

Here's what worked for me, in case anyone else needs to grab the .pkg directly like myself (workarounding corporate BS).

In a machine signed up for dev betas, no corporate restrictions applied:

softwareupdate --list-full-installers

Console output example:

...
Finding available software
Software Update found the following full installers:
* Title: macOS Tahoe Beta, Version: 26.0, Size: 16305385KiB, Build: 25A5327h, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Tahoe Beta, Version: 26.0, Size: 16305385KiB, Build: 25A5327h, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.6, Size: 15290929KiB, Build: 24G84, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.5, Size: 15283299KiB, Build: 24F74, Deferred: NO
...

Before downloading it, in a second terminal:

sudo log stream --style syslog \
--predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.SoftwareUpdate" && eventMessage CONTAINS[c] "InstallAssistant"'

Downloading (getting the latest macOS 26, for example):

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 26.0

Observe the second terminal; search for something like Starting download of InstallAssistant.pkg.... Copy the URL, use it in another Mac, profit.

2025-08-07 23:14:10.315380+0200 localhost softwareupdated[726]: (SoftwareUpdate) [com.apple.SoftwareUpdate:SoftwareUpdate] 093-03427: Starting download of InstallAssistant.pkg (Size:16696715117, HasIntegrityInformation:YES) with URL https://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/57/10/093-03427-A_EP0000QBQL/kigtf6ec5qcfnpgv2m9fkqi8aosx7e3enl/InstallAssistant.pkg

 

[Six Mac Abs]

It has. Whether boot from off state or restart, dock will not load on startup. I even ran the killdock terminal command and then rebooted.

What was the outcome of toggling the dock visibility setting within System Settings? I'm making an assumption that the toggle will be a bit fussy / sticky, but after attempting to enable / disable it a few times, it will result in the same result as using the keyboard shortcut to enable it after a couple of tries. If it does (even if only for the duration of your current login or boot session), then you have a simple reproducible bug to report via the Feedback Assistant.

If it turns out that toggling dock view options in system settings does not have the same effect as the keyboard shortcut but the keyboard shortcut consistently (eventually) gets the dock to load, make sure you include that detail in your bug report. I know it can feel like a pain to fill a well constructed bug report, but you'll be doing yourself and every other Mac user a huge favour in the long run and being a good beta testing citizen (which is what you signed up for) .

Just fill the applicable dropdown fields in Feedback Assistant and include the below info in the body of the report. Keeping it concise:

Issue Description:

Steps to reproduce:

Observed (actual) behaviour:

Expected behaviour:

----------

Below are not really required but can be useful info to provide if directly related to the bug / issue with a high level of confidence...

Settings:

Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

Any Additional Observations:


**Edit** Apologies if you already know this, but even if you do, maybe the post will help someone else to understand what to send over to Apple when filing a bug report. I expect there are a fair few public beta testers out there who don't engage Apple when they find a bug and just want the 'new shiny' asap and / or just don't know the best info to provide to be as helpful as possible.

 

[RaoulCapano]

Thanks, yes I submitted one.

 

[Enygmatic]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned anywhere (used search for “window borders”, etc.): when I have Safari open, the window edges/border are much more rounded at the corners than other apps when side-by-side. Obviously not a deal-breaker, but was wondering if anyone else was experiencing this. That CAN’T be intentional, can it?

 

[galad]

It depends on the window titlebar and toolbar style.

 

[aperfectcircle]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned anywhere (used search for “window borders”, etc.): when I have Safari open, the window edges/border are much more rounded at the corners than other apps when side-by-side. Obviously not a deal-breaker, but was wondering if anyone else was experiencing this. That CAN’T be intentional, can it?

I’ve just checked on my MBP, the corner radius of the Safari window is identical to Finder, TV, Music, Notes, App Store, Reminders, Calendar and Maps. This pleases me, as the decision to have the inconsistency of 3 different window corner sizes is absolute madness. Not sure why you are seeing something different with Safari. Might be due to how you’ve got the toolbar setup?

 

[MakaniKai]

This is not currently usable on a day-to-day basis

Currently using it on a day-to-day basis as a software dev hehe. Have been since beta 1. Nothing blocking me. (I understand the disclaimer and it's good advice. Just poking fun)

 

[sidj]

Anyone tested Vmware Fusion (or other virtualization software) on beta 5?

Yes, works perfectly

 

[dupsk00]

How were they broken and did you get them fixed?

Nope i didn't fix them just random SDK/Swift errors based on Foundation and I have no idea what to do so i got back to Xcode 16 and older SDK waiting for first properly working XCode-beta version (I'm using both swift and metal builded from terminal before only metal was not working now it is both swift and metal failing)

 

[nortonandreev]

They’re completely useless…

 

[crescentmoon52]

Text highlight color does not work when using Multicolor Theme in appearance....

 

[koifish22]

Text highlight color does not work when using Multicolor Theme in appearance....

You don't have text highlighted in that screenshot. Selected files or folders aren't affected by that setting.

 

[NJRonbo]

Not certain this has been mentioned, but I just upgraded to Developer Beta 5 on my Macbook Air

My trackpad cursor keeps moving around and disappearing and I am not noticing as I type this, there is a lag. Is this common or am I missing something? Memory and CPU levels seem to be okay.


EDIT: Found the problem. Barentender 6 ALPHA. Once I quit it, everything working okay.

 

[iBookmaster]

I have my 14" M1 MacBook Pro partitioned and had Developer Beta 5 on it. Things were basically working ok but, I had 3 app icons in the dock that were not showing up right. Messages, Dictionary and Maps. I switched my setting in Settings to use Public Beta which would be Public Beta 2. It said no updates available. So, I shutdown then started up with the power button held down and entered Options and reinstalled Tahoe Beta. I don't know if it tried to install Developer or Public since I switched to Public Beta in Settings. It reinstalled and those icons were still wrong looking. So, I used Disk Utility to wipe the drive, installed Sequoia then set Settings/General/Software Update to Public Beta and all the icons look right now. So far it's working better overall. Even though the build number is the same as the Developer Beta, I believe it's a different system.