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Apple Releases macOS Golden Gate Beta 4

Apple today provided developers with the fourth beta of macOS Golden Gate, with the update coming two weeks after Apple seeded the third beta.

macOS 27 next to MacBook Pro Running macOS 27
Developers can download ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ by going to System Settings > General > Software Update. Beta Updates will need to be enabled, and a free developer account is required.

‌macOS Golden Gate‌ includes multiple design improvements. Liquid Glass opacity has been improved to increase readability, there's a slider for controlling the level of transparency, and changes to shadowing make it easier to tell when a window is active. Apps now have uniform toolbars, edge-to-edge sidebars, and less rounded corners, plus there are fewer icons in menu bars.

Siri has been transformed into ‌Siri‌ AI, a chatbot-style assistant that combines general world knowledge, your personal data, and onscreen awareness to answer questions about anything and find information for you. ‌Siri‌ lives in Spotlight, and you can ask questions with the new Search or Ask interface.

There's also a ‌Siri‌ app where you can chat with ‌Siri‌ and view past conversations, and on newer Macs, you can set a custom voice for ‌Siri‌ with personalized pace and expressivity. Visual Intelligence is now on the Mac so ‌Siri‌ can answer questions about what's on your screen, and a Write with ‌Siri‌ feature lets ‌Siri‌ generate text or give feedback on your writing.

There are AI photo editing tools in the Photos app, AI tab organization in Safari, an option to use AI to automatically update weak passwords in the Passwords app, and a revamped Image Playground app that can generate photorealistic images.

More on all of the new features in ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ can be found in our macOS Golden Gate roundup.

Related Roundup: macOS Golden Gate
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Top Rated Comments

zemoleman Avatar
16 weeks ago
Anyone else not happy having all this AI embedded in the OS? WHAT could go wrong?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AzureSaturn Avatar
16 weeks ago
the build number is 26A5388g btw
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
16 weeks ago

the build number is 26A5388g btw
here are the others that came out today

macOS 26.6 RC 1 (25G70)
macOS 15.7.8 RC 6 (24G822)
macOS 14.8.8 RC 6 (23J619)

also

iOS 27.0 beta 4 (24A5390f)
iPadOS 27.0 beta 4 (24A5390f)
tvOS 27.0 beta 4 (24J5325d)
audioOS 27.0 beta 4 (24J5325d)
visionOS 27.0 beta 4 (24M5326g)
watchOS 27.0 beta 4 (24R5325h)
iOS 26.6 RC 1 (23G71)
iPadOS 26.6 RC 1 (23G71)
tvOS 26.6 RC 1 (23L772)
audioOS 26.6 RC 1 (23L772)
visionOS 26.6 RC 1 (23O770)
watchOS 26.6 RC 1 (23U67)

EDIT:

sequioa and sonoma have rc 7 builds now:

macOS 15.7.8 RC 7 (24G824)
macOS 14.8.8 RC 7 (23J620)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Yamcha Avatar
16 weeks ago
I hope it fixes apps that get stuck running in the background on the dock.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
headlessmike Avatar
16 weeks ago

What is the experience like running this new OS on a (base) M1 MacBook Air? I don't install beta software (as I only own one Mac, and it's a daily driver for me) and I realize that beta software could be way different from the actual software someone like me (eventually) installs, but I wonder if all the under-the-hood work Apple did for this OS will translate into a better experience for those of us on older machines?
I have it running on a separate partition on my M1 mini. It seems very responsive and stable for a beta, and will probably end up being an excellent upgrade for anyone running Sequoia or Tahoe. I’d recommend waiting for the official release though.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
deaglecat Avatar
16 weeks ago

Anyone else not happy having all this AI embedded in the OS? WHAT could go wrong?
I hope there is a simple switch to turn off AI and free the space consumed by the local AI models. I have no interest in running AI locally (or indeed, at all).

In fact, I might downgrade Tahoe to Sequoia because even Tahoe has too much AI for my liking...
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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