Apple issues fifth developer betas of iOS 10, watchOS 3, tvOS 10, macOS Sierra [u]

Just over a week after providing developers with the fourth beta pre-release builds of its major upcoming platforms, Apple followed up with the fifth developer betas of iOS 10, watchOS 3, tvOS 10 and macOS Sierra, as well as a new public beta of iOS 10. [Updated]

The updates can be installed through Software Update on their respective, registered devices. macOS updates are available on the Mac App Store.

Apple's release notes simply state that the updates contain bug fixes and improvements. A fifth beta of Xcode 8 is also available.

The new betas are identified with the following build numbers:

macOS Sierra beta 5 (16A286a)
iOS 10 beta 5 (14A5335b)
watchOS 3 beta 5 (14S5315a)
tvOS 10 beta 5 (14T5321a)
Xcode 8 beta 5 (8S193k)

The release pattern for betas is increasing as Apple approaches a final public launch of its next-generation software. Fourth betas of the software arrived just last Monday, making this turnaround faster than the two week gap that came after the third betas.

As usual, Apple has advised that its beta builds should only be deployed on secondary devices or ones dedicated to software development.

All of Apple's four major platforms were announced at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

iOS 10, macOS Sierra, tvOS 10 and watchOS 3 are all scheduled to be released to the general public this fall, likely in late September when new iPhones are expected to launch. Members of the public can opt in to test the pre-release versions of iOS 10 and macOS Sierra through Apple's public beta program.

The biggest changes found in iOS 10 beta 4 included more than 100 new emoji focusing on diversity and equality, as well as a new introductory screen explaining changes to Control Center.

Update: Apple has also released a new public beta of iOS 10, which should be available as an over-the-air update for people in the company's Beta Software Program.

13 Comments

dick applebaum 12525 comments · 17 Years

About 8 years ago

TurboPGT 355 comments · 9 Years

Getting very stable now. Beta 4 was already really good. Beta 5 fixes a few of the glaring issues with Beta 4 according to the release notes. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the second to last beta before GM.

TurboPGT said:

Getting very stable now. Beta 4 was already really good. Beta 5 fixes a few of the glaring issues with Beta 4 according to the release notes. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the second to last beta before GM.

You're prolly right -- they need to get ready for a mid-Sept release for the next iPhone.

iOS has been pretty solid, but macOS betas, so far, has problems running out of application memory on a 32 Gig iMac 27 5K.

thewhitefalcon 4444 comments · 10 Years

dick applebaum said:

TurboPGT said:

Getting very stable now. Beta 4 was already really good. Beta 5 fixes a few of the glaring issues with Beta 4 according to the release notes. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the second to last beta before GM.

You're prolly right -- they need to get ready for a mid-Sept release for the next iPhone.

iOS has been pretty solid, but macOS betas, so far, has problems running out of application memory on a 32 Gig iMac 27 5K.

I've mainly had sleep/wake issues with my MacBook. Oftentimes it's taking over a full minute to drop into sleep. I haven't seen any memory issues though (I have 9GB).

weeraanmelden2 1 comment · 8 Years

dick applebaum said:

TurboPGT said:

Getting very stable now. Beta 4 was already really good. Beta 5 fixes a few of the glaring issues with Beta 4 according to the release notes. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the second to last beta before GM.

You're prolly right -- they need to get ready for a mid-Sept release for the next iPhone.

iOS has been pretty solid, but macOS betas, so far, has problems running out of application memory on a 32 Gig iMac 27 5K.

I must say, beta 4 has been a major update vs Beta 3 on my 2010 iMac with SSHD. Have not run out of memory , with 16GB, on beta 4.
Preparing the beta 5 now, so might edit my post after ;)
If the improvement is just as great as beta 3 to beta 4, I'm a happy camper. Indeed apple is ramping up for mid september release, since all the new shiny hardware has to be pre-configured with the new OS-es.
Although I love the summer, can't wait for end september.