Apple releases fifth developer beta for macOS 10.15 Catalina

By Malcolm Owen

The fifth round of developer betas for Apple's milestone operating systems, with the last of the bunch -- macOS 10.15 Catalina -- now available to download by test participants.

The latest builds can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center for participants in the Developer Beta program, as well as via an over-the-air update for hardware already used for beta software. Public beta versions of the developer builds are usually issued within a few days of their counterparts, and can be acquired from the Apple Beta Software Program site.

The macOS beta lags behind the rest of the pack for this fifth round, with iOS 13, iPadOS 13, and tvOS 13 builds issued on Monday, while the fourth watchOS 6 developer beta arrived on Tuesday, alongside the fourth public betas of iOS 13, iPadOS, and tvOS 13.

For the fourth round, macOS 10.15 Catalina was provided for testing one day ahead of the others.

Both AppleInsider and Apple itself strongly recommend users don't install the betas on to "mission-critical" or primary devices, as there is the remote possibility of data loss or other issues. Instead, testers should install betas onto secondary or non-essential devices, and to make sure there are sufficient backups of important data before updating.

Find any changes in the new betas? Reach out to us on Twitter at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at andrew@AppleInsider.com.