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First developer beta of watchOS 6.1, ninth macOS Catalina beta now available [u]

In the continuing beta testing of Apple's latest and greatest operating systems, the company has made available the first developer test version of watchOS 6.1, and the ninth beta of macOS Catalina.

The test version comes a week after the company released watchOS 6 for the Apple Watch Series 3 and newer. To install, registered developers need to install a configuration profile on the iPhone, and then the Apple Watch app can install the beta on a connected device.

It isn't presently clear if there are any new features in the watchOS 6.1 beta. This version of the beta does support the Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2, though.

The macOS Catalina beta appears focused on bug eradication. There are no new features highlighted or obvious versus beta 8.

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 even at this late date for Catalina. 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 [email protected].

Update Sept. 23, 2:46 P.M. Eastern time: Updated with news of the watchOS 6.1 beta running on a Series 1 and Series 2 Apple Watch.

Update 2: A public beta version of the latest Catalina build is now available.