Apple seeds fourth developer betas for its current-gen operating systems

Apple's developer beta testing of current-gen operating systems rolls on, with new builds of iOS 17.6, iPadOS 17.6, tvOS 17.6, watchOS 10.6, macOS Sonoma, and visionOS 1.3 available to download.

Developers who take part in Apple's beta program can download the new builds to an Apple Developer Centeror by updating their iPhone or iPad already running the betas via the Settings app. Public beta versions typically arrive shortly after the developer versions.

The betas are for the current-generation versions of Apple's operating systems, including iOS 17.6, iPadOS 17.6, tvOS 17.6, watchOS 10.6, and macOS Sonoma 14.6. The Apple Vision Pro also gets a beta for visionOS 1.3. They are not to be confused with the fall build testing for iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, tvOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.

The third round of the current-gen developer betas landed on July 9, following the second round from July 1.

The new build numbers are:

• iOS 17.6 & iPadOS beta 4 - 21G5075a
• macOS 14.6 beta 4 - 23G5075b
• macOS 13.6.8 release candidate 4 - 22G817
• macOS 12.7.6 release candidate 4 - 21H1317
• tvOS 17.6 beta 4 - 21M5068a
• visionOS 1.3 beta 4 21O5768a
• watchOS 10.6 beta 4 - 21U5574a

Due to the existence of the fall update versions, Apple is very unlikely to include any new feature updates in its current-gen updates.

AppleInsider and Apple strongly recommends users don't install test operating systems or other beta or RC software on "mission-critical" or primary devices, as there is the small chance of issues that could result in the loss of data. Testers should instead use secondary or non-essential hardware and ensure they have sufficient backups of their critical data at all times.

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