Malcolm Owen
Apple has seeded a second release candidate for macOS Sequoia 15.4, as the updates to the company's operating systems get closer to a public release.
Apple initially introduced the first round of release candidates for macOS 15.4, iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, tvOS 18.4, watchOS 11.4, and visionOS 2.4 on March 24. Three days later, it has introduced a second RC build of macOS 15.4 to test out.
It's not uncommon for there to be multiple release candidate builds of software before it is released to the public. While a release candidate is supposed to have the same content as the final release, sometimes there is a missing or incorrect element that needs addressing urgently.
The original RC build was 24E246, which has now been replaced by 24E247.
Apple has not yet disclosed details of what has changed between the RC builds, but it is likely to be a bug fix, one which could've appeared in the first RC build.
The update to macOS 15.4 brings with it a number of changes, including Apple Mail getting Apple Intelligence sorting, and support for more languages in Apple Intelligence, among other features.
Testers can update macOS by opening System Settings, selecting General, then Software Update, followed by selecting Update Now or Update Tonight.
Brian Patterson
Charles Martin
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Marko Zivkovic
2 Comments
Couldn’t be any worse than 15.32. Haven’t seen so many bugs in years.
Why does Apple makes such a Horlicks of the Odd numbered Operating Systems?
I too would like to see better software QA from Apple. It has been over ten years since I stopped updating macOS, iOS, iPadOS upon launch. These days I update to the current version a few days before WWDC in June. This ensures an update to a feature complete version of the OS with the largest bugs ironed out.
Snow Leopard wasn't just a maintenance bugfix release. It was a complete under-the-hood rewrite of the operating system. It's probably around the time Apple should do this once they roll out their Apple Intelligence features.
I'd be happy to skip a year's worth of shiny new features for a more stable operating system because essentially that's what I'm trying to do with my delayed upgrades.
I am still on the fence whether or not I will upgrade to iOS 18 and Sequoia in June. I skipped Crapalina altogether (I repeatedly installed it on burner test drives), sat out a year and went directly from Mojave to Big Sur.
Right now there is a very good chance I will skip both iOS 18 and Sequoia since Apple Intelligence features have been largely lackluster to date. Neither my current primary phone (iPhone 12 mini) and backup phone (iPhone Xs) support Apple Intelligence anyhow. My Mac (M2 Pro mini) does but again I'm not impressed by Apple Intelligence in its current state.