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Apple releases OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 8 and Public Beta 3

Screenshot 2014-09-15 13.51.52

This morning, Apple has released a pair of OS X Yosemite beta updates. The first is OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 8 for registered developers. That update is available via the Mac App Store. The Cupertino-based company has also released OS X Yosemite Public Beta 3, which is the third release for end users that are part of Apple’s AppleSeed customer software seeding program. That update is, too, available on the Mac App Store for applicable users. We’ll be updating this post with new changes as they are discovered. OS X Yosemite is expected to ship in October, according to sources.

-Weather in Notification Center requests permission to use current location now, previously just displayed current city

Yosemite 8

-System Preferences app navigation changed, “Show All” button replaced with forward and backward buttons as well as a 4×3 grid button

Yosemite 8

-New build is 14A361c over 14A343f from previous developer preview

-New Safari launch screen for on-boarding

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Comments

  1. madman8 - 10 years ago

    When ios 8 launches in a couple days, beta yosemite users will have the full range of ios 8 and yosemite features? But the rest of users will live with ios8 for a month with very little but health kit and preview? It seems to me that to operating systems that are so deeply connected in features should have been released together, no?

    • madman8 - 10 years ago

      Two* operating systems. Sorry.

    • iJonni - 10 years ago

      There’s more to iOS 8 than handoff and continuity

      • eswinson - 10 years ago

        I’d argue that the millions of iPhone users that have windows (or no desktop OS at all) will benefit from iOS 8 too without the OS centric features

      • madman8 - 10 years ago

        I know, I do, but come on… airdrop, continuity, handoff, these are hallmarks right? P.S. is anyone seeing this update? I am not, currently.

    • Well… I have Yosemite Preview 3 and IOS8 Gold and unfortunately the handoff, continuity, starting calls from Contacts… none of that is working. Also, on IOS8 the “Preview” app is not to be found and the “iCloud” drive app is missing as well. Now… they could cut all of this “on” once they release IOS8 to the general public so heres crossing our fingers XX

      • madman8 - 10 years ago

        Without these things, its less like a new operating system (feature wise) and more like new Apple apps. No?

      • I have the most recent Yosemite public beta installed (not today’s rumored version) and iOS 8 GM and continuity is working for me. Initially I tried to configure it using an @me.com address but it didn’t work. When I switched to @icloud on both devices, it worked flawlessly.

      • I have iOS8 GM and Yosemite. Continuity works perfect. I can call or answer my iPhone from Mac. However, there rest you are right. There is no iCloud app or Preview or etc…

      • Moumen Hamid - 10 years ago

        i struggled with this as well but here is what worked for me.
        – Obviously you are signed in to iCloud on all devices with the same account
        1. you need to have your bluetooth on at all times
        2. make sure you are signed in at iMessage and FaceTime
        3. open the bluetooth section on your iOS devices and make sure your other devices are showing up and are listed under “My Devices”
        4. Try to airdrop a photo, no need to send it, just make sure that your devices do see each other
        5. Hopefully this would have worked for you so try opening Safari or Calendar or mail

        Note: iWork doesn’t work with handoff wet as they haven’t been update to take advantage of this feature… YET

      • iJonni - 10 years ago

        There is no app for iCloud drive. There is no Preview app. None of that exists, even in GM or in final public release. Not sure where the confusion is. iCloud drive is visible from your Mac and from Apps that have access to it, but you won’t see all your files on your Phone. Thats not how it works. Handoff continuity and calls all work fine. If you are on DP3 then it won’t work. But if Your on PB3 then it should definitely work for you. If you’re on Developer versions, update to the latest version.

      • liquidnonsense - 10 years ago

        You seem to be pretty confused about iOS 8.
        1) iCloud Drive is a storage service, not an app.
        2) There is no “Preview” app for iOS.
        Don’t know where you heard those things, but it wasn’t from Apple.

    • Uriah Bojorquez - 10 years ago

      You’re right. I cancelled my order for the iPhone 6 and won’t be upgrading any of my iDevices until Yosemite is released publicly. I mean waiting another month or so is completely out of the question. Thank you ever so kindly for pointing this out.

      • coolfactor - 10 years ago

        Are you serious? Just wait until you have to wait “more than a month” for your iPhone to be delivered due to high demand once Yosemite is out. You just shot yourself in the foot.

      • coolfactor - 10 years ago

        Wait… you were being sarcastic, right? Right? haha

      • madman8 - 10 years ago

        I doubt Uriah is being sarcastic, but if so, you’re both kinda going over board. All I am saying ( I preordered both 6 and plus) is that I wish OS X was launching now because so many of the keystone features are shared. I am not saying its a BIG FAIL or that it has ruined the coolness of the new phones. It hasn’t. It’s a “it’d be way better IF” statement. Mr. coolFactor.

  2. Andreas G. (@suppaandi81) - 10 years ago

    I am on Public Preview 2 and the App Store shows DP7 (7!) as available Update. Anybody else got that?

    • Andreas G. (@suppaandi81) - 10 years ago

      and now it’s completely gone… no updates available.

      • madman8 - 10 years ago

        came and went, like the pre-order iPhone 6 site, or the keynote, Apple’s new trademark is the Premature ejaculation of everything.

    • Darrarski - 10 years ago

      I had the same issue after installing DP1. Try updating iTunes manually. This fixed my Yosemite and updates started appearing in App Store app like expected.

      • Andreas G. (@suppaandi81) - 10 years ago

        Thanks, but it seems like this is a broader issue and has to do with some mess up in their update system that caused the wrong update to show up for Public Beta users. Also my iTunes is already on the newest beta.

    • Monrock O (@jmonrooy) - 10 years ago

      I do, and I don’t know how to fix it :c

  3. Wow a large update 1.63GB. Will be interesting to see what fixes have been included.

    • Well one thing is fixed that was a pain, the problem with Outlook for Mac 2011 crashing if any folders were expanded is resolved. Glad they got that handled, didn’t expect Microsoft would give a rip about that issue!

  4. Christian Schäfers - 10 years ago

    I’m on Beta 2 and Developer Preview 7 is showing up in the Mac App Store..

  5. Iv0ry (@IwanNikitin) - 10 years ago

    OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 7 1.0 and OS X Yosemite Beta Recovery Update 1.0 for public Beta Participants in Germany

    • Michael Petersen - 10 years ago

      The Developer preview showed up in my app store as well. But then I clicked the “purchases”-tab and my “Yosemite public beta 2” was changed to beta 3 :-)

  6. Vladimir Burmistrovich - 10 years ago

    I don’t see public beta 3 update…

  7. Liudas Bar - 10 years ago

    Updated battery charging icon.

  8. Kawaii Gardiner - 10 years ago

    The release notes: https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/mac/releasenotes/General/rn-osx-10.10/index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40014447

    Point to another preview/beta in the works to address some of the known issues.

    • Where in the doc do you see it point to another preview / beta in the works?

      • Kawaii Gardiner - 10 years ago

        Here, under the extensions known issues:

        The NSExtensionJavascriptPreprocessingFile key for Share Extensions does not work as currently documented. A future build will correct this, and require the NSExtensionJavascriptPreprocessingFile key to be in the NSExtensionAttributes dictionary. Developers of Share extensions using this feature will need to update their Info.plist.

        Which can either mean one of two things; they’re going to provide another build or they’re going to ship it and the provide an update shortly after its release (maybe within a month).

  9. Sven Paulsen - 10 years ago

    They finally fixed an issue in Yosemite where the Facetime app always used the built-in microphone instead of the selected audio input device. In addition, the App Store settings have been extended woth an option to auto-install OS X updates.

    Thanks Apple! :-)

  10. coolfactor - 10 years ago

    Based on comments such as Public Beta users seeing the Developer Beta… this could explain why the updates were taken down… they were misconfigured for the wrong end users.

  11. Taiki - 10 years ago

    New drag’n drop icons

  12. Kevin Noah - 10 years ago

    Seems, it worked at least for me. I have now Build 14A361p.

  13. ⚇ (@M7Alhammadi) - 10 years ago

    Is it me or the notifications center has changed dramatically .. for example it used to push the desktop to the right .. but now it hover above it .. which i find is nice and doesn’t distract you as before

  14. Beta 3 just showed up for me. 1.63gb

  15. I could install DP8 on my machine. First thing I noticed: Mail is broken. Mail Preferences especially is broken. Signatures all jumbled up and if you try to do anything to them, it just gets stuck. You must quit Mail and reopen it back.

    • Jared - 10 years ago

      Mail and Signatures work fine for me. Late 2012 iMac 27 inch.

      • Mine’s Late 2012 MacBook Pro 15″. Mail is working, but often breaks. A pattern that I could reproduce is to reply to an email on my Office 365 account. Signatures have created ghost entries and when I try to delete them, it just won’t and hangs. I have to quit and launch Mail back.

        I have 4 email accounts, BTW. 1 iCloud, 1 Office 365 and 2 Gmail.

      • Jared - 10 years ago

        Odd. Well I hope you have taken the time to send feedback of all this. Apple has been very awesome with responding to feedback promptly.

    • Lars Rodvaldr - 10 years ago

      Same mail problem with me – on the public preview and on DP8 on another Mac. Cannot reply with mail.app at all. Cannot compose mail using my signature. Surprisingly bad.

      • Brad Campbell - 10 years ago

        Same for me. Mail.app not working. Can’t see signatures. cannot compose or reply to email. When new compose window opens then you cannot close it and have to force quit.

      • Jaco de Wet (@jacodw) - 10 years ago

        Same here – the next release keeps on getting worse than the next!

    • twolf - 10 years ago

      Mail is having problems with me too: I have two Mail accounts – one Gmail based, the other Exchange based. On the Exchange-based account, I cannot reply, reply-all, or forward. On Gmail accounts these actions work. This is with the public beta 3 I installed last night.

      The previous problem I had with Mail – that the CPU invariably would get pegged at 100% at some point – seems to be fixed. Alas, this new one is worse as I can’t reply to any work-related mail! I hope Apple fixes this one quickly :-( (before someone asks, yes, I reported the problem).

    • I removed ~/Library/Mail/MailData/Signatures and I’ve been able to reply with no issues since.

      • Jennifer Record - 10 years ago

        BRILLIANT! This solved all my mail issues.
        I can quit moaning about this now, which I’m sure will make all my office mates happy :)

      • Bilal Baydoun - 10 years ago

        Amazing! Solved the issue.

        Thanks!

      • Thank you Michael! – This solved my issue too!!!!! Awesome.

      • turnepf - 10 years ago

        Removing the files from that folder solved my issues too. Good call!

      • Anders Haavie - 10 years ago

        Fantastic. SAVED MY DAY

  16. puri517 - 10 years ago

    When they release Photo.app? Can’t wait anymore :)

  17. Taste_of_Apple - 10 years ago

    Just took the plunge Saturday. Can’t wait to upgrade and see if it’s any smoother. Really digging it though.

  18. wadehome - 10 years ago

    The charging logo has also changed to a dark with light outlines, from light with dark outlines.

  19. Robert Ryan - 10 years ago

    Will Yosemite Beta work with Firefox?

  20. Marjan Pantek - 10 years ago

    Downloading in Macedonia. DP 8 :) Can’t wait!

  21. rakinjannot - 10 years ago

    New charging icon: http://i.imgur.com/zfg6gpl.png

  22. Moumen Hamid - 10 years ago

    I think the battery icon on the tray has been updated and hand of shows a tiny symbol of where the app is open (shows a tiny iPhone and iPad) like app badges but on the app on the side of the dock (HANDOFF)

  23. Kevin Alonzo (@kalonzo21) - 10 years ago

    The 4 finger swipe on the trackpad doesnt work

  24. Robbie Biederman - 10 years ago

    http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=491900&d=1410835451—-as shown by me i found a new iCloud photo sign in screen after i dl’d OS X 10.10 DP8 (not public beta)

  25. prolango - 10 years ago

    Safari works faster; reading through .pdfs in Preview is MUCH FASTER; the share feature on Safari actually works, without crashing the system.

    Nice update so far!

  26. In the PB3, it says “enter password” instead of “password” on the login screen. Or is that just me?

  27. Ben Olney (@BenOlney23) - 10 years ago

    I have Yosemite Public beta 3 now and I still cannot minimise a mail window! Can anyone shed any insight into this?

    It’s a basic feature I know but quite simple and annoying that I keep having to cancel and save draft messages to get back to my Mail messages!

  28. Don Schueler (@dschueler) - 10 years ago

    All, not sure if it was something unique to my update but when I installed. Beta 3 my email acted very weird…I could not reply to certain messages….standard gmail ok…corporate gmail and Exchange accounts would not work. Hit reply and nothing would happen. Sometimes reply worked but I could not type in the body of the message. Not saying it is Beta 3 ;) .but I had to restore my backup to be able to get work done. Message is: Even though it’s a pain…backup before you install new versions…pretty glad I did. It IS Beta.

    • Frank Hurtado - 10 years ago

      I am getting the same error :( It is a same because I need my mail app working.

      • Tim Webb (@timrwebb) - 10 years ago

        You can fix Mail (in my testing) simply by turning off Signatures. Ignore if the UI messes up, you can still remove your current signatures and then continue replying to messages. Lame, but makes Mail functional again.

    • Getting the exact same bug with the mail app not replying in Exchange accounts. Not conducive do a successful day at work! I hope they fix this soon.

    • Don Schueler (@dschueler) - 10 years ago

      Replying to myself….answer to this was above…

      Michael Sitarzewski (@msitarzewski) says:
      September 17, 2014 at 7:54 am
      I removed ~/Library/Mail/MailData/Signatures and I’ve been able to reply with no issues since.

      This solved it for me too…signature handling is messed up.

      p.s. I deleted the folder and mail built it back and the problem came back.I went back in and just deleted the signatures and hoping that holds for awhile.

  29. Don Gulva (@_sebcl) - 10 years ago

    The back and forward buttons have always been in the System Preferences window, are you blind?

  30. Jonathan Stein - 10 years ago

    I’m on Public Beta 3, and last night I was able to Airdrop photos from my iOS 7 phone to my mac. I’m not sure if you could do that before or not, but it was super convenient b/c PhotoStream was being super slow.

  31. one change i see here is when i used to boot my mac up it had the black screen but now after updating the boot up screen has changed to white again.. i liked that black screen boot up

  32. Chess Edwards - 10 years ago

    OK, I figured out that most of the mail problems are all related to the signature settings.

    When I am able to get the signatures for a particular account to set to “Random” or a specific signature then I am unable to reply to or compose an email.

    But when I switch the signature back to “None” I am able to reply to or compose emails again from that account, but of course I don’t have signatures.

    So, the hangup must be occurring when we go to reply to or compose an email and that account is set to insert a signature and since that feature is broken, it simply refuses to even try to create the email.

    Setting signatures for your account to “None” will solve the reply or compose issue, but you won’t have signatures. I had to toggle the “Place signature above content” box in order to change to “None.”

  33. Nicholas Aaurbach - 10 years ago

    Also, the battery icon is updated in today’s update to the Yosemite Public Beta. Just noticed it.

  34. Stephen Todd - 10 years ago

    Oddly enough, DP8 mail works on my late 2013 iMac 27″ – under my profile. My wife’s profile features the same mail problems everyone else is reporting.

    Strange.

    • Stephen Todd - 10 years ago

      Nevermind, the solution is in the dev forum.

      Delete sigs from mail prefs. Close mail, launch again.

      Functionality restored.

      Afterwards you can create sigs in mail prefs.

      This worked for me, hope it works for you.

  35. charilaosmulder - 10 years ago

    Opinion.

    Yosemite is pretty much skinless, which is great. Everything that has no reason to have any other color than white is just plain white (like backgrounds and buttons). Sidebars should have a visually different background color which is now contextual instead of some predefined blue gradient.

    But System Preferences, yikes. It’s the only app that lacks naming consistency with iOS (Settings). It has dull gray backgrounds. And many settings should be reconsidered. The appearance setting for example has no use and should disappear. The graphite option has almost no effect besides making the traffic lights unreadable when hovering the mouse over them. Since Yosemite is skinless, the “dark mode” is the only appearance preference needed, and it lacks “spotlight” in its description. This is just an example.

  36. Devanshi Patel - 10 years ago

    On the new update for mail, I can’t shut a new mail, I can’t reply all and I can’t type in the body of the mail!

    • Stephen Todd - 10 years ago

      As mentioned previously – and I know it doesn’t make much sense – open prefs, delete your signatures and restart mail.

      Like I say, it makes no sense, but this did the trick for me and dozens of others on Apple’s dev forum.

  37. The Wifi symbol got thicker, making it much easier to see on non-retina Macs

  38. Vaughan Caines (@vcaines) - 10 years ago

    The mail app client is completely inoperable after the new OS X Yosemite Public Beta 3 update… cannot write any emails, and the program just hangs, and you have to force quit to close the program.

    • I have had the same issues. Try deleting all of your signatures in the preferences pane of the mail app then relaunching. It has worked for others.

    • preplan - 10 years ago

      This didn’t work for me. It hangs when I try to delete the signatures as well as when I try to compose an email or to reply to one. I can type the to and subject in a new email, just not the body.

  39. Same issues as many people with the Mail app in Beta 3. I should have waited until this morning, but I went ahead and deleted the Exchange account to try to add it back in fresh. Now I can’t add it back at all. I know it is talking to the server, and all other devices using it (even including the Outlook app on Beta 3) are working. It just gives me a server error and will not let me continue. If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. I’m having to use Windows8!! Haaalp!!

  40. Ben Olney (@BenOlney23) - 10 years ago

    Just downloaded iOS 8. Handoff is not working for me, only Safari handoff. Tried Mail handoff but nothing.

    I have Yosemite Public Beta 3 and Bluetooth on, ICloud Drive and all options ticked in settings on all devices for Handoff…

  41. Patrick Duffy - 10 years ago

    iCloud and map mail does not allow typing in the content area of a new email. Gmail is working OK

  42. I got to say, I’ve got the most recent update on my 2012 macbook pro, as i seen it said not to install on a newer one, so that was out of the equation for my 2014 retina macbook pro, but i do wanna say continuity is working perfectly, and flawlessly for me since i’ve added the update, i would of thought i had to do something to connect them, but when it updated, i just put in my iCloud info. and boom, worked perfectly,

    never had no troubles with the preview yet, but I cannot wait for them to release the full version, and to also be able to text, not just iMessage from my mac.

  43. Is it normal when i boot to ask me first for my password in a grey screen and after that to shows a progress bar for loading the mac????

    • Jeff Buffington - 9 years ago

      I get the same response when I login, which I really don’t care for. Its not about the time but rather the appearance that is remanicent of “Windows” login. Eh.

  44. Josh Marquez - 9 years ago

    Mail buttons (reply, forward etc) not working after update….. HELP!