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Apple releases OS X 10.11 Public Beta 3 to testers

MacBook OS X El Capitan

Apple today released OS X 10.11 Public Beta 3 to non-developer testers trying El Capitan ahead of its public release later this fall. The latest public beta version follows the off-cycle release of OS X 10.11 developer beta 5 seeded out on Monday.

Prior to these off-cycle releases, Apple typically stuck to releasing updates roughly two weeks apart. Apple last updated public beta users a week ago.

OS X El Capitan includes several performance and security improvements including better window management and a new Rootless security layer. The update also includes an overhauled Notes app, a smarter Photos app with extension support, and improvements to Spotlight including natural language search support.

OS X 10.11 Public Beta 3 can be found in the Mac App Store for Mac users running the public beta version of the operating system. In addition to running a Mac public beta for OS X El Capitan, Apple is currently running a public beta for iOS 9 as well ahead of its release. Mac users can learn more about Apple’s Beta Software Program including the various public betas of OS X and iOS here.

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Comments

  1. Does this mean there’s a PB3 for iOS coming soon as well?

  2. MattR - 9 years ago

    I’d assume this includes the updates to the Developer Beta 5?

    Please let me know how it runs?! I want to install it back onto my Mac!

    • Ty Webb - 9 years ago

      You should not mix up the developer previews with the public betas. DP5 updates DP4 and PB3 updates PB2.

      I just wish apple wouldn’t do this the same day as windows 10 release!

      • MattR - 9 years ago

        Well, last time, the updates matched, even though the numbers for the DP and the PB were different…

  3. Ty Webb - 9 years ago

    Some people have had trouble installing this from the mac app store. If so you can use this instead via a browser instead of the mac app store:

    el capitan public beta 3

    delta:

    http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/34/53/031-29048/us6vsfd1npissrp0khptmtptsl155nqbhn/OSXUpd10.11.pkg

    fimware update:

    http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/34/53/031-29048/us6vsfd1npissrp0khptmtptsl155nqbhn/FirmwareUpdate.pkg
     

    • Ty Webb - 9 years ago

      oops. that’s firmware update not fimware.

      sorry for typo.

      that’s what you get when i have to type on here with horrible ipad keypoard with big fingers.

      oops that’s keyboard not keypoard!

    • jagdeepgaba - 9 years ago

      Ty Webb how’s you doin?

      Can u tell me how do you find thses Direct downloading links for update..

      I am always facing hard time when I update using Mac app store.

      Your link is time saver for me..

      Is there any way to find Direct download links for all the mac updates.

      Thanks

    • jagdeepgaba - 9 years ago

      Ty Webb how’s you doin?

      Can u tell me how do you find thses Direct downloading links for update..

      I am always facing hard time when I update using Mac app store.

      Your link is time saver for me..

      Is there any way to find Direct download links for all the mac updates.

      Thanks

  4. PSA: If you use After Effects, then don’t update. AE CC2015 does not open any longer but instead gives the error “After Effects can’t continue: unexpected failure during application startup”

    • seancawelti - 9 years ago

      Hi! Where you able to find a way to get After Effects CC 2015 to run on the newest OS X El Capitan Beta #5? Please help!

      • I went back to Public Beta 2. I would have gone back to Yosemite but couldn’t get my backup to restore correctly. No idea what they did but it is definitely something graphics related.

    • Daniel Perván - 9 years ago

      There is also a serious bug concerning fullscreen 3D graphics. Games and similar that run in fullscreen do not work in the current build. Apparently, some configurations with Nvidia cards might however be unaffected.

      • ikir - 9 years ago

        Yes i got the same on my Mac Pro with D500 but not on my MBP13″ with Iris 6100.

    • Slavik Gurmeza - 9 years ago

      I made a mistake of not checking if AE works before instaling PB3, How do you revert back to Public Beta 2?

  5. Kevin Dyas - 9 years ago

    Fixes an issue with iPhone tethering using USB. Now has the option to disable unless needed within the Network Preferences section. In PB2 (not sure about PB1) USB Personal Hotspot didn’t work at all.

  6. lexxkoto - 9 years ago

    Does it fix the ridiculous Safari issue, where dragging a tab to create a new window does terrible things to the window geometry?

  7. does anyone have developer beta 5 and pixelmator? can you confirm in pixelmator opens?

    • Daniel Nagy (@ef_dani) - 9 years ago

      I use the Public Beta. Pixelmator opens from the beginning, but it had problem with the image resize (it was only bug i met, i don’t know about others). In this beta (PB3) the image resize seems working fine and still don’t met with other bug.

  8. borntofeel - 9 years ago

    Under favorites, they should put a sub-header selector (like in Music) to switch between sources and categories. Now they are all mixed up and it’s hard to see which is which.

  9. prolango - 9 years ago

    I went to the App Store to update and the update disappeared. I can’t get it back; perhaps Apple pulled the update temporarily.

  10. mikiefoley - 9 years ago

    Copy/Paste is still messed up. Sporadically works.

  11. akhilmenon - 9 years ago

    folders in finder don’t show up in icon view, list view works, copy/paste has issues. did apple really make any fixes or add some more bugs in with this beta :) ?

  12. Henne Enneh - 9 years ago

    I had MASSIVE problems with the finder beeing stuck all the time. I’m talking changing a folder took 2 minutes. Tried to retrace my steps and bingo!

    I de-connected from my Wi-Fi and stopped the uploads to my iCloud. Now it OSX runs like a charm again :)

    Feel free to share, as this was an annoying problem

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.