Apple has just dropped additional release candidates (RC) for its various operating systems. Coming just a few days after we saw the release candidate for iOS 17.4, we’re now getting macOS 14.4, vision OS 1.1, watchOS 10.4, and tvOS 17.4 release candidates.
These are for developers and beta testers only, but granted there aren’t any major bugs, these are the same releases that should hit the general public later this week. If you’re wondering what’s new in these releases, there are just a few things, and the changelogs aren’t as major. We divided things up for you below.
What’s new in macOS 14.4 RC
There are new emojis and tweaks to Messages and Safari on the macOS side of things. Apple just shared a couple of notes. Check it out below.
- New mushroom, phoenix, lime, broken chain, and shaking heads emoji are now available in emoji keyboard
- 18 people and body emoji support facing the opposite direction
- Podcasts Episode text can be read in full, searched for a word or phrase, clicked to play from a specific point and used with accessibility features such as Text Size, Increase Contrast, and VoiceOver
- Business Updates in Messages for Business let you get updates that you’ve opted into, like order status, flight notifications, fraud alerts or other transactions from trusted businesses
- Safari Favorites Bar adds an option to show only icons for websites
The full changelog can be seen here if you’re curious.
What’s new in the visionOS 1.1 RC
VisionOS, which powers the Apple Vision Pro, is getting a ton of updates with its 1.1 release candidate. Tweaks cover mobile device management, messages, accessibility, Persona, Virtual keyboard, Mav Virtual Display, and more. We picked out the highlights below.
- Enables account-driven device and user enrollment using Managed Apple IDs
- Support for device configuration (Wi-Fi, VPN, email accounts, single sign-on, and more)
- Support for deploying apps in volume including iPhone and iPad compatible apps, visionOS apps included in a Universal purchase, and proprietary in-house visionOS apps
- Support for remote erase via MDM and device inventory data
- Adds support for iMessage Contact Key Verification
- Closed captions can be anchored to the playback control while viewing Apple Immersive Video
- Adds an option to enroll your Persona hands-free
- Improves hair and makeup appearance
- Improves neck and mouth representation
- Improves rendering of the eyes for EyeSight
- Cursor positioning for text input is now more accurate
- Resolves some instances where the virtual keyboard placement obscures the text input field
- Fixes an issue where in some cases, the text preview on the virtual keyboard may appear out of sync with the text field in the app
- Fixes an issue where the edit menu may appear unexpectedly
- Improves the reliability of discovering and connecting to a Mac using Mac Virtual Display
- Resolves an issue where Universal Control may stop working
- Addresses a connectivity issue that occurs when a previously paired Bluetooth device cannot be found
- Ability to set up your device while using a captive WiFi network such as those found at hotels, cafes and airports
Again, if you want some deeper details, Apple has the full changelog on its website.
What’s new in the watchOS 10.4 RC
WatchOS 10.4, which is for Apple Watch wearables, doesn’t have a whole lot of interesting things. It’s pretty much delivering on a new emoji, and new settings for disabling Double Tap while you’re using Vision Pro. Check it out.
- Tap to Show Full Notification setting now allows you to double-tap to expand the notification
- Using Apple Pay with Confirm with AssistiveTouch will require a passcode for additional security and will not support double clicking the side button
- Resolves an issue that causes some users to experience false touches on the display
- Fixes an issue that prevents contacts from syncing to Apple Watch for some users
That’s pretty much everything you need to know about today’ major RCs. Apple also launched tvOS 17.4 RC today, but we don’t have a changelog. These are all for developers, and the general public should be getting these same updates within the next week or so. We’ll keep you updated and will be here to update you when that happens. Until then, if you’re eager to get ahead of the game and try these releases early, you can just head into your respected Apple device settings to enroll in software betas. RC updates are pretty stable and shouldn’t cause much harm to your favorite Apple devices.