Apple releases macOS 10.15.2 beta 4 to developers

AppleInsider

Two weeks after the last release, Apple has made the fourth developer's beta of macOS Catalina 10.15.2 available for testing.

The fourth beta of macOS Catalina 10.15.2 is now available to developers enrolled in the Apple Developer Center. While not yet available, a public beta update will likely be issued later on Friday for users participating in the Apple Beta Software Program.

Apple's developer notes for the second and third beta releases note that the chief change is fixes to specific networking issues. Apple added the key website top-level domains .dev and .app to its implementation of the HTTP Strict Transport Security system to help safe browsing.

The first beta, released November 7, had more updates including additional eGPU support, improvements to Photos, and a fix for an Apple Pay bug.

Both AppleInsider and Apple itself strongly recommend users don't install the betas on to "mission-critical" or primary devices, as there is the remote possibility of data loss or other issues. Instead, testers should install betas onto secondary or non-essential devices, and to make sure there are sufficient backups of important data before updating.

Find any changes in the new betas? Reach out to us on Twitter at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at [email protected].

lkrupp

I think the release of 10.15.2 will be my entry point for Catalina. My late 2013 27” iMac 14,2 still has enough horsepower. I’ve sat back long enough to see Catalina is basically stable now. Carping on the Apple discussion forums has dwindled down to the usual clap trap that accompanies every macOS release. A lot of the complaining is over 32 bit apps not working and being “forced" to upgrade their ancient versions of Word and Office. Somehow Apple is supposed to keep their old apps working even after having been warned for over a year. "C’est la goddamn vie” as an old college classmate once put it.

hexclock

lkrupp said:

I think the release of 10.15.2 will be my entry point for Catalina. My late 2013 27” iMac 14,2 still has enough horsepower. I’ve sat back long enough to see Catalina is basically stable now. Carping on the Apple discussion forums has dwindled down to the usual clap trap that accompanies every macOS release. A lot of the complaining is over 32 bit apps not working and being “forced" to upgrade their ancient versions of Word and Office. Somehow Apple is supposed to keep their old apps working even after having been warned for over a year. "C’est la goddamn vie” as an old college classmate once put it.

Yes, for those of us that Apple has dragged into the “future” multiple times now, it’s old hat. I’ve lived through 68K > PowerPC, PowerPC > Intel, SCSI > USB > FireWire > Thunderbolt etc. so the loss of some 32-but apps and plugins seems relatively minor to me. At least you don’t have to buy all new peripherals or a new machine to keep going. 

caddyman33

Most junk programs never update 

Benderclb

I can only hope the ability to sync albums with the iPad and the fix to drag-and-drop group email Contacts into Mail are incorporated and solved. Both shortcomings are a huge disappointment in Catalina and the breakup of iTunes.

MplsP

Any word on whether the issues with Mail have been fixed?

raulcristian

My only real pain is Picasa. There's nothing remotely as easy of use and powerful (Lightroom is powerful but much slower and requires learning and cataloging every folder, some other programs do not work well with video, etc.). Not to mention losing the time I invested in perfecting face detection and putting stars on the best photos of a huuuuuuge photo/video collection.

I wish I could create a virtual machine with my current Mohave install and invoke it from the background when needed. That would work for me, everything else is not a problem. But Picasa is.