Apple Seeds Sixth OS X 10.10.4 Yosemite Beta to Developers and Public Beta Testers

os_x_yosemite_round_iconApple today seeded the sixth beta of OS X 10.10.4 to developers and public beta testers, approximately one week after releasing the fifth OS X 10.10.4 beta and nearly two months after releasing the first OS X 10.10.4 beta. OS X 10.10.4 has been in testing since mid-April, following the early April release of OS X 10.10.3, which included the new Photos for OS X app.

The new beta, build 14E36b, can downloaded through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store or through the Mac Developer Center.

OS X 10.10.3 brought several consumer-facing changes including the new Photos for OS X app, a redesigned emoji picker, and diversified emoji, but OS X 10.10.4 appears to be an under-the-hood update that brings performance enhancements and bug fixes.

Thus far, OS X 10.10.4 betas have not included outward facing design changes or feature additions, but the fourth beta introduced a significant behind-the-scenes update that may improve networking performance for users who have experienced issues with OS X Yosemite.

Discoveryd, a somewhat problematic networking process that has been linked to multiple bugs in OS X 10.10, was removed in favor of the older bug-free mDNSresponder.

It is not clear when Apple plans to release OS X 10.10.4 to the public, but the fact that we've now received six betas suggests we may be nearing the end of the beta testing period. It's possible we could see the public release of OS X 10.10.4 on June 30, the same day Apple plans to release iOS 8.4 with the new Music app and Apple Music service.

Related Forum: OS X Yosemite

Top Rated Comments

sniffies Avatar
115 months ago
Yosemite is history.

Give us El Capitan beta 2, Apple Music, and Apple News.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TMRJIJ Avatar
115 months ago
OS X Yosemite? What is this nonsense? El Capitan is where it's at. I barely remember Yosemite. What version was that . . OS X 10.3? I'm pretty this came before Tiger right? hmmm . . . . .
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MikhailT Avatar
115 months ago
How many more betas are there gonna be of 10.10.4? Damn. It's been in testing for 2 months!
As many as it takes to get the quality of the update to be as bug-less as possible, especially as this may the last update to Yosemite before they shift to El Cap completely. Complex software like an OS update takes months to test, validate, and finish.

The whole reason Yosemite was buggy as heck was because they didn't take their time to do it right.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AZhappyjack Avatar
115 months ago
So.. We get yet another Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 BETA just one week after the last one, but still no iOS 9 BETA2 to fix the battery drain? :(
iOS beta releases have not come more frequently than about 2 week intervals, historically. OS X dev previews have pretty much followed suit in terms of release schedule, at least for the .0 releases.

Your patience will be rewarded.

This chart is iOS beta releases, and is included for reference:



Attachment Image
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mw360 Avatar
115 months ago

3 - Insane battery drain. I was getting 20+ hours under iOS 8 two weeks ago. Now I'm getting 4-6 hours with iOS 9 beta 1. This is easily the highest priority bug to fix - it impacts me every day and renders my iPhone for the later part of the day. This isn't a small problem that requires a bit of tweaking - this seems like a massive issue that needs to be fixed immediately. It may be a small issue code wise... maybe just a busy loop somewhere wasting power in the background... but it has a huge impact on user experience
Nothing is a massive issue in beta 1. Even if the OS crashed every 30 seconds beta testers aren't supposed to go around getting their knickers in a twist about it. You would submit a bug report, and advise you are unable to test further and wait for beta 2. You don't demand a beta 2 'immediately.'

If your user experience is being impacted every day then you shouldn't have installed a developers' beta 1 OS on your phone. If this were a release candidate, you might have a point, but there are months ahead where the beta process will take its usual course. You may find the battery drain is actually a very low priority bug right now, depending on how much Apple know about the causes, and how much work would be involved to fix it.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
star-affinity Avatar
115 months ago
The whole reason Yosemite was buggy as heck was because they didn't take their time to do it right.
I wouldn't call it ”buggy as heck”. Yosemite is and has been working very well for me overall.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone Home Screen Gradient Blank Spaces 1

Sources: iOS 18 Lets Apps Be Placed Anywhere on Home Screen Grid

Sunday March 24, 2024 1:33 pm PDT by
iOS 18 will give iPhone users greater control over Home Screen app icon arrangement, according to sources familiar with the matter. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce...
iPad Pro 2024 Landscape Camera Feature

New iPad Pro Again Rumored to Feature Landscape Front-Facing Camera

Monday March 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
The next-generation iPad Pro will feature a landscape-oriented front-facing camera for the first time, according to the Apple leaker known as "Instant Digital." Instant Digital reiterated the design change earlier today on Weibo with a simple accompanying 2D image. The post reveals that the entire TrueDepth camera array will move to the right side of the device, while the microphone will...
sonoma desktop wwdc

Apple Releases macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 With Fix for USB Hub Bug

Monday March 25, 2024 10:10 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, a minor update for the macOS Sonoma operating system that launched last September. macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 comes three weeks after macOS Sonoma 14.4. The ‌‌‌‌macOS Sonoma‌‌ 14.4‌.1 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Settings. There's also a macOS 13.6.6 release for those who...
iPhone 15 General Feature Green

Apple Says These New iOS Features Are Coming Later This Year

Sunday March 24, 2024 7:45 am PDT by
Apple has previously announced three new iOS features that it said are coming to the iPhone later this year, as outlined below. The new features include the ability to install iPhone apps on the web in the EU, RCS support in the Messages app, and next-generation CarPlay. Web Distribution Apple recently announced that eligible developers will soon be able to distribute their iOS apps to ...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Blue Face ID Single Camera Hole

Seven Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 17

Tuesday March 19, 2024 5:20 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models concurrently, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...
maxresdefault

iOS 18 Rumored to Feature 'More Customizable' Home Screen

Sunday March 24, 2024 7:10 am PDT by
iOS 18 will feature a revamped Home Screen that is "more customizable," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He revealed this information in his Power On newsletter today, but he did not provide any specific details. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple will announce iOS 18 at its annual developers conference WWDC in June. Other features and changes rumored for...
combine images

Top Stories: iOS 18's Generative AI Features to Rely on Google?, Latest on New iPads, and More

Saturday March 23, 2024 6:00 am PDT by
We're getting closer to the launch of new iPad Pro and iPad Air models, while rumors about iOS 18 are continuing to ramp up with this week's surprise revelation that Apple has been talking to Google and others about potentially helping power the generative AI features expected to be a major part of this year's update. Other news this week saw the release of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1...