Apple releases yet another High Sierra beta, while we still wait for macOS 10.13.5

Apple has released yet another beta update for macOS High Sierra, which will have the version number 10.13.6.

This is the fourth beta that Apple has released for High Sierra in May alone, which shows that the company is working hard on getting the new version of the operating system out to developers who have signed up for early builds.

The macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 beta has a build number of 17G31f, and it can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center. A public beta for non-developers should arrive soon after.

Of course, with such an early beta version of the operating system, you should hold off installing it on any mission critical hardware.

Where’s macOS 10.13.5?

While this is the first beta for macOS 10.13.6, macOS 10.13.5 has had five beta builds. You’d have thought that after all those tests that Apple would have released a final version of 10.13.5, but so far it has not, with regular users still on macOS 10.13.4, which was released in April.

The fifth beta of macOS 10.13.5 included support for Messages in iCloud, which will allow Macs to work alongside the same feature in recent iOS betas.

This synchronizes the user’s messages between every device logged into the same iCloud account, with older messages stored online.

It sounds like a great feature, and we’re looking forward to giving it a go. We’re just waiting on Apple to provide the final version of 10.13.5.

Meanwhile, the release notes for macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 beta don’t provide any details about new features included in the upcoming release. This may be because it’s a very early beta build, and hopefully Apple will have some new goodies waiting for us in later builds.

Via Apple Insider

Matt Hanson
Managing Editor, Core Tech

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. Ever since he got an Amiga A500+ for Christmas in 1991, he's loved using (and playing on) computers, and will talk endlessly about how The Secret of Monkey Island is the best game ever made.