Now You Too Can Get Apple OS X Betas
Apple rolled out its new OS X Beta Seed Program to all Mac customers Tuesday — meaning users get to see future operating systems early.
Historically, only developers (who pay $99 a year) had access to beta versions of the latest OS X releases. Now Apple is opening up that opportunity to everyone.
On the OS X Beta Seed Program landing page, Apple describes the program as giving users "the opportunity to run pre-release software" so that they can "test-drive beta software and provide quality and usability feedback that will help make OS X even better."
To join the program, simply signup at the Beta Seed Program website and login with your Apple ID. Then, download a small program to your computer (you need to be running OS X Mavericks). Now, when your Mac checks for new app updates, it will also check for beta versions of OS X.
Users signing up now are greeted with pre-release versions of OS X 10.9.3 and iTunes 11.1.6. Apple advises users to make backups of their machines and files using Time Machine beforeinstalling any beta software. The company also offers more information about how the program works in an FAQ.
You can also download a special feedback program to report bugs and offer any other suggestions on beta apps.
A sign of things to come?
This isn't the first time Apple has offered public betas for some of its Mac apps. The Mac App Store, FaceTime and the Messages apps were all available via beta downloads before launching more formally with major releases of OS X. In the past, Apple has offered beta versions of iTunes.
Still, this is the first time Apple has offered non-developers access to a beta version of an operating system. And it begs the question of how this Beta Seed Program could be extended beyond Apple updates. What if users could try out beta versions of some of their favorite third-party Mac apps too?
Third-party testing programs such as HockeyApp already exist — but the advantage of Apple's program is its seamless integration with the Mac App Store.
Apple acquired Burstly, the company behind the testing platform TestFlight back in February. It seems likely that acquisition is related to the new Beta Seed Program.
Perhaps at WWDC, Apple will provide developers for Mac and iOS a better way to offer beta versions of their apps to regular users.
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