Apple Seeds Second macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Beta to Developers - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple Seeds Second macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Beta to Developers

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.4 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the first macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta and just over a two weeks after releasing macOS Sierra 10.12.3.

The second macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta is available for download through the Apple Developer Center or the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store for those who have previously installed a beta.

macos-10-12-4-beta
macOS Sierra 10.12.4 brings iOS's Night Shift mode to the Mac for the first time. First introduced with iOS 9.3, Night Shift is designed to gradually shift the display of a device from blue to yellow, cutting down on exposure to blue light. Blue light is said to disrupt the circadian rhythm and is believed to interrupt sleeping patterns.

Night Shift can be activated through the Displays section of System Preferences, where a setting to have it come on at sunset and turn off at sunrise is available. Night Shift can also be toggled on manually through the Notification Center or via Siri.


The 10.12.4 update focuses mainly on Night Shift, but also includes dictation support for Shanghainese, cricket scores for Siri, and improved PDFKit APIs. Today's beta adds an opt-in option for iCloud Analytics that pops up after installing the update.

Related Forum: macOS Sierra

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Wednesday July 29, 2026 11:39 am PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system that is essentially a mix of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In a report this week, he said the operating system will feature a grid of icons, widgets, and apps, along with customizable clock faces. The new software platform is intended for Apple's long-rumored smart home hub. With built-in facial recognition,...
imac video apple feature

Apple Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever This Year

Wednesday July 29, 2026 12:03 pm PDT by
Apple this year acquired Israeli startup Q.ai for close to $2 billion, according to the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone maker Beats in 2014. This is also the largest known Apple acquisition since the company purchased Intel's smartphone modem business and patents for $1 billion in 2019. Q.ai...
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra: Pre-Orders and Release Date

Thursday July 30, 2026 6:12 am PDT by
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern. Labor Day is September 7 this year. The last time the holiday fell on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the last time Labor Day was on September 7 in a normal year was in ...

Top Rated Comments

Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
124 months ago
The Mac Pro is gathering dust - but rest assured...

Siri now understands cricket scores.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
justperry Avatar
124 months ago
Whats changed nothing lol oh yeah big fixes lol
[doublepost=1486495318][/doublepost]All these updates and one stupid night shift i never use come on sort out the operating system and make it faster
Then don't update, simple.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
justperry Avatar
123 months ago
Article Link: Apple Seeds Second macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Beta to Developers ('https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/07/apple-seeds-macos-sierra-10-12-4-beta-2/')

My macbook md101 after updating sierra 10.12.3 cannot zoom in or zoom out on the quick look on finder. Is it just another bug or something?
Download the next file from : http://support.apple.com/downloads/DL1905/en_US/macosupdcombo10.12.3.dmg
Next apply the update, it might very well fix your issue.
It's the combo update so fairly big.

One note, this is normally not the place to ask for help, there are other threads for this but since you are new I think I just help you out here.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SvP Avatar
124 months ago
Oh. Nice. ~~So, it still can't be used as a boot partition?~~

Edit: I realised that I was confusing this with the next (to be released) macOS version. Ignore my question. I'm fairly certain they won't do that major a change in a minor version update.
They've announced they'd do the conversion in 2017, and they announced they'd convert it in-place... i think they'll do it in MacOS11. I'm very impressed by what it's capable off and think the limitations (like not being able to boot) are made intentionally.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
124 months ago
Night Shift STILL does not work and does not exist on my late 2011 MacBook Pro 17". :mad:
[doublepost=1486593393][/doublepost]
No night shift support for an early 2011 MBP
Would have been good if Apple documented somewhere that there was no Night Shift support for a 2011 MBP!!! Otherwise I would have skipped this beta!!!

Back to f.lux!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chriscrowlee Avatar
124 months ago
Wonder if it fixes the nasty gmail bug in mail?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

🔗 Related Apple News & Rumors

Stay updated with the latest Apple ecosystem news and verified rumors