Apple Seeds Fifth Beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.5 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

Monday May 1, 2017 10:16 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.5 update to developers, one week after seeding the fourth beta and more than one month after releasing macOS Sierra 10.12.4, which introduced Night Shift for the Mac.

The fifth beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.5 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

macOS 10
According to the release notes accompanying the beta, the update "improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac."

Apple's release notes don't often provide much insight into what's included in new beta software, so we don't know what features or bug fixes might be built into the 10.12.5 update.

No notable changes or major bug fixes were discovered in the first four betas, but should anything pop up in the fifth macOS Sierra 10.12.5 beta, we'll update this post.

Update: The fifth beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.5 is also available for public beta testers.

Related Forum: macOS Sierra

Popular Stories

Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature

Apple Smart Home Hub to Feature iMac G4-Style Design

Wednesday September 30, 2026 4:36 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

Apple's long-rumored smart home hub will have an iMac G4-style design and a host of unique features, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. The smart home hub is said to feature a square 6-inch display, with variants that can be placed on a countertop or mounted on a wall. It features a single FaceTime camera on the front, with microphones and speakers in its connected base. Gurman described the...

• 201 comments

Three New Apple Smart Home Products Coming on October 13

Wednesday September 30, 2026 4:04 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

Apple plans to introduce a series of new smart home products on Tuesday, October 13, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple reportedly plans to debut its long-awaited smart home hub device, a new HomePod mini, and a new Apple TV on the date. The new HomePod mini and Apple TV are set to retain their existing designs, but tout faster chips to support Siri AI. The new HomePod mini will...

• 56 comments

New Apple TV 4K Leaked

Friday September 25, 2026 8:16 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris has uncovered an image file from Apple for an unreleased Apple TV 4K, suggesting that a new model will finally be released soon. The image is specifically for an "Apple TV 4K (4th generation)" model. Apple TV 4K (4th generation) image (on a gradient) The image reveals that the Apple TV will have the same external design as the current model, with all of its...

• 192 comments

Top Rated Comments

celaurie

123 months ago

Sounds like it's time to upgrade.

Nope, haven't even thought about it!

This machine was bought as a new 'maxed out' top-end monster.

(It was coincidentally rebuilt from the keel up under AppleCare about a year ago giving me a new screen, motherboard and SSHD following some strange power cut outs.)

It handles everything I throw at it and has no OS drag... Yet.

Look after the Mac and it will look after you!

In life, I've found that you don't always need the shiniest and newest of everything all the time...

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

pat500000

123 months ago

I'm gonna say majority of people haven't touch more than 50 percent of the features since ML.

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

alexgowers

123 months ago

I get the horrible feeling we're ramping up for a totally new macOS jump with these stability releases. It's the B team cleaning up making Sierra tight like a drum for it to all go tits up with the next big release. I really wish we got another 2 years of Sierra and stability updates but I feel like this will be one of the last.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

robeddie

123 months ago

More like Microsoft adopted Apple's model of releasing Windows on a faster model vs one every 3-4 years... Apple's been releasing OS X ~yearly for nearly a decade. 10.4 was my first taste of X and it's been a new drop every ~12 months.

Either your math or your memory is terrible:

10.4 released April 2005
10.5 released oct 2007 (30 months later)
10.6 released Aug 2009 (22 months after 10.5)
10.7 released july 2011 (23 months after 10.6)
It wasnt until 10.8, released july 2012 that Apple started releasing mac os updates on a yearly basis - around the same time a lot of people feel that apple's quality control and software stability took a dip.
IMO, their insistance on rushed annual releases of new OS's has contributed to that decline.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

TMRJIJ

123 months ago

Due to the nature of undocumented bug fixes, I presume there were either no bugs fixed or no fixes to be bugged about ?

There wouldn't be any Beta seeded if there were no bugs to be fixed.

I'm gonna say majority of people haven't touch more than 50 percent of the features since ML.

Nobody really uses 'all' of the features on their computers either due to Incompatibility, Third Party options, or just no interest/purpose.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

TheDreaded26

123 months ago

I'm still on my late 2013 MBP :).

Early 2011:oops:

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Read All Comments

Apple Seeds Fifth Beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.5 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

Popular Stories

Apple Smart Home Hub to Feature iMac G4-Style Design

Three New Apple Smart Home Products Coming on October 13

New Apple TV 4K Leaked

Top Rated Comments

Next Article

Videos

Guides

Upcoming

Other Stories

🔗 Related Apple News & Rumors