Apple Rolls Out macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Beta 8: What’s New?

The next major update for macOS Sierra is not ready for release yet, but developers and beta testers can already have a glimpse of what the official software update would be like. Apple just released the eighth beta of update 10.12.4, and it comes with features and tweaks that will be fully implemented once the final version is out.

Just like the seventh beta version, this new pre-release software does not come with big changes save for the previously outed ones by the earlier betas. In fact, the difference in the build numbers of the seventh and eighth betas is only one digit — from 16E191a to 16E192b, as per Apple Insider. Given this small increment, it will not come as a surprise when developers and beta testers find no visible changes when the new beta is installed.

As previously reported, macOS Sierra 10.12.4 will be an update that introduces Night Shift to the Mac devices. The display mode was first launched in iOS when iOS 9.3 was released. Night Shift for Mac will change the way Apple computers behave at certain times of the day. The display will shift from the usual blue color to yellow to reduce the user’s exposure to the former when it is already nighttime. The blue light in the display panels of laptops was found to disrupt the circadian rhythm, so Apple intends to eliminate the sleeping problems this disruption typically leads to.

According to MacRumors, the 10.12.4 update will also bring dictation support for Shanghainese language, Siri support for cricket scores, improved PDFKit APIs as well as iCloud Analytics options. The cricket scores will be generated from the Indian Premier League and International Cricket Council. As for the new iCloud Analytics options, previous betas revealed that this simply pertains to how iCloud Analytics has become an opt-in step during setup.

As per usual, the new beta software comes with bug fixes and improved implementations of the macOS Sierra features. Finally, given the short interval between the new betas — the seventh beta was released four days ago — it’s clear that the Cupertino giant is close to launching update 10.12.4 to public users.