If you’re curious about testing out MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta but you aren’t ready for the full commitment of installing it as your primary operating system, the simplest and safest way to run MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta is within a virtual machine. While one of our authors dove right into MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta full time out of frustration with Tahoe, running a beta operating system has some risks and stability issues associated with it, so that’s not always a viable solution. In situations like this, a virtual machine is particularly helpful.

Virtual machines are great because they’re self-contained and segregated from the rest of your files and host Mac operating system, meaning there’s no chance anything in the VM, beta or not, can break anything else on the Mac. This offers a nice way to test out new beta MacOS features and functionality without any risk to your main Mac. And when you’re done, or no longer use the VM, you can just delete it.

We’re going to walk through the steps for making a MacOS 27 Golden Gate virtual machine by using the VirtualBuddy VM app. VirtualBuddy is easy to use, free, and handles the downloading of necessary MacOS 27 assets directly within the app as part of the VM setup. This makes it so you don’t have to seek out and download MacOS 27 IPSW and installer files on your own, or deal with any additional steps. The result is that setting up a new VM is super easy with VirtualBuddy. Yes there are many other virtualization apps out there, many of them are great too, but for our purposes here we are using VirtualBuddy. You will also need the host machine to be a MacOS 27 compatible Mac, which includes basically any Apple Silicon Mac (MacOS 27 does not support Intel chips).

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Apple Watch Series 11 is nicely discounted by Amazon, cutting $100 off the base price and they’re now starting at $299.

• Get Apple Watch Series 11 for $299 ($100 off from $399)

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I know it’s only in beta, and probably halfway through the beta cycle at that, but I’m going all in on MacOS 27 Golden Gate. Why, you might ask? Because, for me, the MacOS 27 beta is better than MacOS 26 Tahoe is, in some pretty critical ways.

And to be clear, I do not recommend this for anyone else, this is me throwing caution to the wind on my own personal Macs. But I just am fed up with the bugs of MacOS Tahoe enough that I want a change, and I’m willing to embrace the more risky beta experience instead. And here’s some specific reasons why.

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Longtime gamers and fans of retro gaming in general may recall the 1992 classic first person shooter Wolfenstein 3D, which set the standard and blueprint for many the entire genre and gaming in general moving forward.

While re-playing Wolfenstein 3D in and of itself can be a fun retro experience, one enterprising developer took it upon themselves to modernize it just ever so slightly.

Dubbed Wolfenshine 3D while it still uses the original 1992 artwork and sound effects, it has been modernized a bit with lighting effects to add in colored lighting, light rays, fog effects, bloom effects, shadows, and water effects. The end result is pretty neat. Check out the game yourself as a free download, or enjoy on your Mac (or Windows PC):

• Check out Wolfenshine on Github here

BTW don’t feel bad if you’re not familiar with the process of downloading an app from Github, you can read about that here if you’re unfamiliar but basically go to the “Releases” section and get whatever is the newest for your particular Mac hardware.

The developer Github page describes the Wolfenshine project as follows:

“Wolfenstein 3D rebuilt in modern C#—faithful when you want it, shiny when you don’t.

Wolfenshine is a playable, cross-platform reimplementation of the 1992 classic. It reads the maps, artwork, music, and sounds from your own copy of Wolfenstein 3D, then brings them to life through a clean .NET engine written from scratch.

At its heart is an authentic 320×200 software-rendered experience. Press F2 and that same game becomes something new: colored lights spill across rooms, muzzle flashes illuminate enemies, fog gathers in the distance, and bright doorways cast descending shafts into the darkness.”

If you want to watch how it looks before running it yourself (or perhaps in lieu of), check out the YouTube embed below:

Found via X (Twitter), and you can find us on there too.

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Many MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Neo owners have noticed something curious; their MacBook battery stops charging at 80% when plugged in. To add to the confusion, even if they leave their MacBook plugged in overnight, the battery seems to be stuck at 80% and will not charge any further. Because this is not necessarily understood or expected behavior, some Mac users think there may be something wrong with their battery or their computer.

So what’s going on here? Why is the MacBook battery stuck at 80% and will not charge more? It turns out this is intentional behavior, part of a feature of MacOS that is designed to help preserve long-term battery health on your MacBook. Let’s explain, explore this further, and learn how you can fully charge the MacBook to 100% at any time, and even how to change this setting so it always charges to maximum capacity.

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Amazon is taking $500 off the 14″ M5 Pro MacBook Pro in 24GB RAM 2TB SSD configuration. This is a very well equipped pro Mac at a whopper size discount:

• 14″ M5 Pro MacBook Pro – 24GB – 2TB – $2499 ($500 off)

If you don’t need quite so much power or storage, or perhaps you want a larger display, there are some other deals available from Amazon too on MacBook Air and 16″ MacBook Pro, though none are as generous at the aforementioned with $500 off.

• 15″ M5 MacBook Air – 16GB – 512GB – $1399 ($100 off)
• 13″ M5 MacBook Air – 16GB – 1TB – $1499 ($100 off)
• 16″ M5 Pro MacBook Pro – 24GB – 1TB – $2799 ($200 off)

As always with Amazon, stock moves quickly, so if you see something you like, grab it.

AirPods from $99

Amazon is once again offering the popular AirPods for at just $99, and the AirPods Pro 3 for just $199.

• AirPods 4 for $99 (down from $129)
• AirPods Pro 3 for $199 (down from $249)

FTC: OSXDaily is an affiliate partner with Amazon, meaning if you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment which goes towards keeping the site running.

The iOS 27 beta has overall been a very positive experience for many beta testers, but if you have installed iOS 26 beta onto your iPhone or iPad and decided that it’s no longer for you, perhaps due to some incompatibility, critical bug, or other issue, then you can downgrade your iPhone from iOS 27 beta reverting back to iOS 26 (and yes, the same trick works for downgrading iPadOS 27 beta back to iPadOS 26).

Downgrading is a multistep process that is somewhat technical, but don’t be too intimidated by it. The big thing to remember is that to downgrade successfully and keep all of your stuff, you’ll have need to have made a backup of your iPhone or iPad prior to updating to iOS 27 beta. If you don’t care about keeping your data, then you can downgrade and just setup the iPhone or iPad as a new device running iOS 26.

And yes this works the same for downgrading either the iOS 27 developer beta or the public beta.

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MacOS Sequoia 15.7.8 and MacOS Sonoma 14.8.7 are available for Mac users who are not running the Tahoe operating system. Both MacOS Sequoia 15.7.8 and MacOS Sonoma 14.8.7 include a myriad of security patches, making them recommended updates for all Mac users who are running those operating systems. No new features are included.

Separately, Apple has also released MacOS Tahoe 26.6 update, iOS 26.6 & iPadOS 26.6 update, along with updates to watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS. Those releases also contain important security patches, so you’ll want to be sure to update all of your eligible Apple devices.

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AirPods are available at a nice discount from Amazon, whether you’re interested in the AirPods Pro 3 with hearing aid functionality for $199 (down from $249), or the AirPods 4 for $99 (down from $129):

• Get AirPods 4 for $99 (down 22% from $129)
• Get AirPods Pro 3 for $199 (down from $249)

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Apple has released MacOS Tahoe 26.6 for Mac users running the Tahoe operating system. The update is primarily focused on security fixes, and includes 8 new Emoji icons. Don’t expect any major changes or features, as those are instead arriving in the currently under beta MacOS 27.

For Mac users running MacOS Sequoia and MacOS Sonoma, you will find security updates available for those Macs as well as macOS Sequoia 15.7.8 and macOS Sonoma 14.8.8.

Separately, Apple has also released iOS 26.6 for iPhone, iPadOS 26.6 for iPad, and a bevy of other software updates for Apple devices as well.

Note that if you have already installed MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta, you will not find the MacOS Tahoe 26.6 update available on your Mac.

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Apple has released iOS 26.6 for iPhone, along with iPadOS 26.6 for iPad. The software updates are focused mostly on security enhancements for the devices, and there is also some included preparations for the upcoming larger iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 releases coming later in the year.

Separately, Apple has also released MacOS Tahoe 26.6 for Mac, along with updates to prior iOS, MacOS, and iPadOS versions, and other Apple devices, so be sure to check Software Update on just about anything for available updates.

If you’re currently running iOS 27 beta you will not find the iOS 26.6 update available to you.

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Tired of getting bombarded with frequent DoorDash advertising, promotional, and marketing notifications on iPhone? You’re not alone. If it feels like your notifications are getting spammed by DoorDash, this is a broad nuisance to many, and fortunately with some hidden settings adjustments, you can completely stop the DoorDash marketing rubbish that gets pushed to your notification center.

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Apple has released the second public beta versions of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and MacOS 27 Golden Gate, to users who are eligible. If you’re interested in installing those betas on your device, you can read instructions for iPhone and iPad here, or for Mac here.

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With the launch of the MacOS 27 Golden Gate public beta program, now even more users can experience MacOS 27 as it’s actively being worked on by Apple. MacOS 27 Golden Gate has a heavy focus on performance improvements, but there’s also refinements other than the Liquid Glass interface look, improvements to Spotlight and Mail search, a new Siri app, and more. And with the Feedback app included in the public beta, you can even file bug reports or offer suggestions directly to Apple, possibly even influencing the development of MacOS 27 Golden Gate.

If you’re interested in running the MacOS 27 Golden Gate public beta, read along and you’ll have it installed on your Mac in no time. And if you’re jumping into this, you might also be interested in installing the iOS 27 public beta (or iPadOS 27) on iPhone or iPad separately, as well.

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The Release Candidate builds of MacOS Tahoe 26.6, iOS 26.6, and iPadOS 26.6, are now available for those engaged in beta testing for current generation versions of Apple system software. There are also RC builds for MacOS Sequoia 15.7.8 and MacOS Sonoma 14.8.8, though it’s hard to imagine many people aside from some devs are beta testing those versions at the moment.

The RC builds of iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6 mention they prepare for iOS 27 by optimizing Spotlight, something that many iOS 27 beta testers have noticed can take several days to complete with a message in Settings app stating the device is “Optimizing Search and Siri”. Otherwise, it’s assumed that the OS 26.6 updates will focus mostly on bug fixes and security patches.

With the RC builds being issued, it’s reasonable to assume the final versions of iOS 26.6, MacOS Tahoe 26.6, and iPadOS 26.6, should debut sometime in the near future, perhaps by the end of this week or next.
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iOS 27 beta 4 for iPhone, and iPadOS 27 beta 4 for iPad, have been released for users engaged in the OS 27 developer beta system software testing programs. A concurrent public beta testing program is also now ongoing, though those betas are typically delayed a day or few behind dev betas, but otherwise match the same build number.

The primary focus of iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 are performance improvements, along with tweaks to the Liquid Glass interface. There’s now a slider to adjust the intensity of Liquid Glass, a dedicated Siri app that is similar to an LLM chatbot, Siri AI, new Apple Intelligence features, improvements to search and other core system functions, and more.

Beta system software is intended for advanced users. Nonetheless, installing iOS 27 beta is a simple process that involves enrolling in the free Apple developer beta program. A similar process is available for public beta participation.

Separately, Apple has also released MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta 4, watchOS 27 beta 4, and tvOS 27 beta 4.

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For Mac users who are currently running MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta, Apple has released the 4th beta version of MacOS 27 developer beta. The latest beta build is available to download now through Software Update, as an IPSW file, or as the full installer.

MacOS 27 Golden Gate has a heavy focus on performance improvements, along with tweaks and enhancements to the Liquid Glass interface. You’ll find notable improvements to Spotlight search, Mail search, a new Siri app, Siri AI capabilities including voice customization, new Apple Intelligence features, a Liquid Glass slider, and more.

Anyone can install macOS 27 beta now by registering in the free developer beta program, and there’s also now a concurrent public beta program available. Typically public betas update soon after the developer beta, and match the same build number.

Separately, Apple has also released new betas for iOS 27 beta 4, iPadOS 27 beta 4, and beta 4 of watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27, for users who are running those betas as well.

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Now that the public beta for iOS 27 is available, even more iPhone and iPad users are going to be interested in experiencing the new operating systems while they’re under active development. And there’s good reason for this, iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 are both shaping up to be notable improvements to the operating systems, with significant performance boosts, refinements to the Liquid Glass interface experience, new Siri AI features, new Apple Intelligence features, and lots of little tweaks and adjustments throughout too.

If you’re comfortable with the beta operating system experience – meaning more bugs than usual, less stability, potentially reduced battery life, potential app incompatibilities, etc – then you might be interested in installing and running the iOS 27 public beta right now on iPhone, or the iPadOS 27 public beta on iPad. That’s what we’ll show you how to do.

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