MacOS Big Sur 11.0.1 Beta 1 Released for Testing
Apple has released macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta 1 for users involved in the beta testing program for MacOS Big Sur. The beta has first arrived to developers, but the same build typically comes to public beta testers soon after.
The versioning is somewhat fascinating because macOS Big Sur 11 has yet to be released to the general public. It’s unclear why the new beta release didn’t simply arrive as macOS Big Sur beta 11, but perhaps there was a versioning error, or perhaps the final release of macOS Big Sur is imminent, as it has been rumored to be for a few weeks now.
How to Download MacOS Big Sur 11.0.1 Beta 1
As always, be certain to completely backup all Mac data with Time Machine before proceeding with any software updates, but particularly with beta releases.
- Go to the Apple menu, then choose “System Preferences”
- Select “Software Update”
- Choose to update and install when ‘macOS Big Sur beta 11.0.1’ shows as available to download
The Mac will require a reboot to complete installation of.
It’s unclear when the final version of macOS Big Sur will be made available to the public, but any brave user can install the macOS Big Sur public beta onto any compatible Mac if they so choose.
MacOS Big Sur 11 features a redesigned user interface appearance with more white space, brighter and whiter UI elements, newly redesigned icons, a refreshed Dock appearance, and some other visual changes. Additionally, macOS Big Sur brings Control Center to the Mac, new features to Safari like an instant translation capability, new features for Messages on Mac that bring some of the features to parity with the iOS and iPadOS versions of the messaging app, along with various other new features, improvements, and changes to the Mac.
Will they please just release the OS? This is like the worst, perpetual beta from them I’ve ever seen.
Big Sur is still very in beta and it’s not refined yet for widespread use. I personally wouldn’t install it on a computer that matters for work or productivity at least until MacOS 11.1, maybe even Big Sur 11.3 or later. Over the years I have even skipped over some problematic releases entirely (Yosemite, High Sierra, Catalina) on my production hardware.
Also, Big Sur runs slow, because everything seems to be constantly contacting Apple for verification or approval. Catalina does that too, but the network checks seems slower and more frequent in Big Sur for some reason. But again, it’s beta, so who knows maybe it will be fixed and wonderful in another few weeks.
Big Sur isn’t ready yet – the installer isn’t very robust, and time machine backups are really unreliable, as is the OS Recovery mode. I hope they DON’T release it until it can be installed, backed up, and Removed without issue. (at the very least)
BIG SUR won’t be released. Beta options forever. 😂
Ha :-) Exactly how I feel – MacOS feels like a perpetual beta. If Apple was more concerned about fixing bugs and less about having something shiny to show people every year things would be better.