RC of macOS Sonoma 14.4 Available for Testing

Apple has released an RC build for macOS Sonoma 14.4 for Mac users who are engaging in the beta testing program for macOS. The RC build for Sonoma 14.4 arrives alongside RC builds for watchOS 10.4, tvOS 17.4, and visionOS 1.1, roughly a week after the RC builds for iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 became available.

There is speculation that iOS 17.4 might debut as early as tomorrow, or at least sometime this week, and presumably Sonoma 14.4 and the other OS updates will arrive concurrently.

macOS Sonoma 14.4 is set to include new Emoji icons like a shaking head and mushroom, a Podcasts transcription feature, along with a few bug fixes and security updates.

Downloading macOS Sonoma 14.4 RC

Mac users who are actively enrolled in the beta testing programs for MacOS can find the latest build available to download from System Settings > General > Software Update.

Any user can enroll a Mac to beta test system software, but it’s generally best kept to advanced users.

When will macOS Sonoma 14.4 final be available to everyone?

With the RC release of Sonoma 14.4, the release date of the final version is likely imminent. RC stands for Release Candidate, and, absent any major bugs or issues discovered in an RC build, is often the version of software that gets issued to the general public.

There is speculation that macOS Sonoma 14.4 will arrive alongside iOS 17.4 this week, possibly as soon as March 5.

macOS Sonoma 14.4 RC Release Notes

Release notes accompanying the RC build are as follows, likely matching the final release notes:

macOS Sonoma 14.4 introduces new emoji as well as other features, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac.

Emoji
– New mushroom, phoenix, lime, broken chain, and shaking heads emoji are now available in emoji keyboard
– 18 people and body emoji support facing the opposite direction

This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:
– Podcasts Episode text can be read in full, searched for a word or phrase, clicked to play from a specific point and used with accessibility features such as Text Size, Increase Contrast, and VoiceOver
– Business Updates in Messages for Business let you get updates that you’ve opted into, like order status, flight notifications, fraud alerts or other transactions from trusted businesses
– Safari Favorites Bar adds an option to show only icons for websites

Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices.

For detailed information about the security content of this update, please visit: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222