OS X 10.10.3 Beta 2 Available for Testing

Feb 23, 2015 - 42 Comments

OS X 10.10.3 Beta 2

A new beta version of OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 has been released by Apple. The second beta build arrives as 14D87h and continues to emphasize the new Photos app for Mac.


Mac users who are registered to participate in the OS X developer program can find the update available in the Mac App Store Update mechanism, or through the OS X Dev Center website. It’s possible that Mac users in the Public Beta may find the release available to them in the future, but at the moment it appears to be a developer only release.

The Photos app aims to replace iPhoto as an image management tool for Mac users. Sharing much in common with the iOS versions of Photos app, the OS X Photos app looks similar visually and has a heavy emphasis on iCloud Photo Library, perhaps making it the defining feature of OS X 10.10.3.

The standard Photos app GUI looks a lot like iOS

Presumably, OS X 10.10.3 will also include other bug fixes and improvements to OS X Yosemite, though none are specifically mentioned in the release notes accompanying the download. Some Mac users running Yosemite have been bothered by a continuous stream of bugs or difficulties with the OS X release, ranging from wi-fi and network challenges to broader usability concerns.

There is no known timeline for a public release of OS X 10.10.3, currently the most recent version of Mac OS available to the public is OS X 10.10.2.

Separately, developers for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV can find iOS 8.3 beta 2 available as well as new version of Xcode.

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Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Mac OS, News

42 Comments

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  1. Chris says:

    I just got a new MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, 500 GB Flash Storage) running OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 (14C109).

    I’m really impressed with the WiFi implementation. I connect to my 5 GHz WiFi SSID (Linksys EA6900) and do a speed test on speedtest.net and I’m getting 50 Mb/sec! My internet connection is only 50 Mb/sec. I was never able to get anywhere near the full ISP rate on speedtest.net when using WiFi from any of my other devices. I would have to be cabled in on 100 Mb Ethernet to get the full rate. BTW the WiFi router is nowhere near me and is on a different floor. When I do the same speed test from the same spot in my house from my Lenovo T430s running Windows 7 64-Bit, I only get 20 Mb/sec.

    I run VMware Fusion and have a Windows VM that I run on the new MacBook Pro and when I do a speed test from the VM, I get 50 Mb/sec from it as well.

    I guess the great network performance is a function of the MacBook Pro’s 802.11 ac WiFi adapter plus my Linksys wireless router also being an 802.11 ac compliant device (as per IEEE specification). All my other PC’s use 802.11 g/n.

  2. UhOh says:

    I bet Fred was telling people to use landline phones when people had issues with iPhone 4’s reception.

  3. UhOh says:

    I’m clean installing Mavericks to my Mac Mini as I write this.

    My MBP works fine with Yosemite but Mini has been unusable because of the wlan/bluetooth problem. Even after a clean install the problem persist.

    I don’t use bluetooth devices with my MBP and that seems to be the key difference.

    Going to wait couple more updates before I try Yosemite on Mini again.

  4. Riccardo says:

    *everything you say…

  5. Riccardo says:

    @fred

    Some people say Germans have no humour. I doubt that. Guess what. Everything u day is a joke and I can’t stop laughing.

    BTW I’m German.

    I walked into an apple service provider store. 2 people waiting in cue with WiFi issues on a newly purchased Mac book pro.

  6. Philip says:

    Pathetic… Who need some stupid photo app, when there are so many not-squashed bugs… It would be funny, if it isn’t pathetic.

  7. Evgeny says:

    Have problem with WiFi – after awaking from sleep, wifi shows as connected, but doesn’t work, turning it off and on again solves the issue.

  8. John R Garland says:

    Love to comment, abstain after reading some of these sophomoric comments.

  9. Zaxcom says:

    I think this latest beta has broken iMessage SMS handoff to my iMac. Any non apple phone I try to send an iMessage fails with an error.

  10. Neil McKenzie says:

    I really need Wi-Fi performance so please, please let there be a fix in the next release. It has been a choice between my Bluetooth devices and obtaining good network speed. I cannot go on much longer.

  11. SeyXcoder says:

    Any word about the battery ?
    Yosemite has a huge batter issues (check the apple forums) people are losing there mind because of this.
    I would love to hear people opinions about the batter with 10.10.3

  12. The new Photos app is really nice. I’ve been playing with it since the first 10.10.3 beta. This update killed Bartender, the app that helps tame the menubar icons. I’ve emailed the developer about it. I could just revert back to 10.10.2, but I don’t feel like doing that, and I’m sure that Bartender will get updated at some point soon.

    • Mustrashh says:

      I’m also using Bartender, and couldn’t live without it anymore. But it works fine in my case with all yosemite releases, even with this latest beta. I have 2012 mac mini + 2014 rMBP 15. Both have latest beta installed, and running bartender just fine.

    • Brock V. Sherman says:

      Same issues with Bartender and the latest developmental build. Worked fine previously with the first developmental build. I also emailed the developer. This is on a 2013 Mac Pro so perhaps the machine it is installed on may play a role.

    • Brock V. Sherman says:

      If you enable checking for beta updates, version 1.2.32 solves the problem.

  13. Peter Sanchez says:

    I never liked iPhoto much and so I don’t expect to like Photos much either, but I will give it a try someday I’m sure. I do like Photos on the iPhone, a bit flawed but it works for what it does.

    But anyway, this is my Mac, I have real work to do on it, so you can bet that I’ll stick to OS X Mavericks for the next year or so at least. Tried Yosemite for a week, total disaster, won’t do that again. I just hope by the time it’s hardware upgrade season (summer) that Apple will have fixed this Yosemite thing so it’s actually usable for more than a few people.

    • Fred says:

      You wrote: “I just hope by the time it’s hardware upgrade season (summer) that Apple will have fixed this Yosemite thing so it’s actually usable for more than a few people.”

      Yosemite was installed on more than 50% of all Internet connected Macs as of Early January. It’s had the fastest adoption rate of any version of OS X. So much for your claim that it’s only “usable for… a few people.”

      You wrote: “Tried Yosemite for a week, total disaster, won’t do that again.”

      I really have to wonder if the OS is to blame for your problems. I’ve got Yosemite installed on two Mac Pros, a MacBook 13″, a MacBook Pro 17″, and on my wife’s Core i5 Mac Mini on which she does her freelance writing and editing (her job). It’s been rock-solid on every one.

      You wrote: “But anyway, this is my Mac, I have real work to do on it, so you can bet that I’ll stick to OS X Mavericks for the next year or so at least.”

      Those of us with “real work to do” switched to Yosemite months ago. We’d no more run an obsolete OS than we would run a PowerPC Mac.

      • LOLnope says:

        Ah yes, Fred is the classic Apple apologist. “There is no wi-fi problem!” says Fred, meanwhile Apple releases OS X 10.10.1 to fix Wi-Fi, does nothing, “There is no wi-fi problem!” says Fred again, meanwhile Apple releases OS X 10.10.2 to fix Wi-Fi AGAIN, does nothing, but fear not, Fred says “There is no wi-fi problem!” and now Apple will release OS X 10.10.3 with who knows what fixes, but there’s no problems! This will carry on with OS X 10.10.4, OS X 10.10.5, etc. 10.10.7 was similar but not as bad, never became usable, took an entire new OS X to ‘fix’ it.

        So Fred, since OS X Yosemite is so perfect, why would Apple even bother releasing point release bug fixes? Wrong-o Fred, wrong-o.

        • Fred says:

          Where did I say that “There is no wi-fi problem!” or that ‘OS X Yosemite is so perfect’? You flat-out líed.

          A small minority of Mac users have Wi-Fi problems. It’s pretty obvious from the adoption numbers that the problem is not widespread.

          • romcodox says:

            small minority???? check the apple suport forum… tousends of people have this problem…ohoh

          • Fred says:

            romcodox wrote: “small minority???? check the apple suport forum… tousends[sic] of people have this problem…ohoh”

            Apple sold 4.4million Macs in 2014 alone. There are tens of millions of macs in use. So ‘thousands’ of people complaining about the problem, some incorrectly blaming Yosemite, is a small minority.

          • Fred says:

            romcodox wrote: “small minority???? check the apple suport forum… tousends of people have this problem…ohoh”

            Apple sold 4.4 million Macs in 2014 alone. There are tens of millions of Macs running Yosemite. So, yes, a few thousand people blaming Yosemite for their WiFi problems is a small minority.

            Especially when Yosemite has nothing to do with many of the complaints (“Oh, I have Yosemite, and people are complaining about Wi-Fi problems, and I just had a website timeout at McDonalds, so Yosemite ruined my Wi-Fi!”)

      • Johnny says:

        Actually NO. It was one of the slowest adoption rate. Get your facts straight. iSimpleton.

        • Fred says:

          You wrote: “Actually NO. It was one of the slowest adoption rate. Get your facts straight. iSimpleton.”

          According to data from both GoSquared and Net Applications, OS X Yosemite reached the 50 percent adoption mark faster than any previous version of OS X.

          Now you apologize for contradicting me and for your childish name calling.

  14. Oscar says:

    Oh good, Photos will rely on iCloud? That would be good if OS X Yosemite could connect to the internet with any semblance of reliability.

    First things first Apple, connect OS X Yosemite to wi-fi, then you can use cloud services.

    Can’t start putting a fancy roof on a house without a foundation!

    • Kr00 says:

      Wifi stability came with the last beta update. Works perfectly.

      • Bernard says:

        For some, for others it broke a previously functioning connection.

        • Steve says:

          My wi-fi still not fixed (2010 Macbook Pro 15 inch), although I think my issue is my MBP working with my BT Homehub 5. Every other device connects fine with no issues.

          But here’s the odd thing. When I connect my MBP to a wireless extender that is connected to my BTHH5, works fine. Just the direct connection that is unreliable.

      • Johnny says:

        Really? Because it works for you, it works for everyone? Your simplistic view of shocking embarrassing for you.

    • HurryUp says:

      Oscar,
      With that attitude, I’ll bet you give your woman the 2 most disappointing minutes of her day, every time you two are intimate!

      • Zazza says:

        Even that I imagine that there are different people working on the issues, that Hurry Up comment was very clumsy. I Agree with Oscar. Basic functionality of a modern OS must be priority, and it seems not be that way right now.

    • Fred says:

      Yosemite connects to the Internet fine; my Mac Pro’s gigabit Ethernet connection is rock-solid.

      Oh, you mean with WiFi? That’s like whining about problems with your commute when you choose to ride a unicycle to work. If you have something important to do on the Internet, then plug in a cable.

      • LOLnope says:

        Hey Fred, this may amaze you, but Apple actually sells $3000 laptops with NO ETHERNET CABLES! Not even an ethernet port to “plug in a cable” with your amazingly purebred dolt advice. These $3000 Macs have ONLY Wi-Fi capability! So when OS X Yosemite doesn’t connect to wi-fi, your $3000 laptop is about as useless as your comments – meaning not at all, might as well flush it.

        You’re a joke, so is OS X 10.10.*

        People, take it from me: If you have work to do, do not install OS X Yosemite, you will regret it. Worst OS X ever shipped.

        • Johnny says:

          Correct, Fred is a complete iSimpleton.

          • Fred says:

            What I am is your superior. You’re just some angry little kid on the forums trying to argue with people you can’t hold a candle to.

        • Fred says:

          Hey LOLNope, this may amaze you, but Apple actually sells USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapters! That’s why they knew they could get rid of the dedicated Ethernet port. If you weren’t such a stupid mouth-breather, you would know that.

          People, take it from me: If you have work to do, install OS X Yosemite.

          Unlike LOLNope, I actually know what I’m talking about. I retired a wealthy man last year after a multi-decade engineering career. Things I helped to build and test are orbiting the Earth and sending images back from the asteroid belt. His biggest technical accomplishment is probably logging on to facebook.

          • Lazo says:

            Fred, you are one of the fortunate group that has no problems with OS X Yosemite, that is great. If you were on the other side of the fence, which the distribution is quite random, you would equally hate Yosemite on any Mac.

            But how do you plan on using a ‘USB to Gitabit Ethernet’ adapter in a wi-fi only office, or at a coffee shop? Who on earth pays $3000 for a MacBook Pro Retina to be tethered to a cable? Are you a lunatic?

            The networking situation is so untenable that many IT departments outright do not support OS X 10.10.x on any office network. Countless resources have been wasted on this simply because Apple did not sufficiently perform Quality Assurance on software before dumping it to the public. The worst part is that many of us reported bugs to Apple with Radar or the Feedback Assistant, none of which were addressed! It’s not like they didn’t have warning here.

          • Fred says:

            Lazo, I’ve never been one of the coffee shop computing crowd. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been in a Starbucks.

            And every office in which I’ve worked in the last couple of decades has been Ethernet-only (except for guest WiFi), usually with a Cisco or other enterprise-grade backbone. The IT department at the aerospace firm resisted adding Wi-Fi to the corporate networks because of security concerns.

            You wrote: “Who on earth pays $3000 for a MacBook Pro Retina to be tethered to a cable? Are you a lunatic?”

            Yes, I am a lunatic because I choose the security, speed, and reliability of wired gigabit Ethernet network connectivity. Oh, crazy me…

            You wrote: “The networking situation is so untenable that many IT departments outright do not support OS X 10.10.x on any office network.”

            I can’t imagine what kind of personnel those departments employ.

            At my home, I’ve got a FIOS residential Internet connection, a cable modem business Internet connection, a Netgear router with DD-WRT firmware, a Riverbed Steelhead network appliance running pfSense (router/firewall for the business connection), three 8-port gigabit switches, two Mac Pros, a Mac Mini, a MacBook, a MacBook Pro 17″, a Windows Server 2008 system, a 5 bay Thecus NAS, a Linux PC, a Panasonic smart television, two Roku boxes, an Apple TV with OpenElec software (Wi-Fi card replaced with Broadcom h.264 decoder card), and an networked security camera. I’ve got other stuff, too, but you get my point. Everything works fine and all of the Macs are running Yosemite. I don’t consider myself a networking genius.

            I’m not doubting that some small percentage of users are having Wi-Fi problems since upgrading to Yosemite, but let’s not blow this out of proportion. A worst-case scenario involves getting a cheap (<$50) Ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge until such time as the problem is resolved.

        • stevie says:

          exactly, I can’t use wi-fi and bluetooth at the same time on a 3000 euro machine – OS X Yosemite is a joke.

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