Apple Seeds macOS Big Sur 11.6.1 Beta to Developers With Security Fixes

[MacRumors]

Apple today seeded a macOS Big Sur 11.6.1 beta to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming two weeks after the launch of macOS Big Sur 11.6.

Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and once the appropriate profile is installed, betas will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences.

According to Apple's release notes, the update "improves the security of macOS." It's not clear why it's being released as a beta rather than to all users, but there's also a developer beta of a security update available for macOS Catalina as well.

Article Link: Apple Seeds macOS Big Sur 11.6.1 Beta to Developers With Security Fixes

 

[Kylo83]

What is going on isn’t 12 coming soon, what’s the point this in beta

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

What is going on isn’t 12 coming soon, what’s the point this in beta

Probably a security update.

 

[MauiPa]

What is going on isn’t 12 coming soon, what’s the point this in beta

Also not all macs can run Monterey. Despite hater’s assertions, Apple still supports older macs

 

[MauiPa]

This actually came out yesterday

 

[Hombre53]

Apple still supports Big Sur and Catalina.

 

[RGPphotog]

wait, that was a beta? oops.

 

[RGPphotog]

FWIW, it was a heavy duty update, requiring a long install & restart process.

 

[Realityck]

What is going on isn’t 12 coming soon, what’s the point this in beta

Monterey is Nov, this is a minor update to Big Sur 11.6 release.

 

[Hombre53]

FWIW, it was a heavy duty update, requiring a long install & restart process.

There have been a lot of "security fixes" lately, more so it seems than usual. With Mojave out of the mix, how vulnerable is it? It's a jungle out there...

 

[tywebb13]

Build number is 20G211

It's not just a beta. It's an RC.

No full installer available yet though.

 

[nicolas17]

Is it actually available to "download through the Apple Developer Center" or is this blindly copy-pasted from older articles?

 

[tywebb13]

Is it actually available to "download through the Apple Developer Center" or is this blindly copy-pasted from older articles?

It's not on the Apple Developer Center as a full installer or ipsw.

The beta configuration utility is there though and once installed, it will show up in the software update preference pane in big sur (not in monterey). I think you will need 11.6 in order for 11.6.1 to show up because it is a delta not a combo.

 

[Shirasaki]

Apple still supports Big Sur and Catalina.

Big sur isn’t even old enough to be so considered obsolete yet.

 

[Bandaman]

Big sur isn’t even old enough to be so considered obsolete yet.

It is by Apple’s standards.

 

[Shirasaki]

It is by Apple’s standards.

Well. That’s fair. Anything that is not immediate current is obsolete.

 

[loby]

Is this normal practice to do a security beta after a version .6? Must be serious. Very interesting.

 

[RGPphotog]

There are multiple 0 day bugs in recent news. I’d bet a dollar this update is related.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Probably fixing the bugs made public by security researchers last week.

 

[gank41]

I'm still seeing no mention of this anywhere on Apple's Dev Downloads page, just the Monterey Beta. I do see the release notes for 11.6.1 in the Feedback app, though. Not seeing how I can get this. Do I just install the Beta Configuration Profile and then choose NOT to update to macOS 12 and THEN it'll prompt me?

 

[davidjschloss]

What is going on isn’t 12 coming soon, what’s the point this in beta

It's not close to ready. I'm running it on one machine, and it logs itself out every time it goes to sleep, bluetooth shows on but all the devices suddenly disconnect, a bunch of other things.

If this is close to launch it's going to be as stable of a MacOS as iOS 15 is for phones.

 

[Jonas07]

Also not all macs can run Monterey. Despite hater’s assertions, Apple still supports older macs

Without features.

 

[gank41]

Would someone be able to provide a little more info on how to get this? There’s only one configuration profile available and it’s listed under Monterey. Do we just install that, and then choose not to update to macOS 12 and then we’re offered 11.6.1? I’m still on the fence as to whether I’m going to update to Monterey. I’ll probably wait it out a bit, but I’d still like to do some testing on Big Sur.

 

[nortonandreev]

Would someone be able to provide a little more info on how to get this? There’s only one configuration profile available and it’s listed under Monterey. Do we just install that, and then choose not to update to macOS 12 and then we’re offered 11.6.1? I’m still on the fence as to whether I’m going to update to Monterey. I’ll probably wait it out a bit, but I’d still like to do some testing on Big Sur.

I guess it would show up if you’re running macOS Big Sur with the beta profile for Big Sur (which is no longer available on the dev portal).