How to Install macOS Catalina Beta

You can install the macOS Catalina beta on your Mac today to test the new macOS update and all the new macOS Catalina features before its release date this fall. Apple offers this early access so developers can test apps and IT professionals can check how the beta works in their company. This new macOS Catalina public beta also allows the general public to check it out early.

Apple offers two macOS Catalina betas, a developer and a public beta. The developer beta arrived in early June, and the public beta is now available for anyone to try.

We’ll cover how to make a safe backup of your Mac that you can go back to if you have any issues, as well as how to download the macOS Catalina beta and then install it with two different options depending on your setup.

How to Backup Your Mac Correctly

Before installing the macOS Catalina beta, you need to back up your Mac and make sure to create a second backup. This essentially freezes a snapshot that you can revert to if you decide to downgrade from macOS 10.15 to macOS Mojave. Personally, I prefer to keep this backup on a separate USB hard drive, but you can put it wherever you want. You may not need to do this if you have enough space on your backup drive, but it’s safer than sorry.

1. on Mac.
2. top left.
3. Choose from the menu.
4. Find the option and click it.
5. .
6. and .
7. Let Time Machine start a backup.

Once this is done, unplug the backup and store it in a safe place. This will provide an easy way to revert to macOS Mojave if you have problems with the macOS Catalina beta.

How to Download macOS Catalina Beta

If you are a developer, you will find the beta in the Apple Developer account. For the average user, the Apple Public beta is the best option to use.

To participate in the public macOS Catalina beta, you must visit: Apple Beta Software Program website and register. This will get you signed up, and then you can download the macOS Developer Beta Access Utility. If you want to install this on a second partition, you can do so. with the following instructions.

If you are a developer, you can download the macOS Developer Beta Access Utility directly from Apple. Here’s how to do it.

1. Go to.
2. and then on.
3. with your Apple ID.
4. Until you see the macOS 10.15 beta 1 listing.
5. To start downloading the macOS Catalina Developer Beta Access Utility.

If you’re not an Apple developer, the . This will allow you to directly download the same file without signing up. This is outside of Apple’s terms and conditions, so you may want to wait for the public macOS Catalina beta.

To install macOS 10.15 beta, install the Developer Beta Access Utility.

After downloading the file, continue with the instructions below;

6. .
7. To finish and open the Mac App Store Update section.

You should see the macOS 10.15 installer that you can download to your Mac from here. When it finishes downloading, it will ask you to install the beta we’ve covered below. There are several ways to install macOS 10.15 beta, depending on your setup.

How to Install macOS Catalina Beta

How to install macOS 10.15 beta.

If you only want to install macOS Catalina beta as the primary operating system on your Mac, this is a fairly simple process. Note that you should only do this on a truly spare device. Once the macOS Catalina developer beta is downloaded, it will prompt you to start the installation. If you cancel, you can find it in downloads or apps on your Mac.

1. When the installer runs, click .
2. Go to Terms and Conditions.
3. .
4. to complete the installation.

In the next 30-45 minutes, your device will reboot at least once to complete the macOS 10.15 installation. If it seems to freeze or pause, wait for it to continue. You must be connected to electricity during this process. When your Mac restarts, follow the instructions and sign in again with your Apple ID and Password if necessary.

How to Install macOS Catalina Beta on a Partition

Use a partition to install the macOS 10.15 beta with macOS Mojave.

If you don’t have a spare Mac to install macOS Catalina beta, the best thing to do is to create a partition on your Mac’s hard drive and install it there. This keeps your main macOS Mojave installation in place and makes it easy to switch back and forth. You need to make sure you have enough space. The minimum amount of space is 30GB, but if you can allocate 50GB you’ll run into less problems.

Before you start the installation, you need to create a second partition on your Mac. Here’s how to do it.

1. Open
2. . (Usually Fusion or Macintosh HD)
3. Click .
4. Click .
5. in size.
6. .
7. and wait for the changes to be saved.

If you’re already on APFS, which is most likely, you can create a new Volume in Disk Utility.

1. Open
2. . (Usually Fusion or Macintosh HD)
3. Click .
5. Click Create

Now that you have the partition to install the macOS 10.15 beta, you can go back to the installation options.

1. .
2. Click .
3. to the conditions.
4. When you see a disc, the .
5. you just did.
6. .

This process will take some time, but it will be completed and you will have a clean install of macOS Catalina on the partition so you can test it without touching your primary macOS Mojave installation.

You can use the installation instructions to install macOS Catalina beta on an external hard drive. This has worked in previous betas and we’ll update with more details when we can test it in macOS 10.15 beta.

When you restart your Mac, you can hold down the option key, which will bring up a Startup Manager so you can choose whether you want to boot into macOS Mojave or macOS Catalina. You can also enter if you want to use the macOS 10.15 partition first.

How to Leave macOS Catalina Beta

exit macOS Catalina beta after installing on another partition.

When you restart macOS Mojave installation, you must exit the macOS Catalina beta program to continue receiving macOS Mojave updates. To do this, open System Preferences and click on Software Updates. On the left side of this screen, click Details. When the window opens, click Restore Defaults. This will kick your macOS Mojave install out of beta, but your other partition will still be in beta.

If you’re leaving because you want to downgrade, you don’t have to, just follow these instructions to revert to macOS Mojave.