macOS Tahoe 26.1 public beta now available, here’s how to install it

4 hours ago 2

After releasing the first developer beta for macOS 26.1, Apple is now rolling out the first public betas for the upcoming system. Here’s how you can install it.

First, a word of advice

If you’ve been happy with macOS 26, you might want to consider skipping this beta, as it doesn’t seem to bring many user-facing features. After the release of developer beta 1, we reported a few under-the-hood changes, such as Apple laying the groundwork for adopting Anthropic’s MCP protocol, and to introduce new third-party models to Image Playground, but beyond that, not much has changed.

In case you decide to install the public beta, strongly consider Apple’s advice to “install it on a secondary system or device, or on a secondary partition on your Mac”. Otherwise, make sure you back up your Mac before making the jump.

How to install macOS Tahoe 26.1 public beta 1

To install, the first thing you have to do is enroll in Apple’s public beta program at https://beta.apple.com/. Once you’re done, here’s the step-by-step:

Open System Settings
Go to General ⇾ Software Update
Click the ‘i’ icon next to Beta Updates
From the dropdown menu in the top-right, select the macOS Tahoe 26 Public Beta
Hit ‘Done’

What to expect from macOS Tahoe 26.1

Based on yesterday’s findings, Apple seems to be taking the next few weeks to set macOS 26.1 up for bigger updates later in the cycle. Stability-wise, I have been encountering the same

Today’s public beta is the same build as developer developer beta 1. So expect this version to include plenty of under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes, as Apple reaches the final stretch of beta season before the official release towards the end of next month.

Are you running the public beta? What has your experience been like? Let us know in the comments.