How to install macOS Big Sur beta on your Mac

Are you ready to try out the new changes and features, including a major UI update in macOS Big Sur? Follow the instructions to install macOS Big Sur Developer Beta on your Mac.

Apple unveiled the next major release of its Mac software, macOS Big Sur at WWDC20, and also made its developer beta available. It comes with a great visual review inspired by iOS, it has a new Control Center, many Safari improvements, as well as modern widgets and notifications.

For now, you’ll need access to an Apple developer account to install the new software, but a public beta for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS Big Sur, watchOS 7 (first time), and tvOS 14 is coming in July.

Please note that it is generally a bad idea to run a developer beta on your main Mac as there are performance issues and other bugs that need to be resolved. If you don’t have an Apple developer account yet, you can sign up here.

Mac: How to install the beta version of the developer macOS Big Sur

1. Creating a new backup of your Mac is important in case you have problems and want to downgrade and need to restore
2. On your Mac, go to the Apple developer website
3. Log in if you are not already clicking Bill (Right upper corner)
4. In the left sidebar, click downloads
5. Beta version of macOS Big Sur is at the top click Install profile
6. Choose Allow to download the profile
7. Go to your Download folder
8. Double click macOSDeveloperBetaAccessUtility.pkg
9. Follow the instructions to install the beta profile on your Mac
10. The Software Update section of System Preferences should appear
11. The macOS Big Sur update should be available, click Update now

Note: Although Apple is using macOS 11 as a brand name, the first beta version of Big Sur is labeled macOS 10.16.

This is what the process looks like:

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Now click on “Allow” and open the beta.dmg and then the .pkg file.

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Now follow the instructions to download macOS Big Sur on your Mac.

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The beta version of macOS Big Sur is almost 10 GB in size, so it may take a while to download. When finished, you will see a dialog box to complete the installation.

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While their mileage may vary, some have experienced a reboot issue when installing Big Sur.

What features and changes are you waiting for with the new software? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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