How to Install the macOS 27 Golden Gate Beta on Your Mac

Which Macs can run the macOS 27 beta?

Only Macs with Apple silicon. The macOS 27 restore image covers every M-series Mac, from the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), Mac mini (M1, Late 2020) and 13-inch MacBook Pro (M1, 2020) through the M5 models, plus the Mac Studio, Mac Pro (2023), the 24-inch iMac from the M1 model onward and the MacBook Neo. No Intel Mac is on the list.

To check your Mac, choose Apple menu › About This Mac. If the Chip line shows an M-series chip, you can install the beta. The full model-by-model list is on our macOS 27 supported Macs page.

Which macOS 27 builds are available?

As of 19 October 2026, two tracks are live:

If you only want macOS 27 itself, you do not need the beta at all. The public release installs from Software Update on any supported Mac. The beta is for trying 27.2 before it ships.

Before you start: back up with Time Machine

A full Time Machine backup is the only clean way back if the beta goes wrong. iCloud Drive syncing is not a substitute, because it does not capture apps and settings.

1. Connect an external drive with more free space than your Mac's used storage.
2. Open System Settings › General › Time Machine.
3. Click Add Backup Disk, select the drive and turn on encryption if you want it.
4. Click Back Up Now in the Time Machine menu and wait for it to finish.
5. Disconnect the drive and keep it aside while you test the beta.

Keeping that drive away from the beta matters. If the beta Mac backs up to it later, newer snapshots made on macOS 27.2 sit alongside the clean one, and it is easy to restore the wrong one.

Which installation method should you choose?

There are four ways to run the beta, and they differ mainly in how much they put your main system at risk.

Method 1: install directly through Software Update

This is the simplest route and the one Apple intends for testers. It replaces your current macOS, so only use it on a Mac you can afford to erase.

1. For the public beta, enroll your Apple Account at beta.apple.com. For the developer beta, sign in once with a free Apple Developer account.
2. Open System Settings › General › Software Update.
3. Click the info button next to Beta Updates.
4. Choose macOS 27 Public Beta or macOS 27 Developer Beta and click Done.
5. Wait for macOS 27.2 beta 4 to appear, then click Upgrade Now or Update Now.
6. Keep the Mac on power. It restarts more than once during the install.

If the beta option is missing, sign out and back in to the Apple Account shown under Beta Updates and check that the account is enrolled. Our guide to joining the Apple Beta Software Program covers enrollment step by step.

Method 2: install on a separate APFS volume

A second APFS volume shares space with your main system but keeps the two installs apart. Adding a volume does not erase anything.

1. Open Disk Utility from Applications › Utilities.
2. Choose View › Show All Devices and select the container that holds Macintosh HD.
3. Click the + button above the sidebar to add a volume.
4. Name it, for example macOS 27 Beta, and leave the format as APFS. Under Size Options you can set a reserve; we suggest at least 60GB.
5. Click Add.
6. Download the full beta installer (see below), open it and click Show All Disks at the destination screen.
7. Select the new volume and click Install.

Getting the full installer

Software Update installs onto the disk you are running from, so a second volume or external drive needs the full installer app. With Beta Updates turned on, open Terminal and run softwareupdate --list-full-installers to see what is offered, then softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version followed by the version number from that list. The installer lands in your Applications folder. Do not open it until you have the destination ready.

Method 3: install on an external SSD

An external SSD keeps the internal drive completely out of the picture. Use an SSD rather than a spinning hard drive, which makes macOS painfully slow.

1. Connect the SSD and open Disk Utility.
2. Choose View › Show All Devices and select the drive itself, not the volume under it.
3. Click Erase, set Format to APFS and Scheme to GUID Partition Map, then confirm. This deletes everything on the SSD.
4. Open the full beta installer and click Show All Disks.
5. Select the SSD and click Install.
6. Complete setup when the Mac restarts from the external drive.

When you are done testing, erase the SSD in Disk Utility and the beta is gone.

Method 4: run the beta in a virtual machine

The macOS 27 restore image includes Apple's virtual machine, so apps built on Apple's virtualization framework can run the beta in a window on an Apple silicon Mac. You download the restore image from our Mac IPSW page and point the app at it. A virtual machine is the safest way to look at the new design and system apps. It is less useful for testing hardware features or how the beta affects battery life.

How to switch between macOS versions

With the beta on a second volume or an external SSD, you choose the system at startup.

1. Shut down the Mac.
2. Press and hold the power button until Loading startup options appears.
3. Select the disk you want to start from and click Continue.

To make a choice permanent, use System Settings › General › Startup Disk.

What to do if the install fails

Most failures come from low space, a flaky download or an account that is not enrolled.

• The install stalls: some stages show no progress for a long time. Give it at least 30 minutes before you intervene.
• Not enough space: clear large files first. Our guide to cleaning up Mac System Data helps when storage is mostly taken by system files.
• The installer will not open or reports damage: delete it and download it again.
• The Mac will not start after installing: open startup options with the power button, choose Options to enter macOS Recovery and run First Aid in Disk Utility. If that fails, restore from your Time Machine backup.

How to leave the macOS 27 beta

If you installed on a separate volume or external SSD, delete that volume or erase the SSD. Your main system was never touched.

If you installed directly, you have two options:

• Wait it out: set Beta Updates to Off. The Mac keeps the current beta and moves to the next public release with a higher version number. No erase is needed.
• Go back now: erase the Mac and restore your pre-beta Time Machine backup. Be careful with Recovery's Reinstall macOS option, because it can reinstall the version most recently on the Mac, which is the beta. If our Mac IPSW library shows a signed restore image for the version you want, restoring it with Apple Configurator from a second Mac puts that exact version back.

What to do next

Once the beta is running, report what breaks through the Feedback Assistant app. Apple asks testers to file reports there during the beta, and our guide on how to report beta bugs shows what a useful report contains. To see what changed, read our overview of macOS 27 features.

Frequently asked questions