Apple released macOS 27 Golden Gate on September 14, 2026, but development hasn’t stopped. Just two days later on September 16, Apple issued the first developer beta of macOS 27.2, beginning testing of the operating system’s next major point update. Yes, that’s macOS 27.2, not macOS 27.1.

The macOS 27.2 beta gives developers and testers early access to Apple’s latest fixes, refinements and any features that weren’t ready for the initial Golden Gate release.

However, as with any beta software, it may introduce bugs, compatibility problems and poorer battery life so we recommend caution if you wish to install it.

Here’s everything you need to know about the latest macOS beta, including what’s new, when the next public beta is likely to arrive and whether you should install it.

macOS 27 Beta timeline

What’s new in the latest beta?

Foundry

Apple has not announced any major consumer-facing additions in macOS 27.2 beta 1. The following changes are expected though:

• Bug fixes and performance improvements: Addressing issues in the first release of macOS 27.
• Additional Siri AI languages: Apple has said the Siri AI will expand to French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish in October.
• Automatic password changes: The promised feature that automatically changes compromised passwords has not yet been implemented, but it could arrive in macOS 27.2..
• Notify Me in Safari: The Safari feature that monitors webpages may arrive in the beta of macOS 27.2.

We’ll update this section as changes are discovered.

See Apple’s developer website for more information about the beta.

Should you install the macOS beta?

Apple

Installing the macOS beta lets you test Apple’s next round of features, fixes and refinements before their public release. Most Mac users should remain on the standard version of macOS 27, particularly if they rely on their Mac for work.

Install if…

• You need to test apps
• You want early access to new features
• You have a secondary Mac available

Wait if…

• This is your primary work machine
• You rely on niche or specialist software
• Stability is critical to your workflow

What are the risks of installing beta software?

Installing pre-release software on a primary device carries several risks.

• System instability: Performance problems, freezes, crashes, and other unexpected behavior are common during beta testing.
• App failures: Third-party applications may crash, behave unpredictably, or stop working entirely.
• Hardware strain: Early beta builds can increase battery drain and cause Macs to run hotter than usual.
• Data loss: Software bugs may corrupt files, and downgrading to a stable version often requires a complete system reset.

Safety precautions and best practices

If you decide to install the beta, take the following precautions:

• Use a secondary device: Avoid installing beta software on your primary Mac or on any machine used for critical work.
• Create a full backup: Use Time Machine to create a complete backup before upgrading so you can restore your Mac if something goes wrong. Note that this needs to be a Time Machine backup from before the beta was installed and you will lose anything saved subsequently.
• Install on a separate volume: Consider installing the beta on a separate volume or external SSD rather than replacing your main operating system.
• Check storage space: Make sure you have at least 15GB of free storage available before beginning the installation.

How to install the macOS beta

Foundry

The process for installing a macOS beta depends on whether you are seeking the Developer Beta or the Public Beta. Apple simplified this process a few years ago, removing the need for a paid developer account to access early builds.

The first step is to join Apple’s beta testing program. We explain how to do that in a separate article.

You will need to register your account either as a public beta tester or as a developer in order to enable beta updates on your Mac.

To install the beta follow these steps:

1. Back up your Mac: Before installing any pre-release software, it is critical to prepare your Mac to avoid data loss. Beta software is inherently unstable and can cause crashes or app compatibility issues.
2. Register your account either as a public beta tester or as a developer in order to enable beta updates on your Mac:
   For the Public Beta: Visit the Apple Beta Software Program website, sign in with your Apple ID, and agree to the terms.
   For the Developer Beta: Register as an Apple Developer on Apple’s website, download the Apple Developer app from the App Store, sign in with your standard Apple ID, and complete the free registration process.
3. On the Mac where you wish to install the beta, open System Settings and navigate to General > Software Update.
4. Click the (i) info button next to Beta Updates.
5. Enable Beta Updates.
6. The beta will appear as an available upgrade. Select the macOS beta you want to install (e.g., macOS Public Beta or Developer Beta).
7. Click Upgrade Now to begin the download and installation.

As long as you are a registered developer or enrolled in the public beta program, when the relevant macOS Beta becomes available, it will also show up on your Mac.

Once you are running the beta, the updates will come through to your Mac automatically; you just need to go to Software Update in System Settings and click to install. See How to install macOS.

How to get a free Apple developer account

If you just want a free Apple Developer account so you can access the beta, you can get this via Xcode or the Apple Developer app in iOS. Here’s how to do it via the Apple Developer app on an iPhone:

1. Get the Apple Developer App from the App Store. 
2. Open the app on your iPhone. 
3. Tap on Account. 
4. Tap on Sign In. 
5. Sign in using your usual Apple ID. 

If you wish to actually publish applications to the App Store or receive support, you’ll need to pay $99/£79 per year for a paid account. You can compare the free and paid accounts here.

Nextcloud has developed a desktop app for its Euro-Office-based productivity applications, filling a gap in the software suite that it pitches as a sovereign alternative to Microsoft Office.

Nextcloud, one of the backers of the Euro-Office initiative, integrated the software into its Nextcloud Office suite in June. Until now, it’s been accessible via a web browser or mobile app.

The new desktop client lets users edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations locally, and sync files online for collaborative editing. It will be available for Linux, macOS, and Windows in the coming weeks.

“For organizations and individuals who prefer a traditional desktop experience, this closes one of the last gaps between Euro-Office and Microsoft Office, without handing control of their data to a non-European vendor,” Nextcloud said in a press release.

Rather than a standalone application suite, Euro-Office is designed as an integration component that’s embedded into productivity applications, such as Nextcloud Hub. Euro-Office handles document editing, while other elements such as storage and permissions managed by the wider platform.

The open-source project, which is built on OnlyOffice’s codebase, is backed by Nextcloud as well as Eurostack, Ionos, Office.eu, Proton, XWiki, and others. More than 40 individuals have contributed code to Euro-Office, according to Nextcloud, with around 15% of contributions from outside of the organizations directly involved in project.

Euro-Office supports OOXML file formats for compatibility with Microsoft Office, as well as OpenDocument Format (ODF) files, including ODT, ODS and ODP. The Document Foundation, which is responsible for development of LibreOffice, another open-source productivity suite, has previously questioned the Euro-Office initiative’s preference for Microsoft file formats over ODF.

Organizations using Euro-Office include Germany’s Deutsche Telekom Security and Destek, a Turkish IT consultancy, according to Nextcloud. Other customers in countries such as France, Switzerland, and Philippines are currently evaluating the software.

But it’s still early days for Euro-Office. Open-source software initiatives often face a challenge in gaining traction among a broad enterprise audience, said Martha Bennett, VP and principal analyst at Forrester.

“Euro-Office hasn’t really proven itself at the kind of scale that large enterprises are looking for. That’s of course not unique to Euro-Office; all potential open-source alternatives face the same issue,” she said.

“Obviously, it’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation — without somebody taking the leap, it’s not possible to provide that proof.”

Nextcloud Hub Summer 26 updates

Among the other announcements with the Summer 26 updates are changes to management of teams within Nextcloud Hub. An updated Nextcloud Teams app, which is now available in the app menu, provides users with an overview of the teams they belong to. Each team features a folder with shared resources such as files and tasks, which Nextcloud notes is similar to Microsoft’s approach with Teams and SharePoint.

Nextcloud now also enables the creation of team-owned files, starting with Nextcloud Collectives and Deck, with additional apps in future. The aim is to ensure that all team members can access a file, even if the creator leaves the team workspace. For admins, there are new tools to view and manage team folders, including configuring storage quotas.

Among the other announcements are updates to Nextcloud Text — a lightweight text editor available across several apps — with version comparisons, footnotes, and references available throughout a document, and inline comments. Nextcloud Tables, a database app, now has relational columns that link data in cells across multiple tables, and the ability to import and export table structure — such as columns, views, and table-based apps — without changing data.

With Nextcloud’s AI Assistant, users can now upload an image and ask questions about it or translate text, while the chatbot will also recall information across conversations.

UI improvements include a revamped search experience that displays results from across Nextcloud Hub files, messages, and events, with filter options such as date range and people. App menu icons have been updated to make apps easier to recognize, and new animations throughout the interface make navigation and interactions “feel more fluid and easier to follow,” said Nextcloud.

AWS is betting that AI agents need a different interface as they move beyond answering prompts and start working autonomously in the background.

The company has open-sourced Pizza Bot, a self-hosted application that gives users an inbox for managing work delegated to AI agents, with separate threads for ongoing tasks and a queue for work that is completed or needs human input, rather than keeping the management of agents restricted inside a conventional chat window.

The rationale, according to AWS, is that background agents do not always need a user’s attention while they work, and an inbox model will let users hand off longer-running tasks, return to them later, and see which jobs are complete or require intervention.

Under the hood

That approach is reflected in how the inbox organizes work with the help of an “All” tab that contains the history of each task or conversation, including the agent’s messages and work performed, the “Unread” tab that flags completed work that users have yet to review, and an “Action” tab that surfaces tasks paused while waiting for user input or approval.

The inbox interface also has a panel named Activity that shows users how an agent handled a particular task along with the transcript, AWS wrote in a blog post introducing Pizza Bot.

AWS’ inbox-oriented rationale also extends to Pizza Bot’s architecture.

It uses LangChain’s Deep Agents as the harness and LangGraph as the stateful runtime, with a combination of the two allowing an agent to checkpoint its progress as it works, preserving its messages, tool activity and current state so a task can be paused and resumed rather than being tied to a live chat session, the hyperscaler wrote.

Pizza Bot’s server sits on top of that stack, connecting the agent runtime with the user interface, skills, MCP servers and the model provider, with developers able to choose from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini and Amazon Bedrock, as well as local models through Ollama, it added.

As for its out-of-the-box capabilities, the application comes with skills for working with files, browsing the web and delegating tasks to specialist agents. Developers can also add existing Agent Skills and MCP servers to give the agents access to other tools and services, the hyperscaler wrote.

Enterprise integration could remain a hurdle

However, analysts were not too convinced that Pizza Bot’s out-of-the-box skills and support for existing tools will make its implementation easier for enterprises.

While the out-of-the-box capabilities and added support for existing skills saves enterprise teams the time to build the application, it leaves out the integration work required to make it work, said Bhupendra Chopra, chief revenue officer at IT consulting firm Kanerika.

“Integration is where most of the money in an enterprise agent deployment goes. A sales or finance team gets value from an agent when it can read and update CRM, email and ERP, and each of those systems needs a connector someone has to build, secure and maintain,” Chopra pointed out.

Pizza Bot’s integration could be further complicated by the application’s lack of support or any SLA, according to Manoj Chandra Jha, principal analyst at Nord-IQ Research. That means the integration and operational burden ultimately falls on enterprises, who would be responsible for running, securing and maintaining the open source software themselves, Jha said.

Rise in enterprise productivity likely

But for enterprises willing to take on that integration work, the inbox-oriented approach could improve productivity.

“It’s a meaningful shift because it changes the economics of delegating work to agents. A chat interface requires a person’s attention throughout the task, while an inbox brings them in only when their judgment is needed, much like how executives delegate work to their teams,” Chopra said.

“Coding agents have already demonstrated this model, where an engineer assigns an issue and reviews the resulting pull request. Pizza Bot extends that approach to tasks such as meeting preparation and follow-ups,” Chopra added.

Further, the analyst pointed out that the inbox-oriented approach could give enterprise teams a clearer window into how scheduled tasks perform.

“For scheduled tasks, having the results delivered as threads gives users a way to track what happened in the background and spot failures that might otherwise go unnoticed,” Chopra said.

Out of sight, out of mind

There are risks with this approach, however: “The inbox model can make bad work less visible. When somebody is watching an agent in a chat window, they can see it going off the rails,” said Phil Fersht, CEO of HFS Research.

In contrast, when hundreds of tasks are running quietly in the background, users may not see an agent making mistakes until the task is complete or an exception requires their attention, potentially making problems harder to catch early, Fersht said.

That reduced visibility can also create approval fatigue, according to Chopra.

“An agent sending back dozens of threads with multiple approval requests can condition users to approve them without reading them closely,” Chopra said.

There is also a risk in the delay between an agent preparing an action and a user approving it: “Information that was current when the agent paused may no longer be valid hours later, potentially resulting in an outdated CRM update or a meeting invite for a slot that is no longer available,” he said. “An assumption that might be caught in a live chat can go unchallenged as the agent continues building on it and consuming model resources. Scheduled runs can also add costs without anyone watching them in real time.”

Those disadvantages can be countered by designing processes with fewer, better-timed approval points, and verifying that the underlying data is still current before allowing an action to execute, he said.

Adoption likely to start with technical teams

Such tradeoffs are likely to shape where Pizza Bot gains traction.

“Adoption will likely be bottom-up, with individual technologists and small platform teams drawn to Pizza Bot’s control and standards-based design,” Jha said. “Risk-averse industries, especially ones in the regulated sectors, and business users with limited technical expertise, however, are likely to approach the application more cautiously,” he added.

That could leave Pizza Bot occupying a more targeted role in the enterprise, as a way for technical teams to experiment with asynchronous agents and new ways of delegating work, rather than an immediate replacement for the governed interfaces and managed services enterprises typically use for business-critical processes, he said.

This article first appeared on InfoWorld.

Brace yourself: The way you get around the web on Android is about to get a whole lot better.

This week, the excellent Vivaldi Android browser is rolling out an update that adds in support for the entire collection of Chrome Web Store browser extensions. That means you can enhance and adjust your mobile web experience with all sorts of interesting — and potentially shape-shifting — new improvements.

Vivaldi, if you aren’t familiar, is a browser based on the same Chromium foundation that powers Google’s standard Chrome browser, but it has a ton of extra features and options that make for an even more personalized and productive experience. I started using it on all of my devices earlier this year and haven’t looked back since.

Now, with complete Chrome extension support added into the mix on Android, the advantage is growing even greater.

I’ll be honest, though: When I first saw that Vivaldi was adding in Chrome extension support for Android, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Most of the extensions I use in my desktop browser just wouldn’t make sense on the mobile front and wouldn’t add much of meaningful value in that environment.

But then I put on my thinking cap. I did some deep digging and careful considering. And I found some Chrome extensions that actually work incredibly well in the Android arena and add a lot of interesting value into the mobile web adventure.

This is the first of a two-part collection. Today, we’ll look at five Chrome extensions that you can add into Vivaldi to save yourself steps and bring a welcome efficiency boost to your Android web work. Later this week, we’ll round out the list with another set of extensions that’ll improve the internet itself in some truly intriguing ways.

Ready to reinvent how you experience the web on your phone?

[Get fresh Android tips in your inbox with my free Android Intelligence newsletter — one useful new thing to try every Friday!] 

A quick primer on Android Chrome extension installation

Real quick, before we get into the good stuff: When you’re ready to try out an extension, you’ll need to have the latest version of the Vivaldi Android app on your device (obviously, right?) — then either tap the puzzle-shaped extensions icon in the toolbar at the top of the screen, if you see it, or tap the “V”-shaped main menu icon in the upper-right corner and select “Extensions” from there.

Either way you go, you’ll see an option to “Discover more extensions.” That’ll take you to the Chrome Web Store, where you can search or browse through all the available extensions and install anything with a couple quick taps.

I’ll also provide direct links to each extension I’m recommending below, so you can tap it to open it in Vivaldi on your phone and then install it directly from there.

Note, too, that that same Vivaldi Extensions menu is where you can access and manage any installed extensions moving forward. You’ll see every extension you’ve installed there, and you can deactivate or uninstall anything as well as opt to have its icon pinned into your browser toolbar for easy ongoing access.

Chrome Android extension #1: The cookie request crumbler

Our first Android Chrome extension worth considering is one that you won’t ever open or actively think about once you install it and set it up. It’s a tool that works silently in the background to automatically handle those irksome cookie preference prompts that pop up around the web — so they’ll always get answered in the way you prefer, but you’ll never actually have to see or deal with ’em (and have ’em blocking half your view, in a mobile web scenario!) again.

It’s called Consent-o-Matic, and the way it works is simple: You install it, open its options page once to tell it which cookies you do and don’t want to allow around the web — and that’s pretty much it. From there on out, it’ll just click on all those prompts that pop up for you, based on your preferences, and they won’t interfere with your work or irritate you anymore.

JR Raphael, Foundry

One option to look at while you’re in that initial setup area is in the “Display” tab at the top of the screen. By default, Consent-O-Matic will show any pop-ups it’s handling in a small overlay in the corner of the screen — but you can eliminate that entirely and make the process completely out of sight and invisible, if you want.

JR Raphael, Foundry

Yes, please — and thank you.

Chrome Android extension #2: 404 no more

Next is another quietly useful addition, and that’s the official Chrome extension for the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive.

With the Wayback Machine extension active in your Android web browser, anytime you land on a page that for whatever reason isn’t online anymore or just isn’t available at that particular moment, you’ll see an offer to go to the page’s most recent cached version.

You can also call the extension up on demand to search for older saved versions of any pages by either pinning its icon to your Vivaldi toolbar or long-pressing a link within any page you’re viewing to reveal its menu of options.

JR Raphael, Foundry

Chrome Android extension #3: A background open shortcut

I don’t know about you, but when I’m wading my way around the web, I find myself opening links a lot — often with the intent to look at ’em later.

Typically, that requires long-pressing on the link and then finding the option to open it in a background tab. But with a handy extension called DoubleClicker, that same action can be easier than ever.

Install DoubleClicker into your Android Vivaldi browser, and that’s it: From that moment forward, you can simply double-tap your finger on any link within any page, and it’ll open instantly as a background tab — waiting and ready for when you want it and without any waiting, poking around, or other interruptions to your workflow.

This might just be my favorite addition of all.

Chrome Android extension #4: Hands-free scrolling

The next time you’re reading something on your phone, keep a little somethin’ called Auto Scroll Extension in mind.

As its name suggests, the extension lets you set any speed you like and then simply tap its icon (which works best if you pin it to your toolbar) to automatically scroll the page for you — so you can keep reading without having to do a thing.

JR Raphael, Foundry

Chrome Android extension #5: Easier password access

Last but not least for this list is an addition that seems strange on the surface — but hear me out:

If you’re using an Android password manager other than the Google Password Manager — like 1Password or Bitwarden — try installing its extension into Vivaldi on your phone.

Yes, it’s redundant with having the standalone app installed and set as your system-wide password management service. But it often ends up being faster and easier to have a sign-in handled directly within the browser instead of having to rely on the system-level integration.

And having the browser-based option present doesn’t prevent you from using the other route, either. You’ve just got options, and you can pick whichever feels fastest and easiest to you at any given moment.

Try it out for yourself and see whatcha think. And stay tuned for the second set of worthwhile Android Chrome extensions soon!

Your next mission: Come check out my free Android Intelligence newsletter to get something new and useful in your inbox every Friday — and get my awesome Android Notification Power-Pack today.

TL;DR: Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for Windows runs inside Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or Boot Camp on a Mac without a second Microsoft 365 subscription, and a lifetime license is on sale for $54.99 (reg. $249.99).

There’s a cheap way to get Microsoft Office running on the Windows side of a Mac, and it doesn’t involve paying for a second Microsoft 365 subscription on top of whatever the Mac already runs. Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for Windows installs once inside Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or a Boot Camp partition, and a lifetime license for one PC, virtual or physical, is on sale for $54.99 (reg. $249.99).

Running Windows through Parallels or Boot Camp already means keeping two operating systems working side by side, and adding a subscription-based Office on top of that turns one Mac into two ongoing software bills.

A one-time license keeps the cost fixed no matter how long the Windows partition stays in use, which matters for anyone who only opens Windows a few times a month for a specific app or workflow.

What’s included with the Windows license

• Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Access all activate with the license and run natively within the Windows installation, just as they would on a Windows-native machine.
• Dark mode carries over from the subscription version of Office.
• Excel and Access include the same data analysis and database management tools found in Microsoft 365, useful for budgets or spreadsheets built on the Windows side of the Mac.
• Licensing is tied to the Windows PC or VM itself rather than to a Microsoft account, so the license stays in place after a macOS update, a Parallels upgrade, or a fresh Boot Camp partition.
• Redemption happens within 7 days of purchase, with the license key and download link arriving by email.
• Security patches continue for as long as Microsoft supports the release.

Get Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for Windows on sale for $54.99.

Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for Windows: Lifetime LicenseSee Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.