Apple Seeds First Beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.5 to Developers

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.5 update to developers, one day after releasing macOS Sierra 10.12.4, which introduced Night Shift for the Mac.

macOS Sierra 10.12.5 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

macbook pro 13 15 sierra
Apple's release notes don't often provide much insight into what's included in new beta software, so we don't yet know what features it might offer. As the update follows the release of 10.12.4, which was a major update, this one may focus primarily on bug fixes and other small improvements.

The release notes accompanying the beta release say only that the "update improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac." Should any new features be found in macOS Sierra 10.12.5, we'll update this post.

Related Forum: macOS Sierra

Popular Stories

Apple Logo Zoomed

Tim Cook Teases Plans for Apple's Upcoming 50th Anniversary

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026. "I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
wwdc sans text feature

Apple Rumored to Announce New Product on February 19

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld. The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld. Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Finder Siri Feature

Why Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Upgrade Will Be Bigger Than Originally Promised

Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do. The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up. Upgraded Architecture The next-generation...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April. Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far. iOS 26.3 iPhone to Android Transfer Tool iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
maxresdefault

Apple Shows Off a Key Reason to Upgrade to the iPhone 17

Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie. "Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...

Top Rated Comments

jayducharme Avatar
116 months ago
the "update improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac."
I find that statement amusing. How do they know about any of that only a day after the release of the last update? Did they already know there were problems with "stability, compatibility and security" in 10.12.4 and yet they simply released it anyway?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
benface Avatar
116 months ago
I find that statement amusing. How do they know about any of that only a day after the release of the last update? Did they already know there were problems with "stability, compatibility and security" in 10.12.4 and yet they simply released it anyway?
Of course. If they waited until all known issues were fixed before releasing something, they'd never release it. Any software will have bugs and areas to improve.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jefe2000 Avatar
116 months ago
I find that statement amusing. How do they know about any of that only a day after the release of the last update? Did they already know there were problems with "stability, compatibility and security" in 10.12.4 and yet they simply released it anyway?
Releasing software updates with known issues is super-common. Bugs are often discovered far too late in a release cycle to include fixes in that release. So, fixes are deferred to the next release (in this case, deferred to 10.12.5).
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chucker23n1 Avatar
116 months ago
You can sniff around APFS for some time in macOS Sierra:
https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/APFS_Guide/Introduction/Introduction.html
Sure, but that's not bootable yet.

VMWare Fusion is borked on 10.12.4, where most of the VMs start/resume with a blank screen. Hopefully that issue is fixed.
Seems fine here.

I find that statement amusing. How do they know about any of that only a day after the release of the last update? Did they already know there were problems with "stability, compatibility and security" in 10.12.4 and yet they simply released it anyway?
Yes. That's how any product development works. You don't wait until it's perfect; you release when you're satisfied you've made the right compromises.

Real artists ship.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xgman Avatar
116 months ago
10.13...wow.. here we go again.. back to the beginning of an unstable platform...just because they can.. and then once it becomes stable, rinse and repeat.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nunyabinez Avatar
116 months ago
"As the update follows the release of 10.12.4, which was a major update" Did I miss some new functionality? If adding Night Mode is a major update, then we have wrung all the innovation out of OSes.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)