Archived Post

How to unenroll your Mac from the Apple Software Beta Program

Yesterday I showed you how to enroll in Apple’s Beta Software Program. But you may decide you don’t want to participate any more. If so, you can “unenroll” your Mac. Here’s how:

  • Open Software Update in Systems Preferences.
  • Click the “Details” button below “This Mac is enrolled in the Apple Beta Software Program.”
  • A dialog will appear asking if you would like to restore your default update settings. Choose ‘Restore Defaults’, and your Mac will no longer receive public betas. When the next commercial version of macOS is released, you can install it from Software Update in System Preferences.

As a member of the Apple Beta Software Program, you’ll be able to enroll your devices to access the public betas and try out the latest features. You can provide feedback directly to Apple using the Feedback Assistant app. The Apple Beta Software Program is free, but remember: beta software is unfinished software so use with care. 

To go back to a prior release of macOS, you can restore your Mac from the Time Machine backup that you created before installing the public beta — assuming that you created such a back-up. And you did, didn’t you?

(This how-to is based on my experiences and info on Apple’s support pages — where the images sometimes come from.)

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.