What’s New in macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 Beta 1 (20B5012d)?

Today Apple released macOS Big Sur Beta 11.0.1 Beta 1 (20B5012d) to Developers

MacOS Big Sur 11.0.1 Beta 1 was released on October 28th, 2020. The release comes about 2 weeks after Beta 10. We were expecting Beta 11 or a GM seed, so it’s strange that we are getting 11.0.1 Beta. It’s possible that Apple Silicon Macs (currently in active production) will have 11.0 installed on them. When they arrive they will see 11.0.1 as an available update.

UPDATE: 10/29

1. Full Installer now available!
2. Fixes VP9 Safari YouTube Codec Error
3. New wallpaper + Mojave wallpaper was removed
4. New Startup chime for 2013-2017 Macs = Same as T2 chime
5. AirPods Update Bug – Moves volume mixer to Right or Left
6. Software Update Button = Downloading Beta 10 full installer for some users.

If you are having issues getting Beta 11.0.1 to show up in Software Update, take a look at my Big Sur Beta troubleshooting article. – mrmacintosh.com/big-sur-11-beta-not-showing-up-in-software-update-troubleshooting/

NEW! My Mac Transition to Apple Silicon “Everything you need to know” Article – mrmacintosh.com/mac-transition-to-apple-silicon-everything-you-need-to-know-updated/

Keep an eye on my Big Sur Need to Know changes article. I will be constantly updating it as new info comes in. mrmacintosh.com/macos-big-sur-11-0-updated-index-of-need-to-know-changes-links/

macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 Beta 1 Patch Notes Summary

• 5 – Resolved Issues
• 3 – New Features
• 1 – AppleSeed Resolved Issue

AppleSeed Notes Link = appleseed.apple.com/

Developer Public Link = developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes

Apple DTK Mac Mini Notes = developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-big-sur-11-universal-apps-beta-release-notes

MacAdmin Patch Notes of Interest

• AppleSeed = 1 note – appleseed.apple.com
• Updating to macOS Big Sur 11 beta from previous versions of macOS might take significantly longer than expected. Data loss could occur if the update is interrupted. (59101197)

Previous Big Sur 11 Beta Releases

• 11. Big Sur 11 Beta 11.0.1 (20B5012d) Beta 1 – 10/28/20 – Current Release
• 10. Big Sur 11 Beta 10 (20A5395g) – 10/14/20 – My Release Notes
• 9. Big Sur 11 Beta 9 (20A5384c) – 09/29/20 – My Release Notes
• 8. Big Sur 11 Beta 8 (20A5374i) – 09/22/20 – My Release Notes
• 7. Big Sur 11 Beta 7 (20A5374g) – 09/17/20 – My Release Notes
• 6. Big Sur 11 Beta 6 (20A5364e) – 09/03/20 – My Release Notes
• 5. Big Sur 11 Beta 5 (20A5354i) – 08/19/20 – My Release Notes
• 4. Big Sur 11 Beta 4 (20A5343i) – 08/04/20
• 3. Big Sur 11 Beta 3 (20A5323l) – 07/22/20
• 2. Big Sur 11 Beta 2 (20A4300b) – 07/07/20 – My Release Notes
• 1. Big Sur 11 Beta 1 (20A4299v) – 06/22/20 – My Release Notes

macOS Big Sur 11 Installer Info

Note: Combo and Delta updates are not available as standalone downloads.

Full Installer.app

Link – developer.apple.com or installinstallmacos.py

Size = Waiting

Big Sur Beta Delta Update

This is the update is for updating from Beta 10 > 11.0.1 Beta 1

Size = 3.69GB

Big Sur Beta Combo Update

This is update should be for updating from Beta 1-10 > 11.0.1 Beta 1

Size = 4.58GB

T2 BridgeOS Update

The Version of BridgeOS for your T2 Security Chip was updated.

BridgeOS version = 18.16.12551

Size = 442.7MB

Product ID = 001-58877

• 6. Previous Beat 10 = 18.16.12402.5.2
• 5. Previous Beta 9 = 18.16.12390.5.1
• 4. Previous Beta 8 = 18.16.12380 BuildVersion 3
• 3.Previous Beta 7 = 18.16.12380
• 2. Previous Beta 6 = 18.16.12370.5.1
• 1. Previous Beta 5 = 18.16.10358.5.2

New Software Update Catalog URL

https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/others/index-10.16seed-10.16-10.15-10.14-10.13-10.12-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

Report Bugs NOW!

Now that macOS Big Sur 11.0 Beta is live, start testing as soon as you can! You will want to submit any bugs that you find into Apple ASAP. If you get bugs in quickly, they could be fixed in the current beta cycle instead of waiting until after the public release. If not, you could be waiting months before the fix is put into a dot release combo update.

macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 Beta 11 (20B5012d) Release Notes

General

Known Issues

Important

Updating to macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta from previous versions of macOS might take significantly longer than expected. Data loss could occur if the update is interrupted. (59101197)

Accessibility

Known Issues

• You might be unable to pair certain braille displays using Bluetooth. (69794099)Workaround: Connect these devices using USB instead.

AppKit

• See AppKit Release Notes for macOS Big Sur 11.

Apple Security Bounty

• macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta is designated as qualifying for the 50% Apple Security Bounty bonus payment for issues that are unknown to Apple or reintroduced in this release. See Apple Security Bounty for more information.

Installer and Software Update

Known Issues

• When updating from macOS Big Sur 11 beta 2 to macOS Big Sur 11 beta 3 or later, you might be offered an unexpectedly large download rather than an incremental software update. (65753086)Workaround: Under the “Another update is available” text, click the “More info…” link. This reveals the incremental update where you can click the Install Now button.
• You might need to adjust Energy Saver settings so your Mac doesn’t go to sleep while preparing to install macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta. (63166401)
• If macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta is installed into the same APFS container as previous versions of macOS Catalina 10.15, system software updates can no longer be installed on the previous versions of macOS. (64411484)Workaround: Update the previous version of macOS Catalina to 10.15.6 or later.

Kernel

Known Issues

• Installing a new kernel extension requires signing in as an Admin user. You must also restart your Mac to load the extension. Kernel extensions using certain deprecated KPIs won’t be loaded. For more information, see Deprecated Kernel Extensions and System Extension Alternatives. (55068348)Workaround: During development, you can temporarily disable System Integrity Protection to allow these deprecated kernel extensions to load.
• New in macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta, the system ships with a built-in dynamic linker cache of all system-provided libraries. As part of this change, copies of dynamic libraries are no longer present on the filesystem. Code that attempts to check for dynamic library presence by looking for a file at a path or enumerating a directory will fail. Instead, check for library presence by attempting to dlopen() the path, which will correctly check for the library in the cache. (62986286)
• Use only absolute paths with the --volume-root option of kmutil, and don’t use a trailing /. (63773848)
• Symbols exported by both xnu and Apple kernel extensions will change. Recompile your kernel extension with each update to macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta to ensure compatibility. (64262563)

Localization

Resolved in macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta

• Certain languages no longer exhibit clipped or misaligned layout. (63105445)
• Certain languages no longer display unlocalized text. (63105674, 64040564, 64045718)

Mac Catalyst

New Features in macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta

• Optimized for Mac is a new option for Catalyst apps. When optimized for Mac, Catalyst apps use Mac controls, appearances, spacing, and true font metrics, and content is no longer scaled by 77%. A new constant, UIUserInterfaceIdiom.mac, has been introduced to support the new idiom. For more information on the new idiom and optimizing your Mac Catalyst app, see Choosing a User Interface Idiom for Your Mac App, and Optimize the Interface of your Mac Catalyst App — WWDC20.
• When you deliver your iPad app on the Mac via Catalyst, your existing users on iOS no longer need to purchase your app a second time. In addition, you can manage the capabilities and App Store metadata of your app in one place.
• Application preferences that include no items users can set are instead shown in the About box.

Known Issues

• A ToolbarItem with automatic placement isn’t placed in the window toolbar. (63690384)
• Select UIKit controls, control customizations, and methods throw exceptions when used in the Mac idiom. Unsupported controls and behaviors on macOS Big Sur 11 throw exceptions as follows:
  • UIButton. addGestureRecognizer(_:) throws an exception if the button uses the macOS appearance. setTitle(_:for:) and setImage(_:for:) throws an exception for any state except UIControlStateNormal.
  • UISlider. setThumbImage(_:for:), thumbTintColor, setMinimumTrackImage(_:for:), minimumTrackTintColor, setMaximumTrackImage(_:for:), maximumTrackTintColor, minimumValueImage, and maximumValueImage all throw an exception.
  • UISwitch throws an exception when title is set in a non-Mac idiom view.
• The button configuration for the action with UIAlertAction.Style.cancel has the key equivalent of escape.
• Button configurations for actions with UIAlertAction.Style.destructive will be configured with hasDestructiveAction.
• If you apply both preferredAction and UIAlertActionStyleCancel to the same action, preferredAction takes precedence. It’s not possible to have a default button with the escape key equivalent.
• The system adds an Open Recent menu automatically to applications that support opening files. The menu identifier is UIMenuOpenRecent.
• UISceneActivationRequestOptions has a new collectionJoinBehavior property. A scene collection is a group of scenes that display together. In Catalyst, this is used to add windows to an NSWindowTabGroup.
  • The default placement is UISceneCollectionJoinBehavior.automatic and the new scene will follow system preferences for joining collections.
  • Set the placement value to UISceneCollectionJoinBehavior.preferred to have the new scene attempt to join the collection that contains the requestingScene, or any compatible collection if requestingScene is not set.
  • Set the value to UISceneCollectionJoinBehavior.disallowed to create a new collection for the scene, ignoring system preferences.
  • The value to UISceneCollectionJoinBehavior.preferredWithoutActivating to add the new scene without deactivating the requestingScene. Otherwise this property behaves the same as preferred.

Network Extension

Resolved Issues

• You must adopt the NETransparentProxyProvider API in your transparent proxy implementation in order for it to function correctly. (65228404)

SwiftUI

Known Issues

• ProgressView generic type signature has changed, adding the currentValueLabel generic parameter. This change doesn’t require any source changes, but it causes apps compiled using an earlier beta SDK to quit unexpectedly. (63580200)Workaround: Re-compile apps for macOS Big Sur 11 Beta 6 or later to resolve this issue.

Resolved in macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta

• DisclosureGroup’s isExpanded binding now works as expected in a List. (58820037)
• The system now lazily evaluates List updates. (58820037)
• Adding a Widget that uses a Text with dynamic Text.DateStyle presentations no longer causes Notification Center to quit unexpectedly. (70059211)

Third-Party Apps

Known Issues

• You might experience kernel panics when using earlier versions of Parallels Desktop 16. (67358596)Workaround: Upgrade to the most-recent version of Parallels Desktop 16.
• Some third-party scripts might produce unexpected results due to the change in macOS version from 10.x to 11. (62477208)Workaround: Set SYSTEM_VERSION_COMPAT=1 in the calling environment, for example: $ SYSTEM_VERSION_COMPAT=1 legacy_script.pl

Wallet

Known Issues

• isPassLibraryAvailable() doesn’t ensure uniform availability of pass library functionality between platforms and devices. (60697880)Workaround: Call a more specific API to check available functionality, such as canAddPasses().

Xcode

Known Issues

• Legacy Xcode versions prior to 11.5 might unexpectedly quit when launched. (59991056)Workaround: Run the following command in Terminal: defaults write com.apple.dt.Xcode DVTDisableMainThreadChecker 1, then deselect Main Thread Checker in the Diagnostic tab of the Run and Test actions for each scheme in your project.

Big Sur Beta 11.0.1