People who want to take a crack at the upcoming Photos app for OS X Yosemite can get a taste of it starting today. Apple deployed a version of OS X 10.10.3 to members of its public beta program that will allow them to try out the new app on their Macs without having to pay for access to OS X’s developer builds.
It comes a couple weeks after Apple released the app in a beta to members of its developer programs. Photos, which was announced with the launch of Yosemite last year, is a new replacement for the company’s aging iPhoto app. It integrates with Apple’s forthcoming iCloud Photo Library feature (also in beta) that allows people to sync all of their photos across their iOS devices and Macs through Apple’s cloud.
In addition to the Photos app, the update also includes support for the more diverse set of emoji that Apple released to developers last week.
It’s worth noting that this is pre-release software, so people who rely on their computers for critical functions every day may want to wait until after Apple issues a final consumer release for the update. The developer builds have, for the most part, been stable, but people who need their Macs to work all the time are better served holding off.
People who aren’t signed up for the public beta program can do so here.
