The latest early-release version of iOS 12 was made available to developers today — but it disappeared shortly afterward.
This afternoon’s release of iOS 12 beta 7 was met with widespread complaints that it runs slowly. Apple seems to have pulled the OTA version within an hour or so.
iOS 12 beta 7 complaints galore
This afternoon’s launch was quickly followed by posts on social media complaining of performance issues.
“Ok, @Apple: The performance of #iOS12beta7 is INCREDIBLY laggy and bad. I don’t know why! Fix it, please!,” wrote a Twitter user calling himself Even Amandus.
And mathieo wrote “There are 5 seconds lag on launching an app so annoying,” on the same platform.
But not everyone experienced problems. “Seeing reports that #iOS12DevBeta7 has been pulled because of reports of sluggish/non-responsive devices. Not seeing any problems on my iPhone 8 Plus. Interesting,” wrote Twitter user Dox Vulpine.
These are just some examples. Apple has to have received much more negative feedback before pulling the release.
iOS 12 beta 7 only for developers
This latest prerelease version was never made available to the public. It was only for those who have enrolled in the Apple Developer Program and payed a $99 annual feee.
The most recent version of iOS available to the general public is beta 5, which was added to the Apple Beta Software Program last week. Beta 6 could be released to the public in a day or so.
What happened today is a demonstration of why Apple releases new betas to developers at least a week before the general public can try them. Devs might be irritated by sluggish betas, but they are accustomed to such things. In contrast, a typical user who signed up for Apple’s beta program is likely to have a much stronger reaction to the performance of their iPhone or iPad becoming “incredibly laggy and bad.”
At last report, devs who really want to try iOS 12 beta 7 can download it from Apple’s website. As mentioned, the over-the-air download isn’t available.
It’s not known whether a tweaked version of this beta will reappear, or if it will be replaced with iOS 12 beta 8.
This is the second piece of bad news for iOS 12 today. A few hours ago, Apple delayed the introduction of Group FaceTime, a signature feature of this new version, until later this fall.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 26 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
