Monday is Beta Day at Apple. Today brought shiny new versions of iOS 12 and macOS Mojave. The newest versions are only for developers, but the public just got access to the iOS 12 and Mojave betas released to developers last week.
New betas of watchOS 5 and tvOS 12 for devs also launched today.
iOS 12 developer beta 9 and public beta 7
Apple ran into a snag last week bringing out its new operating system for iPhone and iPad. It’s been periodically releasing iOS 12 beta versions since June, but Beta 7 caused enough performance problems that it was quickly withdrawn. Just a couple of days later it was replaced with Beta 8, which was just a tweaked version of its predecessor. And today there’s iOS 12 beta 9.
This version is only available to those who have enrolled in the Apple Developer Program and paid a $99 annual fee. Non-developers aren’t left completely out in the cold, though. Apple released iOS 12 public beta 6 last week to those who have signed up for its free program to let the public test pre-release software, and just now introduced public beta 7.
iOS 12 brings personalized emoji called Memoji, plus a way to carry out complex actions with Siri Shortcuts too. it’s also much faster, especially on older iPhones.
macOS Mojave developer beta 8 and public beta 7
Also unveiled at Apple World Wide Developers Conference in June was macOS 10.14, better known as Mojave. Before the full release, it’s undergoing its own beta process. The eighth beta was released today, as Apple settles into a routine of coming out with a new version each Monday
This is only for developers. But macOS Mojave public beta 7 was also just introduced. It’s available to anyone who wants to join the Apple Beta Software Program and try out potentially buggy software.
macOS Mojave brings a new Dark Mode, Dynamic Wallpapers, and other tweaks to the user interface. It also comes with a new way to install updates
watchOS 5 developer beta 8 and tvOS 12 developer beta 8 too
Apple clearly believes that if you’re going to upgrade one operating system, you might as well do them all. That’s why the weekly Beta Day also brought updated pre-release versions of watchOS 5 and tvOS 12.
The company talked extensively about new features coming to Apple Watch at its WWDC, but Apple TV generally doesn’t get as much attention.
