Apple surprises devs with new beta software for iPhone, Mac and more

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Even Apple’s update screens are beautifully minimal.
Apple is back with some new beta updates.
Photo: Apple

Just a week after Apple released iOS 13.4 and other big software updates to the public, the iPhone-maker is back with a big batch of beta builds for developers.

The first beta builds for iOS 13.4.5, iPadOS 13.4.5, macOS 10.15.5 and tvOS 13.4.5 were seeded to developers this morning, bringing a bunch of bug fixes to the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.

Registered developers can grab the new beta updates directly from Apple’s online developer portal. The new betas came quicker than expected as we assumed the company would be going full steam ahead on development for iOS 14 as WWDC 2020 draws near.

It’s unclear why Apple jumped from iOS 13.4 to iOS 13.4.5 in its labeling of the new builds. The new beta likely includes a fix for a VPN bug on iPhone and iPad.

Release notes for the new builds are scant on details about what has changed. Because this is such a minor update it likely is focused solely on bug fixes and other under-the-hood improvements.

iOS 13.4 brought a number of major improvements to users last week, including new trackpad gesture support for the new iPad Pros. Other features included iCloud Drive folder sharing along with changes to the Mail app’s toolbar and some new Memoji stickers.

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