Apple seeded the first beta of iOS 16.1 to developers on Wednesday. This signals the start of testing for some iPhone features Apple already announced but didn’t debut in iOS 16.
This includes Clean Energy Charging. And there’s good news for some iPhones that couldn’t display battery percentage in the Status Bar.
With iOS 16 likely just a month away from release, Apple is picking up the tempo of beta releases of the operating system. Apple seeded iOS 16 beta 6 Monday, a mere seven days after the fifth beta. Along with that increase in release speed, the latest beta packs only minor changes.
As iOS 16 nears its stable launch, we are going to see Apple focus more on squashing bugs and improving the overall stability instead of adding new features or tweaking things around.
Watchful eyes have spotted code in the first two iOS 16 beta versions that appears to refer to an unreleased Siri Remote for Apple TV.
Information is scant, but chances are this is the new remote for a 4K Apple TV system with a updated price structure that could come out this year.
iOS 16 was announced with some awesome, radical new features: a completely redesigned Lock Screen, a shared Photo Library for families, editing and un-sending iMessages, advanced new features in Maps and more. It’s especially hard this year to wait until September to get your hands on it.
Developers have a busy summer ahead of them, too. I spoke with some developers while at WWDC (no, I’m not done flexing that yet) and afterwards on Twitter. Developers are especially excited about creating Lock Screen widgets for their apps, using the new advanced features of SwiftUI and experimenting with the Live Text API.
But you don’t have to wait to get your hands on the beta. Registered developers can install the iOS 16 developer beta today. According to Apple, the Public Beta will be coming sometime in July. If you pay $99 for a developer account, installing the beta on your device is fast and easy. Here’s how.
Apple is rolling out a new beta firmware for the AirPods, AirPods Pro, and the AirPods Max with improvements to Automatic Switching.
The firmware carries the build number 5A5282d and version number 5.0.
Folks noticed Monday that the new iOS 16 beta for developers contains a tantalizing clue about an unknown, unreleased HomePod.
Could it be a new version of the discontinued large HomePod Apple dropped in favor of the better-selling HomePod mini?
Apple seeded the first betas of iOS 15.6 and macOS 12.5 to developers on Wednesday, even though their replacements will be announced in less than a month. iOS 16 and macOS 13 will surely be unveiled at the WWDC developers conference in early June, but work on their predecessors goes on.
Developers were also given access to iPadOS 15.6 beta 1, watchOS 8.7 beta 1 and tvOS 15.6 beta 1.
The first tvOS 15.4 beta brings an improved video player with a built-in “Up Next” queue to Apple TV. The update, released Thursday by Apple, also allows users to connect to captive Wi-Fi networks for the first time.
The changes come after Apple TV got a completely redesigned video player with larger titles and more accessible subtitles in tvOS 15 last fall.
Apple seeded the initial iOS 15.3 beta to developers later than usual Friday, along with the iPadOS equivalent. And on Monday, Apple added iOS 15.3 beta 1 and iPadOS 15.3 beta 1 to the Apple Beta Software Program. So far, no one has been able to find any new features in them.
watchOS 8.4 beta 1 and tvOS 15.3 beta 1 also went to developers Friday.
Developers just got their hands on macOS 12.1, the initial major update to Monterey. It’s Apple’s first opportunity to test features missing from macOS 12, like SharePlay and Universal Control.
But the beta is so new it’s not yet clear whether these features are in it yet.
