Apple just gave the general public access to the latest iOS 17 beta, but before you put it on your iPhone, the Cult of Mac staff has some warnings. We’ve used the betas for weeks, and while it’s gone well for some people, it’s been a dumpster fire for others.
Public betas for macOS Sonoma and iPadOS 17 are also available, and we also have comments for anyone thinking of putting those on their Mac or iPad.
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.
After a three-week hiatus, Apple seeded to developers beta versions of all its operating systems on Tuesday. That includes macOS Monterey 12.4, iOS 15.5 and more. On Wednesday, the public was also given the option to test these.
These pre-release versions for iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, etc. first came out on the same day Apple announced the date for its WWDC Developers Conference. Beta testing for the five just-released OS versions is expected to end around the same time as the conference.
The release candidate for iOS 14.7 was seeded to developers on Tuesday. It includes some promised improvements to the Apple Card, and it enables users to use a just-announced MagSafe Battery Pack. In addition, it allows users to manage timers on a HomePod.
Plus, the macOS Big Sur 11.5 release candidate, iPadOS 14.7 RC, watchOS 7.6 RC and tvOS 14.7 RC were also made available for developers.
Anyone can put the macOS Monterey beta on their Mac — it’s no longer reserved for developers. Apple added the pre-release version to its public beta program on Thursday.
Installing it is free, and not too difficult. Here’s how begin playing with macOS Monterey yourself.
iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 are now available to public beta testers ahead of a wider release. Each of these brings a whole bunch of notable changes and improvements. iPhone gets FaceTime enhancements, new controls over notifications, upgrades for Apple Maps, and many more changes. And iPad gets a revamped version of Safari, improvements to Home screen widgets, easier side-by-side multitasking, and more.
Want to try them out for yourself? We’ll show you how.
Apple already began testing the first betas of iOS 14.6, iPadOS 14.6, watchOS 7.5 and tvOS 14.5. Developers were seeded these on Thursday, even though the versions that were previously in beta testing have yet to be introduced to the public.
Apple seeded a macOS Big Sur 11.2 release candidate to developers on Thursday. Among other changes, it promises to improve Bluetooth reliability, which is probably music to the ears of those using the recently released Macs built around Apple’s first-generation M-series processor.
Apple seeded to developers the release candidates for iOS 14.4 and the iPad equivalent on Thursday. It’s probably the last step before a public release. Among other changes, these new versions will apparently give iPhone and iPad users the option to block third-party applications from tracking them.
Devs can also install watchOS 7.3 RC and tvOS 14.4 RC, which became available Thursday too. But macOS Big Sur 11.2 is still on Beta 2.
Apple is picking up the pace on its iOS 13 development by seeding the eighth beta build of the upcoming software release to developers today.
iOS 13 beta 8 and iPadOS 13 beta 8 arrive less than one week after Apple released the last beta build to developers. It’s a clear sign that the last of the bugs are getting squashed in order to ready the big update for the public launch next month.
