iOS iOS 5 Developer Beta: Stable Enough for Daily Use?

I am considering installing iOS 5 too, since I have a developer account, and I would genuinely like to know the answers to the OP's question...

Wondering the same thing. I am ok with new features being buggy and not working. But I need the core features to be stable enough so I can still use my phone, I don't have a test device.

I am just going to go for it. If there are major bugs, hopefully they are willing to fix them quickly OTA!

Using beta software on a primary device is generally a really bad idea, especially something as essential as a phone. If you are an active developer grab a iPod touch or a second iPhone to use as a dev device.

So can anyone help a new developer with the whole install process and what needs to be done in terms of registering the device?

I just signed up a few days ago and I think I have it figured out but I want to be sure.

Had a read through this yet?

http://guides.macrumors.com/Cocoa_FAQ

Yes, my biggest thing is figuring out exactly what I need to register and where on the dev site so I can install it on my phone.

Love to know this too. Anyone tried it?

I installed the iOS 5 beta and have been playing with it for a few hours. It's pretty stable, but there are some bugs. Just realize this, and the fact that you won't be able to go back to 4.3.x (without some 3rd party ****). If you're ok with that I'd say go for it...it's really cool.

mms13 said:

It's pretty stable, but there are some bugs.

Click to expand...

Care to elaborate?

Here are some iOS Beta issues:

• Notifications on lock screen not working.
• Weather Widget not working.
• iTunes sync + Software update options on Settings not working (for me at least).
• Take photo option from lock screen rarely working.
• Some minor WiFi issues.
• Tweetbot.app has some graphic glitches.

I am sure there are more.

In closure, it's working pretty okay, yet I 'd advice you to install it on an iPad first and see how it will go.

phaistonian said:

In closure, it's working pretty okay, yet I 'd advice you to install it on an iPad first and see how it will go.

Click to expand...

I've installed on my iPad as if things become unusable, it's not the end of the world. Last year we had horrendous issues with wi-fi continually dropping on most of the earlier betas of 4.x and so there's no way I'll put the the first beta on my primary device (iPhone).

RTP.

I went ahead and installed it on my iPhone. It really is pretty stable, I have not noticed any major issues. If you are a heavy user that already gets low on battery by the end of the day be careful, from my experience it is eating through battery a lot quicker right now, I am sure that will be taken care of in future betas.

phaistonian said:

Here are some iOS Beta issues:

• Notifications on lock screen not working.
• Weather Widget not working.
• iTunes sync + Software update options on Settings not working (for me at least).
• Take photo option from lock screen rarely working.
• Some minor WiFi issues.
• Tweetbot.app has some graphic glitches.

I am sure there are more.

In closure, it's working pretty okay, yet I 'd advice you to install it on an iPad first and see how it will go.

Click to expand...

Notifications were a bit shaky at first for me, but have started working fine this morning (you need to make sure you turn on the options to show them on the lock screen too)
Weather widget works fine for me
iTunes Sync not available in this beta (it's in the release notes)
Update issues I guess caused by no server being available at the moment
Take photo from lock screen works fine for me
Not seen any issues with Wifi and don't use Tweetbot

For me, it seems a very stable release: I haven't found a 3rd party app that doesn't work yet.

In fact, the only issue I've found is that home sharing to the iOS device is really messed up: TV show titles don't get pulled across, thumbnails are all wrong and if you make metadata changes to an item in your iTunes library, it crashes the Music / Video app whenever you try and connect subsequently. I would say Home Sharing is so broken as to be unusable at the moment. I don't use it on my iPhone so it's not an issue, but I do use it on my iPad so I'm not upgrading that at the moment.

One good thing that I've not seen mentioned elsewhere is that Airplay is now enabled by default for apps, website videos, etc (previously it was disabled by default and apps / sites had to add tags to enable it)

Another nice feature which I hope isn't a bug and is there by design is that you can start the camera app without unlocking the phone but if it's locked, you can't see any of the photos from the camera app (even ones you have just taken). I was a bit concerned that the camera from the lock screen might be a security hole giving people access to all your photos, but it looks like Apple have thought about that...

"iTunes Sync not available in this beta (it's in the release notes)"

iTunes sync works, it is wifi sync that is not available.

As for the camera app, they did a nice job on that security wise, I think what you mentioned is a feature not a bug.

FWIW, and without going into any details due to the NDA, I don't think iOS 5 is anywhere near prime time yet; it's very buggy and I'd advise sticking to iOS 4 if it's your only device you intend to install on.

phaistonian said:

Here are some iOS Beta issues:

• Notifications on lock screen not working.
• Weather Widget not working.
• iTunes sync + Software update options on Settings not working (for me at least).
• Take photo option from lock screen rarely working.
• Some minor WiFi issues.
• Tweetbot.app has some graphic glitches.

I am sure there are more.

In closure, it's working pretty okay, yet I 'd advice you to install it on an iPad first and see how it will go.

Click to expand...

I'm not experiencing any of these except the wireless sync issue (and tweetbot but thats 3rd party aka non-issue). Try rebooting.

Luke Redpath said:

FWIW, and without going into any details due to the NDA, I don't think iOS 5 is anywhere near prime time yet; it's very buggy and I'd advise sticking to iOS 4 if it's your only device you intend to install on.

Click to expand...

Strongly disagree. Not very buggy at all. Installed on my primary iPhone 4 and I'm loving it.

mms13 said:

Strongly disagree. Not very buggy at all. Installed on my primary iPhone 4 and I'm loving it.

Click to expand...

Just 'cos you don't see the bugs, don't mean they ain't there

RTP.

mms13 said:

Strongly disagree. Not very buggy at all. Installed on my primary iPhone 4 and I'm loving it.

Click to expand...

If you've not come across bugs, then you haven't tested it enough. It's not ready for prime time. At all. I've just downgraded back to iOS 4. Apple's advice to only install this on development/testing devices is sound. I wouldn't recommend it for any other purpose right now.

RodThePlod said:

Just 'cos you don't see the bugs, don't mean they ain't there

Click to expand...

+1

There definitly are bugs, and they are popping up more and more as I use it. None of them are show stoppers though as long as your willing to deal with some things not working and a reboot or crash every so often.

To strongly disagree that a beta doesn't have many bugs is kinda silly, that is the point of it being a beta.

Luke Redpath said:

If you've not come across bugs, then you haven't tested it enough. It's not ready for prime time. At all. I've just downgraded back to iOS 4. Apple's advice to only install this on development/testing devices is sound. I wouldn't recommend it for any other purpose right now.

Click to expand...

You do realize you've cut your credibility by about 90% with this comment, right? "I've just downgraded back to iOS 4." Care to elaborate how you did that?

As the release notes say: "Devices updated to iOS 5 beta can not be restored to earlier versions of iOS. Devices will be able to upgrade to future beta releases and the final iOS 5 software."

That's right, it's irreversible. (I can corroborate this.) So you've determined iOS 5 isn't ready for prime time (obviously, it's a beta), say it's very buggy but can't elaborate what the bugs are, and somehow managed to hack a way to downgrade your iPhone to iOS 4, even though it's not possible.

So what's the general consensus here? I read on a thread on the Apple Developer Forums that third-party apps don't launch at all. This true?

dcranston said:

You do realize you've cut your credibility by about 90% with this comment, right? "I've just downgraded back to iOS 4." Care to elaborate how you did that?

As the release notes say: "Devices updated to iOS 5 beta can not be restored to earlier versions of iOS. Devices will be able to upgrade to future beta releases and the final iOS 5 software."

That's right, it's irreversible. (I can corroborate this.) So you've determined iOS 5 isn't ready for prime time (obviously, it's a beta), say it's very buggy but can't elaborate what the bugs are, and somehow managed to hack a way to downgrade your iPhone to iOS 4, even though it's not possible.

Click to expand...

There are a few reported cases in the comments here:
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/06/06/if-you-install-ios-5-you-cant-go-back/

Seems just like every beta update since they started checking for signing with Apple servers.

Be cautious

Running beta is always risky, there are prices to bleeding edge.

The biggest thing I will add is this.

If you are thinking about running the beta do the following first:

• Sync your phone with itunes
• Copy your the resulting backup to another location (betas have been known to accidentally overide backups, it happened to my business partner this morning)
• Sync your photos
• Make sure everything important is backed up

The idea is that just because you are taking the risk to run the beta doesn't mean you should risk losing data.

The beta has its bugs, like others have said. I've not come across any that hinder life but who knows what will should in a week or so.

Proceed with caution.