but.. as i asked... name me ONE good reason why a non developer NEEDS to have the beta 4 weeks before the public beta is released.
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Apple Cracks Down on Websites Sharing iOS 16 Developer Beta
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What fake installer? Dude, it is just a Profile taken from Apple's website and reuploaded, verified as such when you load it in the phone.
After a quick google search, already found a couple of options, and at least one site that looks almost identical to beta profiles. Don't know why they even bother with this, unless they really want to protect their 99 USD fees.
Read the thread closer. You missed a lot, stuff that is also outside the thread so far.
There’s no reason for you to go get a profile elsewhere.
They aren’t protecting the 99 USD fee.
The public beta is there.
But don’t install it unless you have a second device to test on.
Don't tell me how to use my devices, please. I have been installing betas on my main device for as long as I have been an iPhone user (and also Windows Betas, Office, etc). I installed iOS 16 Beta 1, found a show stopper compatibility issue, and 45 minutes later I was up and running just as I was with iOS 15.
I know my way around this and for people that know how to revert and backup their information, it is pretty much risk free. If you know how to troubleshoot on your own if you find issues, you can run a beta on any iOS or iPadOS device - being aware that you'll find issues and in some case you might need to downgrade.
HomePods or AudioOS devices are a whole different story, and especially given what "HomePod killer" beta version from last year, I wouldn't get anywhere close those betas.
I don't think I ever got a response ever. Stuff I've reported got fixed or implemented, but who knows if it was me or someone else or the amount of people reporting that got it fixed.
Same I've done them years along with betas for MMORPGs and other programs. Worst I had in iOS beta other than one off apps I could just temporarily go to websites for, none of the remote apps would work for ATV and the physical one was eaten by the couch. At least it made me find it. And yea it's easy enough to roll back. I'll never beta WatchOS until you can do that.
Despite not being a registered developer (or any kind of developer, really) I used to do sysadmin for a living and am good at finding logs, getting relevant screenshots/videos etc. and that's probably why Apple occasionally engages.
I've been on these forums long enough to know that my ratio of ignored : not-ignored Feedbacks is pretty much the same as for everyone, registered developer or not.
If betaprofiles disappears then when iOS 17 betas roll along I'll either find another site, or wait for the public beta. No biggie.
I was thinking of this yesterday. If there are useful, easy to implement exploits currently in the beta, I can see where it would be useful for a malicious actor, helping a user with a fake “virus” problem on their idevice, would direct them to the betaprofiles.com website, and talk them through installing the insecure beta, in order to take advantage of the exploit and get control over their device.
Why not just give you free dev tools and devices as well?
Well, ad supported Spotify is “free”, but apparently there’s a subculture of Spotify users who “rip” (in quotes because the process is substantially different than ripping a CD) songs from Spotify. I think most people would regard that as piracy (whatever their position is on the morality of piracy), despite the fact that the music is “free”. So, if piracy is theft, then that’s a great example of stealing “free” things. And clearly, ripping songs from Spotify is contrary to the terms of service of Spotify, which is pretty analogous to this case. Especially if they go on to redistribute those songs, say via torrents. You could potentially argue fair use or something along those lines when it comes to ripping, but ripping with intent to distribute (which is most analogous to what BetaProfiles et al did) crosses a bridge that mere ripping doesn’t.
Edit: Another example of “stealing” something that is “free” would be a company that modifies GPL (open source, but copyleft) licensed code and distributes binaries of that code without releasing their modifications under the GPL (a requirement of the GPL). The GPL here works a lot like the terms of service for an online service from a legal perspective (and may actually be more legally enforceable than many ToSs).
In general, if something is available sans payment but is subject to certain legal restrictions in its use, it can legally be viewed as theft to use it contrary to those restrictions, especially if you distribute it to others. Likewise, you may be able to access some free admission area of a business or government owned facility during business hours, but entry outside of those terms (or contrary to the wishes of the establishment, if you’ve been banned) would be breaking and entering or trespassing, respectively.
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I checked on the site, there were no ads, just a paypal link that’s been there since the beginning. Wonder how much money they made on this distribution?
Because they’re an enthusiast and, consarn it, they’re entitl— oh… ahhhhhh. Hm.
I doubt people are paying $100 a year just so they had access to betas a couple of weeks ahead of the public beta.
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It’s general recommendations. Nobody is forcing you personally how to use your devices.
Holy f….
This thread…
It's extremely easy if you know what you're doing - I can be up and running in less than an hour if I want to on the previous stable version.
You said "But don't install it unless you have a second device..." didn't sound like a recommendation. Get off your high horse, for people that know what their way around betas, there's zero risk.
There’s never zero risk in anything. Near zero, perhaps, but never zero. Anyone who says there’s zero risk is selling you something, probably something very high risk or an outright scam (I guess in that case you could argue cheekily that there’s no risk of harm, but instead there’s a certainty of harm).
That’s certainly not true for, say, the Apple Watch or the HomePod, both of which have public betas now. Also, just what kind of internet do you have that you can download the whole IPSW file (usually a multi GB download) with enough time to get it back onto your phone within an hour?
Yeah, the watch and homepod (devices I don't own, but I know of their idiosyncrasies) are difficult.
Both MacOS and iOS are easy to restore back if you have a full, protected backup. However, despite always installing the first dev beta the day it comes out on my main/only devices, I've not had any show-stopper bugs since I started doing this around iOS 13 (I think it was iOS 13).
As for download speeds ... 1GB cable is quite common in Europe. Plus, it's a good idea to download the latest stable IPSW before installing the beta, just to speed up the downgrade if required.
But anyway, and back on topic, if Apple take down all unauthorised beta-profile hosting sites, I guess I'll be installing the public betas of iOS 17. Oh well.
Just a 500 Mb connection nothing too fancy, but enough to download the ipsw in 3-4 min.That’s certainly not true for, say, the Apple Watch or the HomePod, both of which have public betas now. Also, just what kind of internet do you have that you can download the whole IPSW file (usually a multi GB download) with enough time to get it back onto your phone within an hour?
And for HomePod I stay clear of beta for sure. WatchOS I wait until we are further into the beta cycle if at all
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In practice seems to be better than mine. You’d think big cities would have decent internet service, but that doesn’t seem to be true. Plus, we’re probably overpaying for ours on top of that. I think it would probably take me a half hour to download a 2 GB file over WiFi.
Oh thanks. I already know about both of those processes. Again it’s all extra tedious work and the Apple Configurator has not worked during each beta cycle for loading profiles onto the Apple TV without core Xcode components installed.
Point being the workflow could be simpler. I shouldn’t have to download the profile to then use another proxy application or service to load it onto the device. And please do not give me any grief on “developers should expect this” because when we are on time crunches to deliver or test this just adds unnecessary wasted effort when it could be much simpler with a direct link provided by Apple. (Heck even a unique links pushed to the Apple TV in question and registering the UDID with the dev server would be better.)
Usually you need to install a beta update for Apple Configurator, or at least that’s how it used to be last time I did anything with dev releases. Maybe that’s why it hasn’t been working?
So many white knights for a trillion dollar company lol. Anyway I’m loving my free dev beta profile running great on 13 pro max!
running great on 13 pro max!