Just like probably 1 out of 10 forum ‘experts’ actually own the equipment they put down
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Apple Has 4 Million Users Beta Testing its Software
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Just like probably 1 out of 10 forum ‘experts’ actually own the equipment they put down
You forgot to add they they invariably come on here and moan about beta's "bricking" their devices..... instead of actually reporting issues to Apple.
There were only 3 people testing iOS 11. It’s the only explanation for how much of a mess it was/is
I had two responses last month. But both were from serious defects.
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It is both. I guess the primary stated reason is as you say. I remember in the older days, the betas usually was accompanied with release notes that told what areas or framework of the OS to be tested.
That’s the thing. I don’t think they are finding the obscure bugs. Or if they are Apple ignores them.
I’ve been suffering from an iMac that doesn’t sleep right. It wakes up far too often. Sometimes every ten minutes. Sometimes it wakes up just a second after it went to sleep. It is so bad I had to turn off wake for network access. This makes my magic ‘it just works’ Apple home not so magic.
I tracked the problem down to requests to my iMac from my iPad and iPhone involving the rapportd service. This is just the kind of problem beta testers should find as it involves multiple devices. Beta testers can go beyond testing just the software. They can provide testing for all sorts of variations of uses that would be harder for Apple to replicate. Maybe the problem is iOS 11. Maybe it is High Sierra. I don’t know.
Apparently Apple doesn’t know either. I’m not a beta tester but I did submit a bug report back in December. And being a technical person was able to submit a more detailed report. I noted what was causing the error, meaning what iMac process was the problem. Apple never did anything with the bug. They didn’t ask for more info. They didn’t mark it as a duplicate. It still sits there.
My point is beta testing isn’t worth anything if the company isn’t diligent about fixing bugs. I don’t think Apple is. I don't think beta testing is being used by Apple to root out all bugs. It is at best being used to make sure its buggy software isn’t that bad when unleashed on the general public.
Even if none of the beta testers are reporting feedback, Apple is still getting diagnostic info back from their devices passively. But I suspect at least 60% of developers and 15-20% of public beta testers are filing bugs via the feedback app. I do and have gotten requests from Apple for additional info, so I know they do review submissions. Also, don't think they don't have someone scrolling through these forums. They certainly act quickly enough when someone leaks a release date in Macrumors' forums. This is an obvious place to find problems and they're not going to ignore it.
It doesn't matter if only a fraction of these people report bugs. Apple still gathers a lot of (anonymised) usage statistics, crash reports etc., which serves them just as well, or even better.
Is providing analytical data a required ON setting for the betas as part of the agreement to run the beta?
I've been pretty "lucky" for lack of a better term; I've gotten at least one followup for the last 3 major releases. Keep hope alive, there are definitely people reading.
by your math that leaves them with only 800k bug reports. yeah, now it makes sense why they release it with so many bugs still left.
But those reports have no context to them. Yes, something crashed, but it would take quite a hunt to figure out what’s going on without context/actual user feedback. Considering how complex the OS code is, it’s not a trivial task to fix things just based on crash reports.
Good advice. I’m not a developer, but I do beta test all I can. When I encounter a bug, I report it in the Feedback app. It makes me feel like I am actually contributing.
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Lol.
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Correlation does not equal causation.
NOTE: Not saying you’re unaware of this; just expressing my opinion on the matter.
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It’s kind of like all of the passive users who of Waze. They “never” submit reports, but their speed and position data could contribute to the overall functionality of the system.
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Maybe so, but they have to draw the line SOMEwhere.
EDIT: ...and the “passive” testers contribute SOMEthing.
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