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Back in the day to get the betas, your device ID had to be registered on a dev account for it to “verify” install. Dev accounts can have (I think) 100 devices registered to the beta program account. I always did it for the single digit IOS releases when it was required. I paid a guy every year, and he added my device ID on it.
+1. The best way to go, this way you do not loose your warranty.
 
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I can't imagine running beta OS software on my most used computing device. I guess some people are ready for that adventure. Is it worth $99? Not to me! Let the brave explorers take that hit.
Been brave a couple of times.
It’s not the bugs - it’s the heat the phone takes to the point where battery health gets heavily impacted.

No more jumping even on PB test trains for me.
Even for free I won’t care

Added: I like when people disagree with me not jumping on beta testing. 😂 Their brains 🧠 do function backwards 😂
 
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Why does Apple charge developers $99 per year? That is a hurdle for a kid that just creates an app for fun, which could generate a lot of money for Apple.
There's a difference between a kid learning and a kid putting an app in the wild. If a kid want to just learn, Swift Playgrounds exists. If a kid wants to mess around and build play apps for themselves, they don't need a developer account for that and you can publish to your own iPhone/Mac/whatever. You're only block from using iCloud, payments and a few other things. It's when the kid wants to publish to the store that they have to pay. That's when Apple actually needs to do things, have someone manually check each release for example. I do think $99 a year is a bit steep, $29 for education or free apps that use no accounts and have no IAP, would be more reasonable.
 
While the early developer betas are often entertaining for how much isn't working, the average user ought to get the "previewing the next thing" fix with the Public Beta just fine. For those of us in IT, there's AppleSeed for IT that pretty much gets you the developer betas at the same time and cadence as those with developer accounts.

Point being that I'm not sure who Apple is combatting by clamping down on sharing developer accounts/profiles. The few eager beavers wanting to try the developer beta while it's still unstable for prime time? Seems like an odd thing to come down on.
 
I think this is a good move by Apple.
I disagree. Just seems like apple cares less about bugs these days, more people devs or not using the betas equals more bug reports and testing, you have to have some technical knowledge to know about beta profiles and where to get them to run betas so it’s not your average noob running them, Still think the more free testing they get would out weight any issues they get from people going to stores ect running betas without dev accounts, only gain I see for apple is more $ as may get extra one or two eager people buy dev accounts instead of profile use

I’m not a dev but used to have a dev account for years and run betas and used to send in feedback and reports but then stopped paying and just used profiles since
 
Why does Apple charge developers $99 per year? That is a hurdle for a kid that just creates an app for fun, which could generate a lot of money for Apple.
As a professional app developer who started as a kid, I think the fee does seem steep but it allows Apple to maintain a safe space for users, if you face an issue, there's telephonic support to help you out. With Google you pay $25 one time and then you are on your own from there on.
 
The only people here complaining are the freeloaders. If you want to test, sign up for a developer account, or just wait for the public beta. Most of you shouldn't be using the betas anyway given how many of you come crying for support after.

"OMG I loaded DB1 on my only phone and it bricked my phone and now all my pictures are deleted, and I need my phone because it has all my school notes and I have an exam tomorrow... What's a backup? Why didn't anyone tell me this before? How do I downgrade?"
 
I would not be surprised if Apple completely eliminates the public beta program. The public is there to provide good feedback which is to provide improvement and stability. However, Apple doesn’t seem to think that way anymore.

Bottom line: Pay the $99 Developer Fee. That’s what Apple wants.
These fly-by ApPlE bAd comments really offer no contribution. The reality is that the improvements are more likely to be suggested by actual developers, while the general public aren't equipped to assess stability issues effectively and tend to provide highly unreliable sources for input. Foremost though, there's absolutely no indication that the public beta timeframe will be abandoned.
 
Makes sense. I'm surprised they didn't do this years ago. You have two options if you want the beta: sign up for public beta or pay the developer fee. Anything else is piracy.

For the record, I'm not a developer and I've downloaded developer profiles to try out the betas. Why wouldn't you? It's so easy. But I'm not disappointed with Apple for changing it, it's just common sense.
 
I imagine, from Apple's perspective (and I agree), there's no reason for an average user to run a developer beta. I'm sure this causes a lot of support headaches for them and wastes a lot of time.

I wish Apple would get rid of public betas altogether. It makes them feel like every other tech company. We know what's coming, more or less, six months or more before it gets released. I miss the old days when there really were surprises, when "one more thing" actually meant something.

I also wonder how much truly valuable feedback Apple gets from the general public. While I still think Apple delivers pretty solid software, the overall quality of their OSes seems to be slowly sinking. I wonder how much noise the public adds to the overall process.
 
I would not be surprised if Apple completely eliminates the public beta program. The public is there to provide good feedback which is to provide improvement and stability. However, Apple doesn’t seem to think that way anymore.

Bottom line: Pay the $99 Developer Fee. That’s what Apple wants.
It’s like they’re just milking the cow as much as possible at that point
 
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