Apple Seeds Fourth Public Betas of iOS 26.6, macOS Tahoe 26.6 and More

[MacRumors]

Apple today provided public beta testers with the fourth betas of iOS 26.6, iPadOS 26.6, macOS Tahoe 26.6, watchOS 26.6, and tvOS 26.6, with the software coming a day after Apple seeded the betas to developers.

After signing up to beta test the software updates on Apple's beta site, public beta testers can download the new software using the Software Update section in the Settings app on each device.

iOS 26.6 has a feature that will let you know when you have blocked too many contacts, but the limit is in the thousands so most users may not ever see the messaging. There are also signs of a new iPhone anti-snatching feature that locks a stolen iPhone when it's grabbed from your hand.

No other major new features have been found in any of the software updates, with Apple likely focusing on bug fixes and security improvements. We're nearing the end of the "26" software cycle, with Apple planning to release iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate, and more in September.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Fourth Public Betas of iOS 26.6, macOS Tahoe 26.6 and More

 

[dominiongamma]

Why is there even a limit to contacts ? Not that I’ll ever approach the limit , just curious why have one ?

 

[mjs916]

Why is there even a limit to contacts ? Not that I’ll ever approach the limit , just curious why have one ?

I’m guessing they just allocated a certain amount of storage to it that works to or near whatever that limiting number is.

There was only so much space when they initially wrote the app. Or they just don’t want the app ballooning too large.

As you can probably tell I really don’t know but I imagine it’s like how I wish they put a larger closet in my bedroom but they only had so much space to work with.

 

[tcphoto1]

I’ve been blocking spam and robocalls for years, why does Apple think that it’s a good idea to set a limit? Yes, I get the message every time I try to block a number or email address.

 

[Moukee]

Why is there even a limit to contacts ? Not that I’ll ever approach the limit , just curious why have one ?

From an engineering standpoint it makes sense to have some limit for such things. You can't really test unlimited, so you test against some limit, even if that limit is higher than what you anticipate most users will ever reach. Allowing unlimited would then lead to untested and unexpected behavior. Say someone filled their list with more entries than what fits into memory, that would probably lead to the process crashing in some way. Or it would take so long to process that list on older devices that even a non-blocked call would be delayed by 10 seconds before it was shown to you.

The current limits are obviously nowhere near any hardware limits, but you have to set some limit to ensure proper functionality and smooth operation.

 

[Hey Thomas]

In some 26.x version, a problem arose where Time Machine volumes could not be ejected after a backup because the volume was always in use/busy even when the backup has been finished. This bug had been fixed in 26.6 Beta 3 but has reappeared in 26.6 Beta 4. (Also submitted to Apple.)