Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple to Launch Public Beta Testing Programs for iOS 8.3 and iOS 9 [Updated]
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If I'll be able to downgrade both my devices through iTunes if necessary then sign me up! I'll do the same thing that I did with Yosemite: install on my 2nd device until the kinks are ironed out (iPad) then once I find its stable enough I'll install in on my primary device (iPhone).
Sign me up! I don't mind beta software and can handle it.
Sign me up! I don't mind beta software and can handle it.
Why?
It's not like the public beta program is improving quality in iOS. Every release is slower and buggier and less secure than the last. Also Apple is clearly not responding to customer feedback on usability and design.
All the beta program does is force developers to have to rewrite their apps for yet another API/SDK unecessary change and ensure they will only have to release 5 app patches in the first week after an iOS update instead of 10.
Lastly, 98% of the people getting these beta's are people wanting to run the newest version of iOS so they can appear cool to their peers and have absolutely no intention to contribute to feedback or bug reports, which is why the program is an absolute failure IMHO.
It's not like the public beta program is improving quality in iOS. Every release is slower and buggier and less secure than the last. Also Apple is clearly not responding to customer feedback on usability and design.
All the beta program does is force developers to have to rewrite their apps for yet another API/SDK unecessary change and ensure they will only have to release 5 app patches in the first week after an iOS update instead of 10.
Lastly, 98% of the people getting these beta's are people wanting to run the newest version of iOS so they can appear cool to their peers and have absolutely no intention to contribute to feedback or bug reports, which is why the program is an absolute failure IMHO.
Yeah! this makes sense, because the Yosemite Public Beta worked to iron out the bugs before the full release, didn't it.
Well, it depends what they release as a Beta though. If they release something akin to IOS 8 (which probably was at a public beta level of completeness....) well, they won't get more crud than releasing this same OS to 100M device in 4 months would
. Doing so though means they'd have to have a feature freeze on IOS 9 quite earlier then in the last few years.
That's not what people mean when they say others are "complaining." It's the people who come on the forums and rail about how unstable a "release" of iOS is, when they're running a developer build, or who incessantly complain about features not working on those same developer builds. The problem with that is two fold:
First, you should not be running developer builds on your daily driver, and even if you do you should take the inherent instability and glitches as part of the territory.
Second, as part of the developer program you agree to an NDA. You're not supposed to be disclosing details of the release in public forums, but should be discussing them in the Apple developer forums.
Last edited:
Yeah...
And Microsoft must be VERY stretched thin since they announced their public beta of Windows 10 a few months back.
So sad to see all these companies competence in software engineering go dowwwwwwwwn hill at the exact same time.
Very very odd. You know, unless you are being ridiculous & this is a standard & useful way to ramp wildly popular software.
Great news. I said this would happen, back when they announced it for OSX last year, wonder where all the people that were adamant this wouldn't happen now.
It's good, as it means more feedback potentially. The program does advise not to put betas on primary devices, so in the end, it's down to the user. If they choose to ignore it, they only have themselves to blame.
It's good, as it means more feedback potentially. The program does advise not to put betas on primary devices, so in the end, it's down to the user. If they choose to ignore it, they only have themselves to blame.
Yes, and sometime people do the other thing and dissagree with people who don't understand that when they test a beta software, they will be facing bugs which take time to be ironed, and if dealing with bugs frustrates and makes them sick, then they probably should quit testing and stick with the official public releases.
So yeah, sometimes people do that too and it's perfectly acceptable.
I am part of the public beta for OSX and will look forward to being part of it for iOS. Don't really have the time either, but was happy to be in front and playing with the latest release. The reality is that the public beta release is usually after several dev betas, so I do not expect serious issues.
For example for Maverick, the major issues I found and reported was applications that did not work properly. Most were small things that were address by the app vendor or Apple before the official release.
The issue for me is that I was able to install Yosemite on a separate partition.
I can't afford to have my iPhone be unreliable at all because I must stay in communication. I take my iPad to school and use it thought the day for notes and storage. I can't afford for that to crash either.
If I could partition iOS devices I would, but it's an all or nothing approach.
It's 95% of the way there
Wifi, DNS and DiscoveryD issues plague it
Just look at Apples own discussion forums, the Wifi thread is 2600+ posts
OSX Yosemite Wifi issues
This will be done the same way as the Yosemite Beta was done last year. It will be via sign up only. Limited number of applicants. When you sign up, there's warnings and disclaimers. It states that Apple Store Employees will not be able to assist. The successful applicants will have to download the IPSW and install via iTunes for the first public beta. It will not be a free for all, offered over OTA. Just like the developer betas. Beta 2 onwards will be OTA to those running Beta 1. Additionally, Public Beta will be when the Developers are on Beta 3 or 4.
So really, it's not going to be the nightmare you expect.
Exactly this. Well 95% will be this. The remaining 5% will be the ones that think they can, but screw it up. Which is the same as before, when people did it 'unofficially'.
----------
That's what I hate about this forum in the summertime. They're just trying to be obtuse. They contribute nothing useful and want to either cause aggro or appear superior.
----------
Last years Public Beta was via AppleSeed for signup and distribution.
While I agree that some have this issue; not everyone had it. My girlfriend and her bff have no issue at all on their Yosemite devices.
Also, 2600+ posts when tens of millions of users have a sofware is not conclusive proof that this is pervasive. Seeing as it has been so hard to solve the issue, I'd argue that this is probably a rarer bug than people think. They do have to reproduce these issues, and their various circumstances to actually solve them.
I think the changes they made for continuity is what has messed the network stack for some.
Children. Not everyone is like that. I have 8.3 installed on my primary phone and it is working great; I looked at potential bug reports before doing it and the risk didn't seem that high. I think it is all about researching and understanding potential issues before diving in. For instance on beta 4 of 8.2 there was a Facebook app issue; since I think Facebook and its app are utter garbage, I decided I was fine with that bug.
Also I would give my left foot to have a reliable 3rd party keyboard API... It is much improved on for 8.2 and 8.3 imo.
Got any facts to back that up? Or are you projecting your opinion as fact? Majorities are what counts. If there's something you don't like, odds are, you're in a minority, thus nothing gets done.
Unnecessary change?! I'm starting to think you're either trolling, being obtuse or just do not understand the point of software updates, bug fixes and the reason for betas.
You contradict yourself by giving a fact, then end the post stating its your opinion. It can't be both. I personally know about 30 people that run betas and provide feedback. I know 10 others who develop and also provide feedback. None try to appear cool. Have you got any evidence to back up that the program is a failure? Or is that more opinion falsely presented as fact.
This is a step in the right direction, yet like anything else it's not without its drawbacks. Depending on how it's managed, it could prolong shipping a final version by months.
However by implementing a very long delay before finally giving the public a large screen iPhone, Apple created a massive backup of buyers who waited years, then set record sales numbers making Apple look good. Only Apple has that kind of control over their user base.
However by implementing a very long delay before finally giving the public a large screen iPhone, Apple created a massive backup of buyers who waited years, then set record sales numbers making Apple look good. Only Apple has that kind of control over their user base.
Not disagreeing at all! But like the Yosemite public beta showed, a lot of people were cursing Apple for releasing something with bugs, saying it broke their laptop, etc. how can Apple do this, blah blah blah... Those are the people that shouldn't be downloading the betas...
Discussing and pointing out the bugs is the whole point of the betas, so that's a very good thing!
But how will people know I'm better than them if they can get the beta too?
By your $20,000 Apple Watch Edition? ;0)