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Beta on main phone?

Is there a tutorial for how to go back to 15 if I need to?

I did an encrypted backup to my Macbook Pro & turned off icloud backups. Is that all I need to do?
 
This question comes up with every new beta cycle and the balanced answer remains - “Not a good idea.” For several reasons: the stability of one beta does not guarantee the stability of the following one, the battery life and overall performance are optimised quite late in the beta cycle, the app developers of the app you need do not always update it fast enough and we cannot even complain much, as Apple tells us not to install their beta on anything of importance. ;)
 
Beta testers main duty and reason is to find and report bugs to make life of others better. Not to get newest features faster. This comes with possibility of most of apps not working, more crashes or slowed performance.
Ask yourself why really you want to install it and here you are.
 
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I think its not worth it on a main phone especially if you use your phone for everyday life like work, school or doctor schedules etc. Sometimes beta software can affect phone calls receptions or sound issues so just for that alone I think new features isn't worth the potential performance sacrifice. I mean, I can wait a couple of months for new features I'll forget just a couple of days after I'll install this fall.

Note that I do installed iOS 16 on a hold device and I just played with it 2-3 days after the install and then I just forget about it.
 
My phone is off limits because of the risk of critical features failing being too high. For secondary devices such as my iPad, I generally wait until the public beta is available if the new OS comes with features I feel are important enough to warrant the install.
 
jav6454 said:
Against common knowledge, I am thinking of getting the Beta on my main phone. How stable is it so far?
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So far so good. Not even banking app issues here, but I've done enough betas to know that the higher betas can suddenly have some basic feature bug out.
 
I was curious to try stage manager so I installed the beta on my main iPad (obviously I just have one iPad pro M1) and 2 days later I'm revert it hack to 15.5. I have the same swipes not registering issues I have with my 2018 iPad pro. Its not very usable right now on the iPad. On my old iPhone XS Max I don't have gestures issues and it seems more usable.

So my advice is : Avoid to install on your main iPad for now if you really want to try it just wait and hope the next beta will finally run better on this device.
 
I'll tell you as a developer, there is any Beta in order to find and fix as many errors as possible in the system, if you use it with your main account, even after installing the final version, there will be a lot of distorted information in your account. Anything can happen in your iCloud and no one can help you, only creating a new account with a normal working system.
 
This was my 2nd time trying to beta and 2nd time regretting that choice o_O Did my duty in reporting that an app I often use crashes on it whenever you click to pay, going back to normal now
 
theob05 said:
I'll tell you as a developer, there is any Beta in order to find and fix as many errors as possible in the system, if you use it with your main account, even after installing the final version, there will be a lot of distorted information in your account. Anything can happen in your iCloud and no one can help you, only creating a new account with a normal working system.
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Can you be more detailed? I’m just a normal user but I tested beta for years on my main account and I never had any iCloud or account related issues. With betas now available to the general public as well, I don’t remember Apple telling us to change account when using a public beta. Maybe I’m wrong so that’s why I ask.
 
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thv said:
This was my 2nd time trying to beta and 2nd time regretting that choice o_O Did my duty in reporting that an app I often use crashes on it whenever you click to pay, going back to normal now
Click to expand...
15.5, especially on iPad is so much more responsive compared to iPadOS 16 it’s not even funny. I don’t understand how normal people can accept their main devices running so sluggish and buggy for months.
 
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Can you be more detailed? I’m just a normal user but I tested beta for years on my main account and I never had any iCloud or account related issues. With betas now available to the general public as well, I don’t remember Apple telling us to change account when using a public beta. Maybe I’m wrong so that’s why I ask.



I think the worst thing is when information disappears completely from the iCloud, there are such cases. Apple has always said not to use beta on main devices. Whether you had any issues or not depends on your needs. No one guarantees the safety of your data in iCloud when you use the beta
 
There's nothing in the public beta agreement about not using your main device or using a different iCloud account, they wouldn't have any public beta testers if that was the case as not many people will have multiple devices.
 
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A few years ago a few heavy apple employees where visting Daring Fireballs liveshow at WWDC, they got the question however they ever used betas, always where their answer.
 
Rather wait, my phone gets extremely hot and drains quite often while doing thing like playing Music, using Siri in car, etc.
 
Program Install said:
Silly me, I always update with beta software on my main device. Thankfully, I have never had anything earth shattering happen. It’s fun, honestly.
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Worst I had happen was neither of the ATV remotes would work. (app or CC). And the physical remote was currently eaten by the couch. At least it made me look for it, and I found it :D
 
And now B3 is PB1, so it should be cool re icloud data. Updating my main phone when I get home on wednesday after a full Mac finder backup.
 
Just because the current beta runs OK for you, doesn't guarantee that upcoming betas will do the same. Plus, there's the risk of firmware and backup problems.
 
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SoYoung said:
Can you be more detailed? I’m just a normal user but I tested beta for years on my main account and I never had any iCloud or account related issues. With betas now available to the general public as well, I don’t remember Apple telling us to change account when using a public beta. Maybe I’m wrong so that’s why I ask.
Click to expand...
I agree with this. Not exactly clear what "bad info" would be transmitted into iCloud from a beta. I do think people need to be cautious about installing betas, especially if they are unsure about how to revert and what to do to ensure that such a reversion is successful (i.e., encrypted backup).
 
every year it's the same - everyone *knows* that betas shouldn't go on main / sole devices, but someone always asks looking for a stranger on the internet to give them the okay ...

Can I (yet)?
  • I wouldn't & you probably shouldn't
  • I did, it was fine, live a little ...
  • I did one time, everything exploded, don't do it, no-one will be able to help you ...
I have used a public beta on my main iPhone previously, but this time around I'm moving house at the end of next month & can't risk banking apps not being available. I might try 16 on my iPad after several more iterations, but like many people I'm only really looking for a free sneak preview, not genuinely searching for bugs to help the effort.
 
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hirsthirst said:
every year it's the same - everyone *knows* that betas shouldn't go on main / sole devices, but someone always asks looking for a stranger on the internet to give them the okay ...

Can I (yet)?
  • I wouldn't & you probably shouldn't
  • I did, it was fine, live a little ...
  • I did one time, everything exploded, don't do it, no-one will be able to help you ...
I have used a public beta on my main iPhone previously, but this time around I'm moving house at the end of next month & can't risk banking apps not being available. I might try 16 on my iPad after several more iterations, but like many people I'm only really looking for a free sneak preview, not genuinely searching for bugs to help the effort.
Click to expand...

True wisdom in this post
 
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