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Work Continues on iOS 8.1.3 With Retail Employees Receiving Second Beta Seed

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,706
31,134



Apple is continuing its behind-the-scenes work on the upcoming iOS 8.1.3 update, and as of yesterday, retail employees that have been testing the software received a second iOS 8.1.3 beta, build 12B466, which is six builds newer than the previous seed they received on Wednesday, January 7.

Last week, we speculated that the iOS 8.1.3 beta was close to release due to the fact that it was shared with quite a few retail employees, but it appears there are still bugs that Apple is working on fixing before it provides the 8.1.3 update to the public. MacRumors continues to see an uptick in the number of visits received from devices running iOS 8.1.3, and while we expect the update will be released to the public in the next week or two, it is not clear exactly when a launch could come.

8_1_3_15jan15.jpg
Overall visitors to MacRumors.com from devices running iOS 8.1.3​
According to our source, iOS 8.1.3 appears to contain only under-the-hood bug fixes with no readily apparent visual changes to the operating system. Apple has not provided employees with release notes.

With iOS 8.1.2 and iOS 8.1.3 positioned as minor updates, Apple has opted not to share the software with developers ahead of its release, instead testing the updates in house. Testing the iOS 8.1.3 update with retail employees is a new move for Apple, as it marks the first time retail workers have been invited to participate in the testing of an iOS beta. Retail employees have been involved in the beta testing of OS X for years.

Apple may have avoided seeding the iOS 8.1.2 and 8.1.3 betas to developers in order to focus developer testing on iOS 8.2, which is currently on its fourth beta. iOS 8.2 is a major update that is expected to be released alongside the Apple Watch in the spring months.

As we mentioned last week, along with iOS 8.1.3 and iOS 8.2, our site metrics indicate that a small number of Apple employees in Cupertino are also working on iOS 9, the successor to iOS 8 that we expect will be previewed in the summer and released in the fall alongside new iPhones.

An iOS 8.3 update that was also observed in testing months ago has declined in activity according to our web logs, with visits from devices running it having peaked in late November and not rebounding significantly in the new year following the holiday lull.

Article Link: Work Continues on iOS 8.1.3 With Retail Employees Receiving Second Beta Seed
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/01/16/ios-8-1-3-still-in-testing/
A

ahlsn

macrumors member
Sep 1, 2013
84
22
Seems like they actually stepping up their quality assurance with coming releases. Good move!
 
kagharaht

kagharaht

macrumors 65816
Oct 7, 2007
1,483
995
Beta

Since this is Beta, if something does go wrong and you are using your main iCloud account, how can you revert back? It's not like there is a Time Machine backup to fix iOS catastrophic crash. Or is there?
 
S

smulji

macrumors 68030
Feb 21, 2011
2,886
2,758
Explains a lot

"An iOS 8.3 update that was also observed in testing months ago has declined in activity according to our web logs, with visits from devices running it having peaked in late November and not rebounding significantly in the new year following the holiday lull."

Sounds like Apple has ditched iOS 8.3 and moved straight to iOS 9.
 
gsmornot

gsmornot

macrumors 68040
Sep 29, 2014
3,592
3,700
How many visits does the chart above show? 5? Why not label it with something.

Anyhow, glad they are taking the time to test.
 
zorinlynx

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,178
17,715
Florida, USA
kagharaht said:
Since this is Beta, if something does go wrong and you are using your main iCloud account, how can you revert back? It's not like there is a Time Machine backup to fix iOS catastrophic crash. Or is there?
Click to expand...

If you're running betas you're probably smart enough to back up your iOS device and data to your computer in addition to an iCloud backup, and you're also smart enough to have backups of your computer so you can revert to an older backup if everything goes south.

I'm still amazed by how many people run betas who aren't qualified to run them. I often run betas, and I occasionally get hosed by them. But I can revert to the last backup I made before upgrading to the beta, because I (think I) know what I'm doing. :)
 
Xenomorph

Xenomorph

macrumors 65816
Aug 6, 2008
1,397
829
St. Louis
Oh look, another UNLABELED graph!

What does that represent? An increase from 1 tester to 5 testers?

Or does it show an increase from 10 testers to over 100,000?

Why does MacRumors have to post these unlabeled charts/graphs?

If you think their chart gives a lot of info, just check out this one:

4UvDZ5r.png


Did you see that? Some bars are bigger! How much bigger? EXACTLY!

Wait a minute, we just got more data in:

uJP0D0g.jpg


See that? It went up by some amount, then went down. Change! Big change? Little change? I'll let you decide that for yourself!
 
Last edited:
kagharaht

kagharaht

macrumors 65816
Oct 7, 2007
1,483
995
zorinlynx said:
If you're running betas you're probably smart enough to back up your iOS device and data to your computer in addition to an iCloud backup, and you're also smart enough to have backups of your computer so you can revert to an older backup if everything goes south.

I'm still amazed by how many people run betas who aren't qualified to run them. I often run betas, and I occasionally get hosed by them. But I can revert to the last backup I made before upgrading to the beta, because I (think I) know what I'm doing. :)
Click to expand...

I'm not running it. Just curious on how one would revert if your not a developer and just a volunteer testing iOS. :)
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,162
15,654
California
gsmornot said:
How many visits does the chart above show? 5? Why not label it with something.
Click to expand...

Xenomorph said:
Oh look, another UNLABELED graph!

What does that represent? An increase from 1 tester to 5 testers?

Or does it show an increase from 10 testers to over 100,000?

Why does MacRumors have to post these unlabeled charts/graphs?
Click to expand...

Here is the answer to that question from the previous 8.1.3 thread. WildCowboy is one of the site administrators/editors.

WildCowboy said:
We don't want to share exact numbers, primarily for competitive reasons. But the total number of hits from iOS 8.1.3 devices now numbers in the thousands...does that help? :)
Click to expand...
 
T

thekeyring

macrumors 68040
Jan 5, 2012
3,485
2,147
London
Sounds like they're determined to get the bugs squeezed out. Here's hoping 8.2, 8.3 and 9.0 don't reintroduce them :)
 
R

rmadera

macrumors 6502
Jan 26, 2013
289
113
Very interesting. Looks like 8.1.3 may be a bigger bug fixer than we previously thought.
 
predation

predation

macrumors 65816
Apr 3, 2013
1,237
867
makes sense to have employees be seeded the updates. they do have to deal-with the majority of issues
 
P

Paddle1

macrumors 601
May 1, 2013
4,818
3,137
Xenomorph said:
Oh look, another UNLABELED graph!

What does that represent? An increase from 1 tester to 5 testers?

Or does it show an increase from 10 testers to over 100,000?

Why does MacRumors have to post these unlabeled charts/graphs?

If you think their chart gives a lot of info, just check out this one:

Image

Did you see that? Some bars are bigger! How much bigger? EXACTLY!

Wait a minute, we just got more data in:

Image

See that? It went up by some amount, then went down. Change! Big change? Little change? I'll let you decide that for yourself!
Click to expand...
They said last time that they do it for "competitive reasons".
 
R

rmadera

macrumors 6502
Jan 26, 2013
289
113
How many betas do you guys think there will be? And have they ever released a second beta for a point update like this? Because I know for 8.1.1 they released 1 beta but it never reached a second one.
 
teknikal90

teknikal90

macrumors 68040
Jan 28, 2008
3,353
1,903
Vancouver, BC
gsmornot said:
How many visits does the chart above show? 5? Why not label it with something.

Anyhow, glad they are taking the time to test.
Click to expand...

this has always bugged me.

Can someone who's familiar with version software development enlighten us with one thing:

How do the people working on iOS 9 know to implement the changes that the people working on 8.1.3 are implementing?

Or even how do the 8.2 people know? for all they know, the 8.1.3 people are rewriting the same codes that the other team's rewriting

right?
 
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