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iOS 16 honestly is one the most stable releases in recent memories. There’s a few clunky design decisions but as far as stability. No complaints
It immediately broke my homepods. It no longer works with ATV, doesn’t work as a stereo pair, and I can’t Airplay anything to them. Needless to say, two thumbs down on iOS 16 from me.
 
So many people say “this is beta” as if this article should not exist in the front page because “it’s beta”. Yes, features may not be implemented properly during beta period, but there should also be a minimum set of features that are working in the beta, especially for beta released to the general public (remember, public beta is a thing too). It’s not like apple is releasing this build to their internal developers to fix things.

Speaking of beta, iPadOS 16.1 makes slide over virtually unusable when running apps with safari. Idk if it is the problem of safari or sth else. iOS 16 isn’t as good and dandy as other people suggests.
 
So many people say “this is beta” as if this article should not exist in the front page because “it’s beta”. Yes, features may not be implemented properly during beta period, but there should also be a minimum set of features that are working in the beta, especially for beta released to the general public (remember, public beta is a thing too). It’s not like apple is releasing this build to their internal developers to fix things.

Speaking of beta, iPadOS 16.1 makes slide over virtually unusable when running apps with safari. Idk if it is the problem of safari or sth else. iOS 16 isn’t as good and dandy as other people suggests.

Who is saying that the article shouldn't exist? I have no issues with announcing that the beta is broken. You may think that a beta shouldn't have any major bugs that affect an arbitrary set of features, but that's not how software development works.

When you download a beta, expect anything to break. Pretty much any software company that releases betas warn developers and the public that this is the case. It's baffling that people think betas should have any expectation of functionality when their entire purpose is for testing before the release candidate. The entire point of these public betas is to catch these major public issues before the official release.

It's very, very telling who is knowledge about the software development process and who isn't.
 
It’s very clear many users here should probably not be messing with the beta profiles since they don’t understand things can get broken with each iteration (you say you do, but you really don’t). At least submit some beta feedback messages in between your bouts of self pity.
 

What is the Apple Beta Software Program?​

The Apple Beta Software Program lets users try out pre-release software. The feedback you provide on quality and usability helps us identify issues, fix them, and make Apple software even better. Please note that since the public beta software has not yet been commercially released by Apple, it may contain errors or inaccuracies and may not function as well as commercially released software. Be sure to back up your iPhone or iPad and your Mac using Time Machine before installing beta software. Since Apple TV and HomePod mini data and purchases are stored in the cloud, there’s no need to back up your Apple TV or HomePod mini. Install the beta software only on non-production devices that are not business critical. We strongly recommend installing on a secondary system or device, or on a secondary partition on your Mac.

- https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/faq
 
so they released an update that was available straight away when people got hold of the phones. Seems sensible to me.
And an Update apparently needing a computer to install?
It's very, very telling who is knowledge about the software development process and who isn't.
:rolleyes:
No wonder why some companies label their software as “beta“ all the time so they can use that single word to waive any liability and responsibility.

You seem to forgot general public has no sufficient tools to remedy such big issues when they hit. I understand apple can’t catch every bug. But a major one slipping through (activation bug, and now this) is still absurd, and will guarantee negative news coverage.

I don’t have anything more to say. Have a nice day.
 
  • Disagree
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So many people say “this is beta” as if this article should not exist in the front page because “it’s beta”. Yes, features may not be implemented properly during beta period, but there should also be a minimum set of features that are working in the beta, especially for beta released to the general public (remember, public beta is a thing too). It’s not like apple is releasing this build to their internal developers to fix things.

Speaking of beta, iPadOS 16.1 makes slide over virtually unusable when running apps with safari. Idk if it is the problem of safari or sth else. iOS 16 isn’t as good and dandy as other people suggests.
And iOS betas have generally been rough. I remember running the iOS 7 beta on my 4s, then promptly restoring because the OS kept crashing and rebooting. I then tried the iOS 9 beta on my 5s, right before I was to go on an overseas excursion with my students. Bad mistake, because battery life on my phone sucked, but fortunately, nothing else broke. I played around with iOS 11 and 12 betas on my iPad (the first was also rough, the latter worked better, but in general, it's essentially playing Russian roulette with your devices).

I made the exact same arguments you did back in 2013 with the iOS 7 beta on Imore, but have since understood that the general public is not expected to be running around running public iOS betas on their main devices just for the fun of it either. That's why I have stopped doing so with my devices (it seems every iOS beta will break my banking app, and I find that betas are generally no fun until app developers get on board, which is around this time).

So unless your job absolutely hinges on it (eg: you are an app developer, content creator or work for Macstories), my advice is still - don't bother. The initial thrill of playing around with those new features and the slightly updated UI may initially taste like nectar, but the subsequent bugs and instability leave a bitter, lingering aftertaste. :(
 
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And iOS betas have generally been rough. I remember running the iOS 7 beta on my 4s, then promptly restoring because the OS kept crashing and rebooting. I then tried the iOS 9 beta on my 5s, right before I was to go on an overseas excursion with my students. Bad mistake, because battery life on my phone sucked, but fortunately, nothing else broke. I played around with iOS 11 and 12 betas on my iPad (the first was also rough, the latter worked better, but in general, it's essentially playing Russian roulette with your devices).

I made the exact same arguments you did back in 2013 with the iOS 7 beta on Imore, but have since understood that the general public is not expected to be running around running public iOS betas on their main devices just for the fun of it either. That's why I have stopped doing so with my devices (it seems every iOS beta will break my banking app, and I find that betas are generally no fun until app developers get on board, which is around this time).

So unless your job absolutely hinges on it (eg: you are an app developer, content creator or work for Macstories), my advice is still - don't bother. The initial thrill of playing around with those new features and the slightly updated UI may initially taste like nectar, but the subsequent bugs and instability leave a bitter, lingering aftertaste. :(
I’m also considering putting off beta train entirely down the line, nowadays only major iOS release to do beta testing. Updating to iPadOS 16.1 beta is a mistake on my end too. Suddenly slide over no longer works properly, and I need to use my magic Keyboard to get out of non-responsive swipe or force restart. iOS has gone so mature that more and more new software features are gonna tied to new hardware, which nobody outside of apple can test.

I wish apple would give a bit more access to the iOS during beta so when something major happen like this one, devs (not public beta) could tinker around and mitigate issues a bit. It may never happen.

TBH, iPadOS 16.1 is not “regularly crashing” “freezing all the time” or sth else crazy like that for me, but given the fact that not that many features outside of still a bit controversial stage manager are released for iPad, maybe I should’ve jumped out a few weeks ago.
 
Dev beta is so app makers can get an early jump on making sure their apps work with what's coming out, but it seems more and more public beta release runs so close they may as well just do one beta release. 16.1 is not awful, my contacts aren't disappearing and standard apps are not nonfunctional as I have experienced with earlier iOS betas.

I'm sticking with the 12 mini and won't upgrade till USB C becomes standard, so thankfully no GPS issues! The s5 on the other hand took 3 reboots to make it responsive again...all part of the process.
 
But it should be fixed by the time he official public version comes out so 16.1.1 shouldn't deal with the GPS issue
Normally I would agree with you 100%, but despite being a beta, Apple has opened it up for non-developer testing, which despite all of the warnings, makes it something they should fix if possible.

With that being said, it hasn't affected my 14 Pro Max at all so far, so not sure how wide spread it actually is...maybe waiting to the actual release makes sense, but that could be 2-4 weeks from now.
 
And an Update apparently needing a computer to install?

:rolleyes:
No wonder why some companies label their software as “beta“ all the time so they can use that single word to waive any liability and responsibility.

You seem to forgot general public has no sufficient tools to remedy such big issues when they hit. I understand apple can’t catch every bug. But a major one slipping through (activation bug, and now this) is still absurd, and will guarantee negative news coverage.

I don’t have anything more to say. Have a nice day.
If you’re part of an Apple Beta program, you’ll also have access to their Feedback App tool. With this you can report issues directly to Apple (they take beta feedback seriously - sometimes even working with you to resolve or define the issue). I would call that a sufficient tool, if you understand what a beta actually is.
 
E3898C63-FACE-4F77-8D0C-D9A3B383398C.jpeg
Not on beta (16.0.1) and my GPS is failing miserably. Ideas?
 
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For most companies, betas are not supposed to have such obvious bugs. Of course, Apple is the exception.

Betas are unfinished and can contain hairy bugs. That's just the nature of software...

A bigger bug would be something like when Microsoft deleted files during a Windows 10 Public Beta...

iOS developer betas can, and do release, with bugs known and unknown to Apple. Read the release notes and warnings... They need to get new APIs in front of developers quickly so they can code to upcoming features. That means releasing things when it is stable enough.

Frustrating here seeing so many non-developers clucking on like the sky is falling because a beta for professionals has issues...
 
its Apple. Software quality control has been terrible for a while now.

Sometimes I wonder if the employees even use iPhones and iOS
I rarely, if any, have problems with my iOS public releases.

I have no problem with people saying this or that wasn’t working properly, but don’t ever expect a beta to be GM.

It has nothing to do with quality control. That’s just whining.
 
For most companies, betas are not supposed to have such obvious bugs. Of course, Apple is the exception.
As someone who has beta tested for multiple companies and multiple software packages, obvious bugs abound in any company’s software. And, with many software companies following the agile methodology, there are obvious bugs that will make it into the release candidate as well. There’s no software written today with no bugs.

If someone tells you there’s no bugs, it’s because they’re not testing their code :)
 
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They should be working on code changes only in the areas they are actually intending to implement changes. Not doing massive code merges that inadvertently overwrite functional code with redundant code.

This is software dev 101 and ANY mature shop will know how to do this. This wreaks of a half baked operation.
Thanks for the update Craig Federighi. Oh you’re not Craig? Well I guess if you work at Apple as a senior software engineer. Oh you don’t? Well maybe you should be requesting some of his salary for such knowledgeable insight! I mean you have clearly read software 101 for dummies….
 
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