Apple won’t be releasing iOS 7 to the public until Wednesday of this week, but it’s already believed to be widely testing multiple versions of future updates. This according to the web analytics of iDB and other websites.
The web logs show that sites starting receiving hits from devices running everything from iOS 7.0.1 to iOS 7.1 back in August, with traffic increasing in early September. And all of the activity is coming from Cupertino…
9to5Mac, who first spotted the activity, notes that it has detected iOS 7.0.1, iOS 7.0.2 and iOS 7.1 action on its website in recent months. MacRumors echoes the findings, adding that it has also seen iOS 8 references as well.
Here’s analytics from iDB over the past few weeks:
iOS 7.0.1
iOS 7.1
As with other sites, we noticed an increase in activity from devices running future versions of iOS in the run-up to the big iPhone event last week. And it’s all coming from the Cupertino-Palo Alto area—Apple’s stomping grounds.
So what does this mean? Nothing, yet. Apple typically posts a 0.1 update shortly after a major release in order to fix bugs and security issues, so it’s not surprising that we’re seeing that. But iOS 7.1 could prove very interesting.
Apple tends to drop new features into its .1 updates—in iOS 6.1 it added Siri capabilities—and there has already been talk about what 7.1 could potentially bring such as Siri API for third-party devs and iOS in the Car enhancements.