The beta train continues to chug along, as Apple seeds the latest prerelease software for its most popular platforms.
On Thursday, Apple seeded the seventh betas of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 to developers. As is par for the course, this is software meant specifically for developers, and it’s not meant to be run on personal daily drivers. While the betas have been relatively stable for the most part, it’s still not ready for prime time. That being said, Apple will likely seed the corresponding public betas of these mobile operating systems in short order.
For registered developers, the latest betas can be downloaded and installed directly from Apple’s site for devs. They can also be downloaded and installed as over-the-air (OTA) updates via the software update feature in the Settings app on registered devices.
As the betas tick up in version number, Apple may continue to tweak the formula and add new features. For instance, the third developer beta included quite a few changes and additions, including Snapchat integration for Apple Music and a new icon for the streaming service as well; a revamped and more useful Clock widget; and new splash screen pop ups for things like the App Library. Meanwhile, the fourth developer beta added the return of 3D Touch, an updated widget for the Apple TV app, support for Apple’s and Google’s Exposure Notification API, and more. The fifth developer beta added a new widget for Apple News, better location privacy for widgets, availability alerts related to contact tracing apps utilizing Exposure Notification, and more. Apple added a new splash screen for Apple Maps and the spatial audio toggle for AirPods Pro in the sixth developer beta.
You can check out the most exciting new features coming to iOS 14 just below.
- The 12 most exciting new features in iOS 14
- The 12 most compelling new features in iPadOS 14
- The 6 most interesting new features in macOS Big Sur
And here are the system requirements for the newest versions of iOS and iPadOS, just in case you need to make changes ahead of the public release later this year.
- iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 system requirements
- tvOS 14 system requirements
- macOS 11 Big Sur system requirements
Apple also seeded the seventh beta of tvOS 14 to developers today as well. The new prerelease software can be installed via Xcode. Apple also seeded the sixth beta of macOS 11 Big Sur to developers.
If you’ve tried out the developer and/or public betas, are you looking forward to this latest update to iOS and iPadOS?