Beta

Apple seeds fourth macOS Sierra 10.12.6 beta to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 19, 2017

Apple on Monday released a fourth beta of what would become the sixth major update to macOS Sierra since its official debut last fall. The most recent macOS Sierra 10.12.6 beta 4 (build number 16G18a) is now available through Apple's Software Update feature via Mac App Store's Updates tab on any supported Mac with an appropriate configuration profile installed.

This new build is being released to Apple's registered developers and members of the Apple Developer Program. Public beta testers should see it popping up on their devices later today or tomorrow. When it releases later this summer, macOS Sierra 10.12.6 will be a mostly bug-fix update with security and performance improvements.

macOS Sierra 10.12.6 beta 4 arrived less than a week after the third beta dropped and more than a month after the bug-fix macOS Sierra 10.12.5 update released on Mac App Store.

Apple, of course, previewed macOS High Sierra at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

The next major version of the desktop operating system powering Macs, macOS High Sierra is currently available as a developer-only preview. It should hit Apple Beta Software Program later this month or in July, ahead of its official release this Fall.

Apple now allows public testing of tvOS betas on Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 6, 2017

For the first time ever, Apple will now allow non-developers to install and test tvOS betas on their fourth-generation Apple TVs, starting with the first public beta of tvOS 11 to be issued later this month. Before this change, public beta testers could only install iOS and macOS betas.

To take advantage of the upcoming tvOS 11 public beta, you should enroll in Apple's Beta Software Program by visiting beta.apple.com.

It's unclear how public beta testers will install a tvOS 11 beta on their Apple TV.

Currently, developers must download the tvOS 11 beta installer and connect their fourth-generation Apple TV to a computer running iTunes using a USB-C cable. The tvOS software is initially side-loaded on the device through iTunes.

Subsequent updates are then available over-the-air.

“The iOS 11, macOS High Sierra and tvOS 11 public betas are coming soon,” reads a notice on the webpage. “As a member of the Apple Beta Software Program, you can help shape Apple software by test-driving pre-release versions and letting us know what you think.”

You can provide feedback directly to Apple using the built-in Feedback Assistant app.

Apple opened macOS and iOS betas to the general public back in 2014, with the releases of major visual makeovers in iOS 7 and macOS Yosemite.

Apple updates TestFlight app with support for iOS 11 beta

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 5, 2017

Just a few minutes ahead of the keynote presentation at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has updated its TestFlight app with support for iOS 11 beta development.

With the updated app, now at version 1.5.1, developers can now issue beta builds of their apps for testing on iOS 11 devices. AS you know, iOS 11 will be previewed at the conference today and released as a developer-only beta later in the day.

References to drag and drop on iPad spotted in Apple Feedback app ahead of iOS 11 reveal

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 5, 2017

Apple's own Feedback app, that iOS beta testers use for reporting bugs, contains references to a drag and drop feature, as first spotted by developer Steven Troughton-Smith this morning.

An entry labeled “Split View/Drag and Drop” now appears in the list of preset options when filing a bug using the Feedback app. iOS, of course, lacks any drag and drop features that would admittedly be tremendously useful, especially in Split View mode.

That said, it's unclear that the Cupertino technology giant will formally announce drag and drop functionality in iOS 11 during today's live-streamed WWDC keynote.

Ukrainian developer Readdle's popular iOS apps were updated last week with the ability to drag and drop content between them in iOS's Split View multitasking mode on iPad, providing an early preview of how Apple's version of system-wide drag-and-drop might work in iOS 11.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epzh9-rd-AI

MacStories editor Federico Vittici and his team painstakingly created some awesome iOS 11 productivity concepts, imagining new productivity features for iPad. Among them is—you guessed right—drag and drop functionality. “Because drag-and-drop would be fully multitouch-enabled, it wouldn’t block the iOS interface,” Vittici explained.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyFUDQ5LLZw

“Another finger could be used to navigate in a different 'drop area' of an app, or a user could keep dragging until the Split View app picker is shown and drop an item onto an app’s icon, opening a contextual action menu.”

Late Sunday, Troughton-Smith discovered a placeholder listing for Apple's unreleased Files app on App Store. It's since been removed and no screenshots or official descriptions were provided, but we do know it's going to require iOS 11 and 64-bit support.

Apple launches second betas of iOS 10.3.3, macOS 10.12.6, watchOS 3.2.3, and tvOS 10.2.2

Sébastien Page ∙ May 30, 2017

Apple on Tuesday released a second round of betas for all of its platforms, including iOS 10.3.3, macOS 10.12.6, watchOS 3.2.3, and tvOS 10.2.2.

No significant changes can be spotted in any of these betas at this time, signaling that these simply feature the usual round of bug fixes and performance improvements, which is not surprising considering WWDC 2017 is just around the corner.

We shouldn't expect anything really new from now on until the public releases of Apple's new softwares, likely around September.

Apple seeds first betas of iOS 10.3.3, watchOS 3.2.3, tvOS 10.2.2 and macOS Sierra 10.12.6

Cody Lee ∙ May 16, 2017

Apple on Tuesday seeded the first betas of iOS 10.3.3, watchOS 3.2.3, tvOS 10.2.2 and macOS Sierra 10.12.6. Registered developers can download the new releases via each platform's respective over-the-air mechanism, or via Apple's dev portal.

It's not yet clear what changes are included in these updates, but given their version numbers, it's likely they're focused on security fixes and other under-the-hood improvements. We will let you know if anything more significant is discovered.

The betas do come at an interesting time—24 hours after the release of public updates for each OS, and just a few weeks ahead of WWDC, where Apple is expected to show off previews of the next major versions of iOS, watchOS, tvOS and macOS.

Delta Beta 4: iOS emulator gains Game Boy Color support

Joaquim Barbosa ∙ May 4, 2017

You may have heard Sebastien and I discussing Delta on Let's Talk Jailbreak, mentioning that more frequent updates had been promised with the last beta, and speculating on whether we would see anything big coming soon to the emulator. Perhaps developer Riley Testut heard us, but more likely an instance of pure dumb luck has meant that Delta Beta 4 was released to press testers, along with some exciting news.

WhatsApp testing chat pinning, photo albums, message revoking & other upcoming features

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 1, 2017

The popular messaging app WhatsApp is experimenting with a new pinning feature in the chat list that, when released for everyone, will permit you to stick up to three contacts to the top of the conversation list, regardless of when they last messaged you.

As first noted by AndroidPolice, it was spotted in the latest beta builds of WhatsApp for Android. Other features in an iOS beta of the app include albums, the ability to revoke a message after it's been sent, sending your real-time location to friends and family and more.

WhatsApp Albums, another upcoming feature, is in its early stages of development. Eventually, it will let you create custom albums of photos for sharing with individuals and groups.

Like other WhatsApp features, albums use end-to-end encryption.

According to WABetaInfo on Twitter, the unsend feature may be remotely enabled in the latest stable version of WhatsApp. Full support for rich notifications is being worked on, too.

Recent WhatsApp updates brought us improvements like the ability for Siri to read aloud newly received messages, text-only statuses, two-step verification for your account, sending messages offline, searching for animated GIFs from Gify and more.

You can join the WhatsApp for Android beta channel on Google's Play Store, by tapping Join Beta at the bottom of the listing. WhatsApp for iPhone betas require a jailbroken device.

macOS Sierra 10.12.5 beta 5 rolls out to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 1, 2017

Monday, Apple issued a fifth beta for the upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.5 software update to its registered developers and members of the Apple Developer Program. The latest macOS Sierra 10.12.5 beta 5 (build 16F71b) software can be obtained via the Mac App Store's Updates tab on supported Mac models with a prior beta and an appropriate configuration profile.

Apple seeds iOS 10.3.2 beta 5 to developers

Cody Lee ∙ April 27, 2017

Apple on Thursday seeded the fifth beta of iOS 10.3.2 to developers. The update comes just 3 days after beta 4 was released, and registered iOS developers can install it over-the-air, or via the dev center.

Outside of a few SiriKit bug fixes, Apple hasn't provided details regarding changes in iOS 10.3.2. It's very likely that the focus here is on performance improvements and other under-the-hood maintenance.

We're installing today's update, and we'll be sure to let you know if we spot anything new or noteworthy.

Fourth betas of iOS 10.3.2, macOS Sierra 10.12.5, watchOS 3.2.2 & tvOS 10.2.1 now available

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 24, 2017

Apple on Monday issued fourth betas of what would become maintenance and bug-fix updates to its four major software platforms: iOS, macOS Sierra, watchOS and tvOS. Members of the Apple Developer Program can now deploy iOS 10.3.2 beta 4 (build 14F5086a), macOS Sierra 10.12.5 beta 4 (build 16F67a), watchOS 3.2.2 beta 4 (build 14V5485a) and tvOS 10.2.1 beta 4 (build 14W5583a) through the Software Update mechanism.

Apple posts third betas of iOS 10.3.2, macOS Sierra 10.12.5, watchOS 3.2.2 and tvOS 10.2.1

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 17, 2017

Apple on Monday issued third betas of what would become maintenance and bug-fix updates to iOS, macOS Sierra, watchOS and tvOS. Members of the Apple Developer Program can now deploy iOS 10.3.2 beta 3 (build 14F5080a), macOS Sierra 10.12.5 beta 3 (build 16F60a), watchOS 3.2.2 beta 3 (build 14V5480a) and tvOS 10.2.1 beta 3 (build 14W5578b) through the Software Update mechanism.