Apple Will Let Users Test iOS Beta Versions For the First Time

9to5 Mac reports that In an effort to eliminate bugs from upcoming iOS versions ahead of their general releases, Apple plans to launch the first-ever public beta program for the iOS operating system, according to multiple people briefed on the plans. Following the successful launch of the OS X Public Beta program with OS X Yosemite last year, Apple intends to release the upcoming iOS 8.3 as a public beta via the company’s existing AppleSeed program in mid-March, according to the sources. The article goes on to say Like the early iOS 8 developers builds, the public betas will include a dedicated app that allows users to report bugs to Apple. The main goal of the iOS beta program will be a more reliable and widely tested operating system by the time of the wider consumer launch, as Apple has come under fire for lack of quality control in iOS 8. Launching public beta versions of iOS will also reduce the demand for unauthorized sales of beta downloads from developer accounts, which enabled some consumers to test-drive future iOS features.

Comments

*beta* program

[Noah Haders]

I hope people take this with a grain of salt and remember that this is an old-school beta program, in which the software *mostly* works, but many eyes are needed to make the final bugs shallow. Google and others ruined the term by calling so many products "bata" for years after their wide introduciton. As a result, during Yosemite's open beta last year, people we're complaining that the software "wasn't ready for prime time". No kidding!

Re:*beta* program

[SeaFox]

Looks like the Yosemite beta program was a roaring success. /sarcasm

The final release of OSX 10.10 is considered one of the buggiest ever, and even after two maintenance updates there are still issues with wi-fi and Apple Mail, two things that are kinda important to get right the first time in today's Internet-heavy computing lifestyle.

Re:*beta* program

[Ron Goodman]

Really. I've been using Yosemite since the first beta release and have only had a couple of minor glitches.

Re:*beta* program

[ColdWetDog]

Good. Get enough anecdotes and you might make a data out it. Or not.

For better 'data' - look at the Apple forums. Even given the constant Sturm und Drang of your typical forum flora, 10.10 has been right up there with Apple's worst. Like SeaFox mentioned, open betas haven't appreciably improved the end user experience - at least as far as anyone this side of Apple can tell. Perhaps they did find a lot of issues, it's unlikely we will ever know.

But it hasn't stopped Apple (or anyone else for that matter) from sending really buggy software into production. Probably never will.

Don't eat at restaurant named 'Mom's"
Don't play cards with a guy named 'Doc'.
Don't run any Apple software or hardware before the x.3 revision level.

Re:*beta* program

[irrational_design]

Well, I installed Yosemite on four computers the day it came out. Two are laptops (one from early 2008 and the other from 2014), and two are desktops (again, one from early 2008 and the other from 2014). So far I've had 0 problems on any of the computers. So, in my experience, these issues are as widespread as you imply.

Re:*beta* program

[Anonymous Coward]

Really?

Some dumhead around preview 3 decided that 24 hour time should start at 24 instead of 0.

Do you have an idea of how wrong is that.. Yes... according to apple now midnight is 24:00 and the first hour of the day ends at 24:59:59, instead of the standard 00:00 and 00:59:59.

I rest my case. I wound't trust any data to an OS with a bug this big.

Re:*beta* program

[iluvcapra]

For better 'data' - look at the Apple forums.

Yeah, because armies of users come to post on Apple forums to let people know the update's working fine for them. :)

(FD. Yosemite's working great for me.)

Re:*beta* program

[Anonymous Coward]

As a result, during Yosemite's open beta last year, people we're complaining that the software "wasn't ready for prime time". No kidding!

So, Apple users are really dumb?
And it's google's fault.
Is that what you're saying?

Re:*beta* program

[PKFC]

It won't matter anyway because iOS 8 GM introduced bugs that were never in the beta versions anyway. Bluetooth handsfree not working was one of them.

Re:*beta* program

[Anonymous Coward]

That's actually substantially less of a bug than you might think. There's several countries around the world that use this convention, it's likely simply that you got the wrong localisation.

Re:*beta* program

[Noah Haders]

You "data" is still anecdote. Presumably, a smart person could actually do a data analysis of the forum posts to find how a particular piece of software compares against others. But this would require extraordinary rigor to do defensibly.

Re:*beta* program

[Noah Haders]

Yosemite beta one messed with my mailbox such that I couldn't load any of my desktop mail. This wasn't fixed until Yosemite public beta 3. But I can't get mad, it was beta software and they fixed it before the open release.

Re:*beta* program

[Dutch Gun]

Gamers have the opposite expectation. After all, they're used to *released* software that isn't nearly ready for prime time. Hell, they tend to think that the company may still make major changes at beta - which in fact, actually happens sometimes. So, worry not. They're pushing in the opposite direction.

Re:*beta* program

[Threni]

> As a result, during Yosemite's open beta last year, people we're complaining that the software
> "wasn't ready for prime time". No kidding!

Well, in an old school beta program, that would have been an alpha-release, at best!

Re:*beta* program

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course stories that support my position are data, while anything else is just as obviously an anecdote. Sheesh man, do some critical thinking.

Re:*beta* program

[uvajed_ekil]

I've got 4 Yosemite macs at home, a 2009 iMac, a 2015 iMac 5k, a 2014 retina 15 and a 2011 macbook air. None have had any issues with wifi.

I see an issue with your wifi: you spent way too much money on computers to use it.

Re:*beta* program

[hcs_$reboot]

We're talking beta, and beta gets a bad press (especially here on /.) but am I alone to think there are more and more unfixed annoying bugs in iOS?

Re:*beta* program

[hcs_$reboot]

Would that have happened under Jobs reign?

Re:*beta* program

[hcs_$reboot]

So, Apple users are really dumb?

Apple users are still under the charm and influence of Jobs. That may not last much longer. Maybe 2-3 years.

Re:*beta* program

[tlhIngan]

For better 'data' - look at the Apple forums.

Yeah, because armies of users come to post on Apple forums to let people know the update's working fine for them. :)

Exactly.

Plus, is it the buggiest ever, or are just just a lot of users?

Apple sells like 20M computers a year, Even if 15M of them go and run Windows till they die, that's still 5M OS X installs a year. If a bug affects just 0.1% of users, that's still 5000 users a year. And given Yosemite works on Macs that are say, 5 years old, that's 25M users, or 25,000 people. If 10% complain on Apple's forums, that's still 2,500 people making a lot of noise.

And that's how it is - a bug that affects 1 in 1000 users is still a lot of noise.

And Apple users generally are the most vocal of the lot. Windows users on the whole generally accept the problem as "it's a computer thing - wifi is not supposed to work all the time" or "I'll reboot when I need it to work". In the Apple world, if the user has to reboot to get their gizmo to work, it's considered a Major Bug.

Re:*beta* program

[Anonymous Coward]

For better 'data' - look at the Apple forums.

Yeah, because armies of users come to post on Apple forums to let people know the update's working fine for them. :)

Oh so that's why Windows is perceived as being bad, it actually isnt and it is just that the only people who are vocal are the ones that have problems. Well thanks for clearing that up!

Re:*beta* program

[Plumpaquatsch]

For better 'data' - look at the Apple forums.

Yeah, because armies of users come to post on Apple forums to let people know the update's working fine for them. :)

Oh so that's why Windows is perceived as being bad, it actually isnt and it is just that the only people who are vocal are the ones that have problems. Well thanks for clearing that up!

Actually, many Windows users have given up complaining about Windows problems. Some even began complaining about problems in other OSs just so their pains feel less bad.

Oh boy

[Anonymous Coward]

We skip QA and pass the saving onto us!

Re:Oh boy

[Anonymous Coward]

For an OS we give out to all our existing users for free!

They need this.

[Anonymous Coward]

With as many issues Apple been having lately. This is a good thing.

Re:They need this.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, paying people to test software might help offset the cost of their overpriced phones.
So how much are they paying you to help fix their software?

Re:They need this.

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL Apple or any company pay for beta testing. You test it, report bugs, and they fix or thing about fixing.

Re: They need this.

[Anonymous Coward]

they're not really overpriced if you look at the technology involved. you only think that way because android phones cut corners in some area.

compare the specs and features side by side.

Does google pay you to beta test their offerings?

Like Microsoft?

[jamesl]

What a Microsoft-like thing to do.

Re:Like Microsoft?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep. Apple wants to be Microsoft so bad they are willing to copy them.

Now wait a minute

[fustakrakich]

Users have been using beta all along. A 'final' version cannot exist.

Re:Now wait a minute

[fisted]

That's two wrongs and a friendly suggestion to look up what a beta version is/means

Re:Now wait a minute

[fustakrakich]

I know what it really means, but marketing has changed all that. A final, truly ready for public release piece of software doesn't need updates every week. We are all using inadequately tested and hastily pushed out the door programs. Under the circumstances they are still beta, and always will be. Damn things still crash all the time. Take Abode Premiere, please...

About time!

[Anonymous Coward]

I have always wanted an unpaid job, doing drudgery.

Re:About time!

[93 Escort Wagon]

I have always wanted an unpaid job, doing drudgery.

Google was counting on you to carry Helpouts - but you let them down, man.

Gonna lose some money

[iluvcapra]

There's more than a few people who don't code or develop for iOS or OS X, but ponied up the $99 a year to get a developer account, just to have access to betas.

Re:Gonna lose some money

[ColdWetDog]

There's more than a few people who don't code or develop for iOS or OS X, but ponied up the $99 a year to get a developer account, just to have access to betas.

Today's qotd is strangely relevant:

"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -- William E. Davidsen

Re:Gonna lose some money

[ZorinLynx]

The $99 for the developer account (which is peanuts to Apple) isn't about income. It's about controlling access to the platform.

If developer accounts were free, anyone who wanted to sideload apps would join the program and just do so. The $99/year fee is enough to discourage people from doing this.

I have access to a developer account through work, and have sideloaded iMAME and a few other emulators using it. You can sign any app bundle you want and put it on your phone without having to go through the App Store.

Access to iOS betas does not allow one to receive provisioning profiles, so the reason for the $99 charge is gone.

iOS9

[Anonymous Coward]

Termite

Re:iOS9

[wjcofkc]

Tenacious Termite.

Re:Hurray!

[kthreadd]

Well, you've had four years of OS updates which is unfortunately much more than most other phones.

Come on

[Anonymous Coward]

As a fairly avid iPhone user every release is a beta test already.

Now they have to fix them

[R3d M3rcury]

Knowing the bugs is nice. Fixing them would be better.

I have reported all sorts of issues with OS X. The bugs usually sit there in bug reporter for a year and, when Apple releases a new version of the OS, they get marked as closed because Apple isn't going to fix them.

So what'll happen is that they'll just have more reported bugs. They won't have the people to fix the problems and they're not going to hold up shipping in order to fix them. So it's basically a PR move.

Betas on iphone

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been using the OS X betas since Apple started making them available. On my computer I am less reticent about using betas since the computer can be relatively easily restored to a previous OS if necessary (though I never actually felt the need to revert from any of the OS X betas). But betas on my phone are as bit different since there's no way to back out..and the last thing you want is for a phone (on which your life and well being might depend) to be unstable. I am more inclined to try them on my iPad, since that is not something I need to be reliable in the same way as the phone.

install on a spare phone

[Anonymous Coward]

That having been said I do have some older iphones which are not used as phones anymore but which are suitable for putting betas on. The 5S is still relatively recent hardware and would probably handle the newest OS well enough.

Re: install on a spare phone

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do you hate poor people?

A Real Improvement Over Alpha Code

[Bing Tsher E]

In recent iOS releases, Apple has been pushing Alpha-grade code out to their customer base. This is a real improvement.

Jobs

[uvajed_ekil]

Somewhere, Steve Jobs is spinning in his grave.

I, for one, can't wait for OS X 10.11 "Vista," or for Apple to completely scrap the interface all of their users are used to when the go Full Microsoft.

Re:Jobs

[hcs_$reboot]

Somewhere, Steve Jobs is spinning in his grave

Indeed. Unfortunately captain Cook is drifting towards MS stuff. Maybe in a couple of years, the Nadella Cook union will give birth to a unique product, iMac for Workgroups.

Beta?

[Anonymous Coward]

And you thought newly released versions of iOS were buggy before!

Actually ...

[garry_g]

... all that changes is that instead of calling a version "finished", they call it "Beta" ... that way, at least they can't complain if the sh@t hits the fan as with the other recent releases ...