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

Oh boy

[Anonymous Coward]

We skip QA and pass the saving onto us!

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

[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

[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.)

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

[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.

Re:iOS9

[wjcofkc]

Tenacious Termite.

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.