Apple's iOS 8 beta 5 now alerts iTunes Season Pass subscribers of new content

For iTunes Store customers who purchase content via discount season passes, Apple has begun sending native push notifications in the latest beta of iOS 8 when new content is available — a change from its previous email alerts.

iPhone and iPad users who have new content available will receive a push notification from the built-in iTunes Store app on their device if they are testing iOS 8 beta 5, which was released on Monday. The change was first noticed on Thursday by AppleInsider reader Mohammed.

"An episode is available from your Season Pass," the notification reads, including the name and season number of the program to which they are subscribed.

iTunes Season Passes are available on Macs or PC running iTunes 11 or later, or mobile devices running or iOS 6 or later. In addition to automatically giving access to new content as it become available, the Season Pass function can also be used to complete a series if a user owns a few episodes from that season.

But for those not yet running iOS 8, alerts about new episodes available with Season Pass are sent via traditional email.

Season Pass purchases sometimes come with a discounted price over buying all episodes individually. In addition, buying a Season Pass can also provide customers with bonus content and extras that may not be available individually.