Roger Fingas
Apple on Thursday released a fifth beta of iOS 9 to developers, arriving a little over two weeks after the previous one. The company simultaneously released a matching beta of watchOS 2.
The new version of iOS 9, identified as build 13A4325c, can be downloaded as an over-the-air update or in its entirety through Apple's official Developer Center portal. It's so far unknown what changes the beta may contain.
The previous beta restored full Home Sharing features, and made tweaks to components like Apple Music, Handoff, and Apple Pay. Apple disabled Home Sharing's music support in iOS 8.4, but later promised to fix the issue with iOS 9.
Some users of iOS 9 beta 4 complained that the software introduced bugs affecting battery life and Bluetooth connections, in other cases causing a device to crash. These flaws could be addressed in the latest code.
The final version of iOS 9 is due to launch sometime this fall, presumably alongside new iPhones. It will include features such as a News app, public transit directions for Maps, and a much-improved iPad experience with Slide Over, splitscreen multitasking, and keyboard enhancements like Mac-style shortcuts.
watchOS 2 is also due in the fall, and will add features to the Apple Watch like native app support, new faces, a Nightstand mode, and third-party complications. Developers can install the latest beta using the Apple Watch iPhone app.
Update: Apple has also launched a third public iOS 9 beta, identical to the developer code.
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15 Comments
Finally! I'm more interested in the latest Xcode/Swift beta than iOS9 or Watch OS2
iOS Public Beta 3 is also out.
Search feature is still a little iffy on iOS but some bugs (crashing when changing ringtone are fixed.) Pretty quick and responsive overall.
Threadjack:
Here's an iOS/WatchOS app I'd buy: From Siri, I can speak a very explicit code phrase I control to activate an action. The feature I'd really be after is that I can send an emergency message immedately, and populate it with data. For example: "Hey Siri. Code red red red." Siri then dials 911 (or other number depending on the code), and initiates a voice recorded loop (presumably in Siri's voice) "Eightzero has initiated an emergency call, and needs police assistance at <GPS or Map coordinates.> The call back number is (number). Message repeats..."
We return you now to your regular thread.
Why are they holding back the watchOS 2.0 from the public beta?