Malcolm Owen
Apple has moved on to its second round of betas for the current generation of operating systems, with developers able to try out new builds of iOS 14.7, iPadOS 14.7, tvOS 14.7, and watchOS 7.6.
The newest builds can be downloaded via the Apple Developer Center for those enrolled in the test program, or via an over-the-air update on devices running the beta software. Public betas typically arrive within a few days of the developer versions, via the Apple Beta Software Program website.
Apple issued the surprise first-generation betas of iOS 14.7, iPadOS 14.7, tvOS 14.7, watchOS 7.6, and macOS 11.5 on May 19, ahead of the public release of iOS 14.6, iPadOS 14.6, tvOS 14.6, watchOS 7.5, and macOS Big Sur 11.4.
The HomePod operating system has also received its second developer beta update.
The content of the betas seems to include minimal changes, with the only real update spotted so far being an expansion of air quality readings in the iOS Weather app to more countries.
The upcoming WWDC 2021 online event on June 7 is expected to feature the unveiling of the next major milestone versions of the operating systems. This makes it extremely unlikely that any new features will surface in the betas, and instead they will serve more as compatibility, performance, and bug fix releases.
AppleInsider, and Apple itself, strongly recommend users don't install the betas on to "mission-critical" or primary devices, as there is the remote possibility of data loss or other issues. Instead, testers should install betas onto secondary or non-essential devices, and to make sure there are sufficient backups of important data before updating.
Find any changes in the new betas? Reach out to us on Twitter at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at andrew@AppleInsider.com.
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Christine McKee
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
1 Comment
There are HomeKit changes that broke some functionalities relating to personal requests.
With HomePods on 14.6 while iPhone and iPad Pro on 14.7 betas, Siri does not recognise personal requests with error message indicating unable to locate iOS/iPadOS device for the same user account. In the Home app, under Home Setting | Personal Request, all the HomePods on 14.6 are not able to be enabled.