Public Beta Testing For iOS macOS and More

Public Beta Testing For iOS macOS and More

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

Wouldn’t it be amazing if there was a way for you to access an array of exciting new software features on your Apple devices months before most Apple customers? Indeed, there is a way: joining the Apple Beta Software Program. This lets you test-drive the next major versions of iOS, macOS and tvOS months before their expected arrivals to mainstream audiences this fall. However, joining the beta program carries both benefits and caveats that are worth heeding before you go ahead.

MAPPING OUT THE ISSUES THANKS TO APPLE MAPS

Unlike many Apple services which we now take for granted, such as iTunes, iMessage and iCloud, the Apple beta testing program didn’t originate from Steve Jobs’ tenure at the Apple helm. Instead, it was a case of fruit, an apple or otherwise, growing in the wake of a disaster - in this instance, the original release of Apple Maps in 2012. Arriving only about a year after Tim Cook took the chief executive reins from Jobs, it was widely derided and even prompted a public apology from Cook.

In a 2016 interview with Fast Company, Apple executive Eddie Cue reflected on the ignominy of the Maps debacle. He admitted: “Maps was a new area - not one where we have a lot of experience or expertise”, adding: “We completely underestimated the complexity of the product”. Even as it neared release, execs were none the wiser about its many errors. Cue conceded that, “to all of us living in Cupertino, Maps seemed pretty darn good. Right? The problems weren’t obvious to us.”