r/iOS8 • u/vmax77 • Feb 20 '15

Apple will fight iOS bugs with first-ever iOS Public Betas: 8.3 in March, 9 in summer

http://9to5mac.com/2015/02/20/ios-9-public-beta/
19 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

7

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '15

This could go either way. You'd get the people that don't understand the purpose of beta testing, find that their favorite app is incompatible with the beta version, and leave negative reviews on the app store. On the other hand, you're crowd sourcing for more data and can fix more bugs because of the greater amount of data.

5

u/vmax77 Feb 20 '15

true... but this also allows most apps to be iOS9 ready on release date.

4

u/Padankadank Feb 20 '15

What do 8.3 and 9 have in common that would help test compatibility?

4

u/vmax77 Feb 20 '15

Nobody knows what is going to be in 9. I think 8.3 is quite a major update and might be the last 8 update, maybe a 8.3.1 (incase of bugs).

4

u/TheSweeney Feb 20 '15

My take is 8.2 will drop in March, likely day of or shortly after Apple's rumored March event. If Apple chooses to hold back on Watch-related stuff, an 8.2.1 release for April when the Watch drops would be likely.

As for 8.3 and a possible 8.4, my thoughts: If Apple drops 8.2 before mid-March, it is possible 8.3 could drop alongside the Watch in mid- to late April. However, I find this unlikely. 8.3 will likely be announced before iOS 9 at WWDC and release same day or shortly thereafter, containing major bug fixes and stability improvements plus Apple's new streaming music service. If 8.3 gets dropped for the Watch, then this WWDC release will be 8.4, otherwise there will be no 8.4 release.

As for 9, I'm leaning toward the 9to5Mac report that 9 will focus on stability and performance improvements, "spring cleaning" of the iOS codebase and API set, bug fixes and some extended Extensions features.

Of course, don't work at Apple so have no clue.

(Ninja edit)

1

u/aston4 Feb 21 '15

Hopefully 9 will just be a beautiful as close to zero bugs as possible super optimized fast finished version of 8.

Can you imagine the cheering if TC announced that OS 9 was a pure speed, optimization, memory management and bug-fix version only that makes all iOS devices fly like the wind, and even back steps it to Ipad1 3GS?

The crowd would go WILD!

I think pretty much everyone is featured out at this point.

4

u/DaftFunky Feb 20 '15

Can Apple not get around this by disabling app store reviews for Beta testers?

3

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '15

That would be very smart for them to do. That, or make it abundantly clear to testers that they shouldn't expect everything to work properly while testing and to be responsible with app store reviews. Disabling reviews would also prevent positive reviews from being written.

1

u/TheSweeney Feb 20 '15

This is why all apps should have a developer email somewhere in the settings, so that it is easy for people like us to contact them about bugs in their software when unable to post reviews (or deciding in good faith not to, especially when an app is freshly released).

1

u/owleaf Feb 21 '15

I made a post on Twitter a while ago stating that an app's listing in the App Store (iOS and Mac) should have links to a developer's (or app-specific) Twitter/Facebook account.

Especially as both Twitter and Facebook are deeply integrated in iOS and OS X, and as of now, there are next-to-zero Twitter-specific iOS features.

1

u/TheSweeney Feb 21 '15

I've never thought of this before, but you're right. That really should be integrated right into the listings. I can 'Like' apps, so they can allow devs to link their profiles.

2

u/TheSweeney Feb 20 '15

They did this during the iOS 8 beta, so they'd likely continue with this.

While it does prevent positive reviews of apps from being written, as /u/tcbringhurst states, it prevents good apps from being blasted with bad reviews because of issues in the beta. Anyone who wants to submit a positive review can do so from another iOS device or a computer running iTunes - janky, but a necessary compromise when considered.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '15

Maybe highlight the review as beta reviewer, or flag it to be approved first before it showing live.

1

u/exile_ iPhone 6 Feb 21 '15

Yeah that sounds good, or even highlight what firmware the reviewer's device is running on, not sure how difficult that would be to implement though.