Two weeks after unveiling iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 to the public at WWDC 2021, Apple is rolling out the second developer betas. iOS 15 beta 2 and iPadOS 15 beta 2 are now available to registered developers ahead of a public beta release in July and a release to everyone in the fall.
iOS 15 beta 2 details
iOS 15 beta 2 and iPadOS 15 beta 2 are available to developers via an over-the-air update in the Settings app. As usual, if the update does not immediately appear for download, keep checking, as it sometimes takes a few minutes to roll out to all registered developers. The build number for today’s iOS 15 beta 2 release is 19A5281h .
Apple’s new software version won’t be complete until the fall, at which point it will be released to the general public. Testers should still expect performance and stability issues when running the iOS 15 beta on primary devices for the time being.
Learn more about what’s new in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 in our coverage below:
In addition to the second developer betas of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple is also releasing tvOS 15 beta 2 for Apple TV and HomePod and watchOS 8 beta 2 for Apple Watch. The second beta of macOS Monterey is not yet available.
If you spot any changes in the iOS 15 beta or the other new releases from Apple today, let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @9to5Mac. Stay tuned for our full hands-on coverage with the new releases right here at 9to5Mac today and throughout the rest of the week.
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The simple and clean news reader Headlines for iPhone and iPad is out today with a nice update that makes its widgets more useful, brings iPad UI enhancements, offers smart group management, and more.
Headlines for iOS is a news reader that offers seamless feed discovery and management and useful features like iCloud sync, dark mode, and 6 widgets to choose from.
Version 2 of the app launched today and one of the most interesting new features is the ability for widgets to hide articles that you’ve already read.
Along with that, Headlines 2 brings in-app article browsing, the option to manage smart groups, feeds, and tags, a better UI for iPad, and more.
Headlines is a free download for iPhone and iPad with an in-app purchases available to unlock unlimited feeds, mute filters, alternate icons, instant translation, and tags for $1.99/month, $9.99/year, or $24.99 for a lifetime license.
Release notes:
Say hello to Headlines 2! Here’s what’s new:
• In-app article browsing.
• Manage smart groups, feeds and tags from the new home screen.
• Widgets can now hide articles you’ve already read.
• iPad user interface improvements.
• You can now open articles in your default browser (e.g. Safari).
• Alternate icons for Headlines+ users.
• Default theme overriding.
• Bug fixes and memory management improvements.
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iOS 14.7 is currently available as a public beta. But be careful: Betas are often buggy and should only be downloaded on a tester device, not your primary phone. We recommend waiting until the final release before downloading. We expect to see a general release in late June or early July.
How can I download iOS 14.7 once it's generally available?
Once Apple releases iOS 14.7 to the public, you should get a prompt telling you that iOS 14.7 is now available and asking if you'd like to download it. Or you can do the following:
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Select General.
3. Tap Software Update.
Your device will connect to Apple's servers and prompt you to download and install the update. Follow the prompts to complete the installation. When your device reboots, it will be running iOS 14.7. (Check out our full instructions on preparing your phone and downloading iOS 14 here.)
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What devices will iOS 14.7 work on?
iOS 14.7 will be compatible with all the same devices as iOS 14. Generally, these include the iPhone 6S all the way up through the iPhone 12, along with the iPhone SE and the seventh-gen iPod Touch. For the full list of devices compatible with iOS 14, click here.
You'll be able to download iOS 14.7 on the iPhone 6S through the iPhone 12, pictured here.
Sarah Tew/CNET
What new features will iOS 14.7 include?
The latest operating software update appears to be smaller, and focused on under-the-hood changes. Here's what we've seen in the beta version of the software so far.
Set timers on your HomePod using the Home app
While you've been able to set timers on HomePod for a while, you previously needed to do this using Siri. In iOS 14.7, you can set a timer for your HomePod through the Home app without having to ask Siri, as 9to5Mac found in the developer beta code. The new option is located below HomePod alarms.
In iOS 14.7, you'll be able to set a timer for your HomePod through the Home app.
Chris Monroe/CNET
Weather app air quality feature expanding to more countries
iOS 14 added the ability to see air quality measures in the Weather app, but only in a few regions. In the iOS 14.7 developer beta, this feature appears to be expanded to more countries, 9to5Mac spotted.
Battery drain bug fix
Several people have reported an issue with their iPhone battery draining quickly since updating to iOS 14.6. Apple has yet to address the issue, but it seems possible it could be fixed in iOS 14.7.
Been testing out the new iPhone and iPad betas? If, for whatever reason, you’re ready to head back to the stable releases, read along for all the details on how to downgrade from iOS 15 beta to iOS 14.
Whether you took the risk to install the iOS 15 or iPadOS 15 beta on your primary iPhone or iPad or you just don’t need to keep testing out the in-progress software on a particular device, it’s relatively easy to downgrade back to iOS 14.
Below, we’ll look at how to immediately downgrade from iOS 15 beta.
How to downgrade from iOS 15 beta to iOS 14
If you’ve already installed the watchOS 8 beta on an Apple Watch connected to an iPhone running the iOS 15 beta, you won’t be able to fully use your wearable after downgradingto iOS 14.
Downgrade from iOS 15 beta to iOS 14 with a Mac/PC
If you want to immediately downgrade from the iOS 15 beta, you’ll need to erase and restore your iPhone or iPad. With this option, you won’t be able to restore from a backup done on iOS 15 when going back to iOS 14. But naturally, you can restore from a previous iOS 14 backup.
Luckily, with iCloud saving a lot of data for most apps, that isn’t as much of a hassle as it used to be.
Alternatively, you can head to Settings > General > VPN & Device Management > iOS 15 Beta Profile > Remove Profile. But keep in mind that won’t downgrade you to iOS 14.
How to erase and restore your iPhone/iPad and downgrade from iOS 15 beta immediately:
Make sure you’re running the latest version of macOS( > About This Mac > Software Update).
Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC with a Lightning or USB-C cable.
Use the right method from the list below for your device to enter Recovery Mode. You’ll see a computer icon and Lightning cable when successful.
For iPad Pro with Face ID: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Press and hold the Top button until your device begins to restart. Continue holding the Top button until your device goes into Recovery Mode.
For iPhone 8 or later: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Then, press and hold the Side button until you see the recovery-mode screen.
For iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, or iPod touch (7th generation): Press and hold the Sleep/Wake and Volume Down buttons at the same time. Don’t release the buttons when you see the Apple logo. Continue to hold both buttons until you see the recovery mode screen.
For iPhone 6s and earlier, iPad with Home button, or iPod touch (6th generation or earlier): Press and hold the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time. Don’t release the buttons when you see the Apple logo. Continue to hold both buttons until you see the recovery mode screen.
When the Restore/Update option shows up on your Mac or PC, choose Restore. This will wipe your device and install the latest non-beta version of iOS.
Choose Install when you see the prompt that an update is required to restore your iPhone.
After the software restore has completed, you can restore a backup from iOS 14 with your Mac/PC or iCloud (or set up your iPhone or iPad as a new device).
Apple has released a new research report detailing the reasons why it prohibits the sideloading of apps on iOS, including some of the dangers of the distribution method.
Sideloading, which is prohibited on iPhone and iPad, refers to downloading or installing apps that originate outside of the App Store through unmonitored mechanisms like enterprise certificates. On Wednesday, Apple released a white paper titled "Building a Trusted Ecosystem for Millions of Apps," which details some of the issues with the practice.
For example, Apple notes that sideloaded apps could bypass some of the built-in control mechanisms on iOS. Apple gives the example of a game app that can bypass the Ask to Buy parental control for in-game purchases.
The Cupertino tech giant also gives the example of malicious apps, such as a copycat application that threatens to delete all of a user's photos unless they pay a ransom.
Other examples include pirated apps that funnel money to scammers and apps that infringe on a user's privacy.
"To protect iOS users from malicious apps and provide the world's best platform security, we take a multi-pronged approach, with many layers of protection," Apple writes.
The company also detailed why the privacy and security protections differ between iOS and macOS.
"iOS poses unique security challenges because users continuously and frequently download new apps onto their devices, and because iOS devices need to be safe enough for children to use unsupervised," Apple explains.
Additionally, Apple says that an iPhone is a much more attractive target for criminals because of how many devices are in the wild. It added that it's continuing to make moves to bring macOS closer to the iPhone, echoing comments from Apple SVP Craig Federighi about the Mac falling short of Apple's security standards.
Other portions of the paper focus on the App Review process, and how it keeps the majority of malicious or scam apps off of the App Store. That includes statistics on how App Review processes apps, such as the fact that Apple has stopped more than $1.5 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions.
Sideloading has been floated as a potential solution to antitrust concerns surrounding the App Store. For example, Epic Games lawyers in its trial with Apple argued that sideloading and alternative app stores could increase competition on iOS. Proposed rules in the European Union could also force Apple to allow sideloading.
Apple maintains that sideloading could be a danger to user security and privacy. It argued against the practice in court with Epic Games, and Apple CEO Tim Cook alsospoke out against the proposed regulations in the EU earlier in June.
There have also been instances of developers abusing Apple's enterprise certificate program to sideload applications onto user devices. While the program is designed to facilitate the internal distribution of apps within companies, firms like Facebookand Google have been caught using it to sideload apps to bypass the App Review process.
The full white paper goes into further detail behind Apple's reasoning and offers additional context surrounding App Review and the ban on sideloading apps. It's available here.
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OneDrive users can now edit pictures after they've uploaded them to the cloud storage service, thanks to the addition of basic photo editing features announced this week by Microsoft.
Similar to tools found in Google Photos, the new features include standard cropping options with built-in presets for images to be used on social media, as well as flip and 90-degree and incremental rotate options for uploaded pictures.
There are some useful new light and color adjustments, too. Users can adjust brightness, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, and color saturation, with a before/after comparison option to check your edits.
When you make edits to photos on OneDrive, you'll get the option to save the changes as a new image or overwrite the original image. And if you accidentally overwrite your original, you can use version history to recover it. Photo editing in OneDrive is currently limited to JPEG and PNG formats.
The new image editing features are now rolling out to OneDrive for Web and OneDrive for Android, with Microsoft bringing them to OneDrive for iOS later this year.
At WWDC 21, Apple lifted the curtain on iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, giving us our first look at new features that have the potential to make a big difference. The iPhone is getting new FaceTime features, an upgraded Maps experience and iMessage improvements. Meanwhile, the iPad isn't being left behind this time, gaining features like widgets on the home screen, App Library and a new multitasking experience.
As Apple usually does at its annual developers conference, the first developer betas are available for people with a paid developer account to download, install and test on their development devices. Notice I didn't say personal devices -- that's because, as is usually the case with any beta, there are bound to be bugs and issues with the early builds of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15.
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Installing the developer beta isn't a hard process, but you will need to have a $100-per-year paid developer account and a supported device (a complete list is at the bottom of this post). If you meet those qualifications and are comfortable dealing with bugs and other issues, then you can install the developer beta following the steps below.
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How to install Apple's iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 developer betas
Before you do anything, make sure you have a current backup of your iPhone or iPad. Relying on iCloud while testing a beta OS isn't good enough. When your device creates iCloud backups when you're using iOS 15 or iPadOS 15, you won't be able to use those as a restore point should you need to go back to iOS 14. Instead, you'll want to create a backup of your device on your Mac or PC following these instructions right now.
With that done, and assuming you have a paid Apple developer account, you can sign in to your account and find the instructions to download and install iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 along with the rest of the beta builds released on Monday.
Apple recommends that developers only install the beta on test devices and not their main iPhone or iPad. A public beta, that usually has fewer issues and bugs, will be released in July.
Will iOS 15 and iPad 15 work with my iPhone and iPad?
Apple published a list of devices that will receive the update when it officially launches later this year. It's easy to figure out if your iPhone or iPad will run iOS 15. If it's running iOS 14 right now, then you'll be able to install the update when it's released later this year. Here's all of the devices on the list:
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