Betatest For Mac
Posted By admin On 11.02.20Apple will soon be releasing beta versions of its and OS X to participants in its Beta Software Program. Based on feedback that participants provide on usability and quality, Apple identifies and resolves issues prior to its production release. Should you participate in the free Beta Software Program? That depends.
If you only have one iOS device or one Mac, probably not. As Apple cautions, the beta version may contain errors or inaccuracies and may not be as stable as the current production version. I have an ‘old’ iPad mini (1st generation) as well as a 3rd generation one so I decided to take the plunge and join the Beta Software Program. I will load the beta, or pre-release, software on my 1st generation iPad mini. The Apple Beta Software Program is different from the Apple Developer Program. The Beta Software Program allows early access to a public version of the operating system to help Apple to identify any bugs or other issues. The Apple Developer Program allows developers to test and build applications.
Participants in the Apple Beta Software Program may receive different beta software from participants in the Apple Developer Program. You can join Apple’s Beta Software Program here: Help make the next releases of iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan our best yet. As a member of the Apple Beta Software Program you can take part in shaping by test-driving pre-release versions and letting us know what you find.
Apple Beta Software Program
You have to agree to Apple’s Beta Software Program Agreement. Some of the more standard or expected conditions in the agreement are. You cannot share or transfer any software or other materials you receive from Apple in connection with being a Beta Program participant. The Apple ID and password you use to login as a Beta Program participant cannot be shared in any way or with any one.
However, if you are the parent or legal guardian of a child between the ages of 13 and the legal age of majority, you may allow your child to share your Apple ID and password for their use in connection with the Beta Program solely under your supervision. You may not disclose, reproduce, distribute, modify or create derivative works of the Apple software. You may not decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, decrypt, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code of any Apple software. You will be able to provide feedback to Apple by submitting bug reports, questionnaires, enhancement requests, issue reports and/or support information to Apple. Of course, all information is confidential.
Apple will not reimburse you for any costs, expenses or liabilities incurred, including equipment damage or loss of data. You should back up all data and information prior to installing the pre-release version. Do not use the pre-release version in business-critical applications. Now for the stuff that may give you pause:. You may be unable to revert back to the pre-loaded, commercial release (such as iOS 8) of the Apple software you were using. Applications and services you have installed or been using may be unable to run or function in the same manner because of your use of the pre-release software. Your computer or device may not be capable of being restored to their original condition.
Applications and services may be affected by your use of pre-release software. Data (including documents) that you create or change while using the pre-release software may not be able to be restored or recovered. The pre-release software may cause failures, corruption or loss of data or other information.
Apple is not obligated to provide you with any maintenance, technical or other support for the pre-release software. And, lastly, since you are agreeing to test software for Apple’s benefit, there are certain Big Brother aspects to the agreement, some of which may indeed give you pause:. Apple and its subsidiaries and agents will be collecting, using, storing, processing and analyzing diagnostic, technical, and usage logs and information from your devices that are running such pre-release versions of iOS as part of this Beta Program.
Thankfully, the information will be collected in a form that does not personally identify you (although they are collecting your unique device identifiers). Information may be collected from such devices at any time, including when you sync to iTunes. Tagged with:. See more. Prev:. Back:.
Next: About the Author Judy is a computer veteran with 30 years of experience. She has owned everything from a TRS-80, Apple IIe and various Windows-based PCs. She is currently living in her Apple ecosystem at home consisting of an iPhone, iPad, iMac, MacBook, Apple TV, iPod nano and two Time Capsules. She is a fan of all things mobile since she got her first Palm Pilot in 1999. Check out her iPad app, Number Wizard, in the App Store.
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Apple has been allowing developers and members of the public to test beta versions of new iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS releases for quite some time now, and during today's earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook provided insight into just how many people try out new software ahead when it's officially released. At the current time, Apple has 'over 4 million users' participating in its OS beta programs, according to Cook. Public beta testers have access to iOS 12, macOS Mojave, and tvOS 12, three operating system updates that will be rolling out this fall after an extended beta testing period, while developers have access to iOS 12, macOS Mojave, tvOS 12, and watchOS 5. WatchOS 5, a new software update for the Apple Watch, is limited to developers because it's not possible to downgrade the software on an Apple Watch. Public beta testers and developers are tasked with testing Apple's software to help the company suss out bugs and improve features ahead of a public launch.
Apple did not break out how many users participate in each of its beta programs, nor what percentage of those users are developers or public beta testers, but it's probably safe to say that iOS gets the lion's share of interest. Despite Apple's robust beta testing process, there are that slip through on occasion, but Apple offers frequent fixes and updates for all of its operating systems.
Apple Public Beta Website
If only 1/2 of them would report their issues rather than complain on MacRumors about them. Apple doesn't fix them if they don't know about them and they don't browse the forums here to find them. Please use the Feedback app. It only takes a minute but it's huge for getting problems fixed. DON'T JUST ASSUME SOMEONE ELSE WILL REPORT IT. Apple prioritizes what they fixed based on the volume of feedback.
If you choose to not report a problem, that's one less report. Everyone assumes someone else reports a problem and it results in countless less reports so even bigger issues can appear smaller and not take priority. Help the whole community and report every issue you find. Don't rely on others to do so.
I'm willing to bet close to 80% don't report any bugs at all, and are simply in the program to get access to the latest software. That's the way it usually goes with all betas. In other words, those numbers are meaningless unless they correlate with the same amount of reports. Even if 99% of the developers don't provide any feedback that means that 40,000 people did provide feedback. 40,000 people is a LOT. I understand that these people aren't spending 8 hours a day checking for bugs in the betas, but imagine if they had all of those 40,000 testers on pay roll.
At $55,000 per year per person. That's $2.2 billion per year saved! But seriously, Apple knows that the public always find quirky ways to find obscure bugs that need fixing. I think 4 million is impressive.
To be honest, I think that, unfortunately, the feedback from beta testers is not a priority for Apple, so it's not really a beta testing in the way it should be. I report bugs occasionally and I do receive feedback from Apple, either in the sort of check if the issue is fixed in this new version of the beta, or sometimes they want more data. In other words, those numbers are meaningless unless they correlate with the same amount of reports. As a beta-tester you are also willingly providing analytics, logs and crash-reports, so it is still more valuable than just the ones reporting bugs.
doublepost=/doublepost Funny how ever since they started the public betas their software has gotten worse, you’d think it would be the opposite. There is probably some true to this, however the reason is that they test certain part of the system in the various betas. They are not bringing out everything newly developed in the first beta and then bet on improvements. The improvements are staged, so that bug reports don't overlap other frameworks and thus make debugging much harder.