Apple releases third developer betas of iOS 11, High Sierra, tvOS 11
Apple has updated three of its developer betas including iOS 11, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, and tvOS 11, but left WatchOS 4 behind on beta 2, for now.
The macOS High Sierra update, with build number 17A306f, contains a number of refinements and other improvements like Apple File System integration, migration from H.264 to H.265, and Metal 2.
In the latest High Sierra beta, Apple enabled initial Time Machine support, and has added routines to AVKit for developers to allow users additional flexibility for content playback when multiple outputs are available. Additionally, some touch event processing modifications have been implemented, with enhanced timing for ignoring errant touches.
The second iOS 11 beta, has build number 15A5318g. Apple's tvOS beta is labeled as build 15J5324f.
Most of the iOS 11 fixes are under the hood, but a fix for connection issues for Bluetooth accessories using Wireless iAP protocol has been implemented. The "swipe up" to close an app gesture in the Control Center has returned.
The release notes for tvOS 11 are very short, with no immediately identifiable changes beyond repair of functionality of some third party media playback apps -- but DirecTV Now's periodic crashing in iOS 11 is not among them.
WatchOS 4 has been omitted this round, nor is a new version of the beta hinted at in the Xcode 9 beta, also released today.
Registered devices can get the new beta releases through the Software Update feature, while stand-alone images are available through Apple's Developers portal.
The macOS High Sierra update, with build number 17A306f, contains a number of refinements and other improvements like Apple File System integration, migration from H.264 to H.265, and Metal 2.
In the latest High Sierra beta, Apple enabled initial Time Machine support, and has added routines to AVKit for developers to allow users additional flexibility for content playback when multiple outputs are available. Additionally, some touch event processing modifications have been implemented, with enhanced timing for ignoring errant touches.
The second iOS 11 beta, has build number 15A5318g. Apple's tvOS beta is labeled as build 15J5324f.
Most of the iOS 11 fixes are under the hood, but a fix for connection issues for Bluetooth accessories using Wireless iAP protocol has been implemented. The "swipe up" to close an app gesture in the Control Center has returned.
The release notes for tvOS 11 are very short, with no immediately identifiable changes beyond repair of functionality of some third party media playback apps -- but DirecTV Now's periodic crashing in iOS 11 is not among them.
WatchOS 4 has been omitted this round, nor is a new version of the beta hinted at in the Xcode 9 beta, also released today.
Registered devices can get the new beta releases through the Software Update feature, while stand-alone images are available through Apple's Developers portal.
Comments
Personally im getting a little tired if the way Apple ignores a product line, avoiding updates, and then wondering why sales suck. They need a change of attitude.
So far, no probs on my 7Plus.
3D Flyover (unguided, not the tour) seems to work much better. I started in Tucson, looked around, then headed up I10 towards Phoenix. Halfway there is Picacho Peak. It is the top of an ancient volcano with half the dome blown away. Picacho Peak is the site of the western-most battle of the Civil War.
I was pleasantly surprised that Maps renders the topology of the natural landscape in 3D quite well -- not any man-made structures, though.
For example, I've already tested beta 3 and I'm still having the Disk Utility and Safari issues I previous mentioned. Additionally, I still can't get HEVC videos to play despite the Release Notes saying it was now supported. Before Quicktime X would play the audio of the video with a white screen for the image, but now it says it can't play the file at all. However, I can load it in iTunes and it will play the audio, like with beta 2.
As as for the Eric’s post, it hardly makes sense to complain about a beta OS slowing down your aged mini. It’s a beta, for beta testing. Even iOS 10 isn’t fast on a Mini 2.
Beta 3 has fixed the safari bug with content blockers. And the Starz app works again.
Why are they calling it a beta when it's still not feature-complete?
I can make HEVC with QT but so far only latest VLC play them (https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html). BTW I just tried your suggestion of using terminal to zap an APFS SSD before CCC-ing a 10.12 from JHFS+to it and them converting to APFS rather than my Windows trick. Half way there, here's hoping Terminal is a two stage process, removing the container and its volumes then making the resulting SSD back into JHFS+! What a to do ... Apple need to update the beta Disk Utilities to be more capable ASAP IMHO.
10.13 is now out for public betas, there is no NDA for public releases is there? If so my bad I just assumed there wasn't. I don't discuss my developer beta experiences.
I gave up testing on a 2010 MBP for now as it would not wake from sleep nor was there any brightness control. I'll revisit in a month or two when hopefully that's sorted. Now I just test on more recent Macs.
Is the public beta software confidential?
It's very difficult to really know what Apple has disclosed and what they haven't. Since it's free to join the public beta software program, I don't see how Apple can control this. We're not divulging anything about the code only what works and what currently doesn't.
On a side note I came across a quirk last night. My attempts to boot an an external SSD made by cloning an JHFS+ of my 6 Core Mac Pro's internal and then converting it to APFS failed every time to boot, my external tests were on a variety of USB3 docks, I tried them all and even zapped the PRAM in case my USB ports were corrupted ... then I had an idea, I tried it on an external Thunderbolt Dock. It booted right up no problem. Tried again on USB3 and it just kept cycling the attempt but never booted. The irony is the clone and the conversion were all done on a USB3 dock. A JHFS+ version of the same clone boot on USB3 or Thunderbolt. This all brings back many experiences with external Windows boot disks that work on USB3 but rarely on Thunderbolt but do on occasions for some strange reason. The world of UEFI specifications is somewhat of a mystery to me. I think it uses a FAT32 partition even on Macs but I don't know about APFS, I somehow doubt that but I could be wrong. Any experts here please educate me
edited: Nope, this didn't give me the default formatting to APFS when trying to install. I guess I either need a newer Thunderbolt version or ???
Not an expert but have a lot of previous experience. Here's what my MBP 2011 test Mac shows. It has an internal SSD SATA drive partitioned with a dedicated 64GB for HighSierra, which listed APFS as the default option when installing. The rest of the disk is configured with FV2 under Sierra.
Sierra FV2 EFI partition:
High Sierra partitions as seen from Sierra (includes Sierra partitions as well): Not seeing any specific DOS-type partitions other than the EFI
I ran diskutil info /dev/disk1s# on all four and all of their Type (Bundle) were apfs.
Not that I'm sure but I suspect even with a TB2 to USB3 adapter (I honestly didn't know such a thing existed!) you'd still have a USB3 dock and USB protocols to deal with. I am using the ludicrously over priced High Point dual Thunderbolt 2 docks for my tests as I have a Mac pro limited to TB2 (grrrrr.) The USB 3 externals I use a wide variety of types and makes. some even a simple cable (USB3-SATA) that works great on SSDs and costs <$9 on Amazon..
I had USB3 happily booting APFS 10.3 beta 1 & 2 just not 3 but it maybe something my end. I am testing all this from clones not virgin installations of 10.3 set up as APFS from the start, as if I do that I have to reinstall all my software to test hence a clone is far faster, but then I have to do a conversion to APFS after the fact, this issue I have maybe cloning related as CCC gets new betas and plays catch up (very quickly I might add as is Little snitch) or something I haven't thought of yet or heck even a bug! lol.
As an aside, and you probably know this, if you want to zap APFS you just need to zap the container from Terminal, its volumes go with it.
I've just started to look at APFS and I found an article that mentioned ejecting the accessible APFS partition from Disk Utility but Eject wasn't viewable so it must have been from an earlier beta version. When you say "zap" do you mean delete/rm or do I use "diskutil erase"? Which device is the container? The main /dev/disk1 (synthesized) or one of the virtual slices?
Unmount the disk in question (use Disk Utils or drag to trash)
Run Terminal to get the disk identifier (type this after ~name~ <diskutil list> as you already know .....
To remove the APFS Container and its volumes.
diskutil eraseDisk apfs deleteContainer disk<your identifier>
Go back to HFS+ Journalled
diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ <required disk name> disk<your identifier>