Apple pushes fourth betas of iOS 8, OS X Yosemite to developers

AppleInsider · July 21, 2014 12:02PM

Apple on Monday provided registered developers with a new round of betas for its forthcoming desktop and mobile operating systems, releasing both OS X Yosemite Preview 4 and iOS 8 Beta 4 as over-the-wire updates.

iOS 8 Beta 4 comes with a number of known issues that affect a wide variety of the operating system's components. iCloud backups may not restore properly to an iOS 8 device, for example, while FaceTime will not work in landscape orientation.

Notably, location-based recommended apps will no longer display on the lock screen, though it unclear whether the feature has been removed permanently or only for this beta release. Apple has also removed the Bug Reporter app in iOS 8 Beta 4, directing users to file bugs through the Apple Developer website.

Other services coming with known issues, bug fixes, or both in the latest beta include AVCapture, CarPlay, CloudKit, Contacts, Document Providers, Extensions, Family Sharing, the iOS file system, Find my Friends, Fonts, Game Center, Handoff, HealthKit, iAd, iCloud Drive, iCloud Keychain, Keyboards, Localization, Messages, Metal and OpenGL, Music, Newsstand, Notification Center, Phone, Photos, Safari, Siri, Springboard, UIKit, Weather, and WebKit.

OS X Yosemite, meanwhile, brings a somewhat smaller but still daunting list of known issues and fixes. Developers are warned that iCloud Drive will not synchronize with earlier preview versions, and Aperture versions older than 3.5.1 will not launch.

Other areas of interest in OS X Yosemite Preview 4 include CloudKit, Extensions, Family Sharing, Finder, Handoff, iBooks, iCloud, iPhoto, Markup, Phone Calls, Safari, SMS, and developer tools.

Developers running an earlier preview of OS X Yosemite can update through the Mac App Store, while those with devices running beta versions of iOS 8 will find a 305-megabyte delta in Software Update. Both updates are also available in the Apple Developer Center and come with Apple's now-customary warning against using preview software in production systems.

Also receiving beta updates Monday were Xcode, Apple Configurator, and the Apple TV.

feynman · July 21, 2014 12:15PM

I can't believe there are known issues! /s

fallenjt · July 21, 2014 12:31PM

Getting closer, guys. I'm excited.

dick applebaum · July 21, 2014 12:51PM

I don't know if Apple plans to do this, but as soon as the Swift language solidifies a bit (including more sample code) -- it would be fantastic if they would release XCode6 as a [free] public beta.

This would allow anyone with a Mac running Mavericks or Yosemite to experiment with Swift and Playgrounds ...

rogifan · July 21, 2014 12:53PM

Control center has a tweaked design. Gone are the dark line separators and borders around icons are replaced by shading.

EDIT: also there is a setting now to turn off recents/favorites from showing up in the app switcher view. I know a lot of people were wanting that for privacy more than anything else.

solipsismx · July 21, 2014 1:10PM

1) So far so good, but I didn't have any issues expect for audio in the last beta, which is now fixed.

2) The Light and Dark Mode dropdown option has been removed and replaced with a checkbox to darken only the Menu Bar and Dock. I wonder if it was proving too difficult to make all the apps dark.

3) I regret installing iTunes 12. When accessing a Home Sharing device there is no access to my playlists. That is the primary way I access my iTunes content.

dick applebaum wrote: »

I don't know if Apple plans to do this, but as soon as the Swift language solidifies a bit (including more sample code) -- it would be fantastic if they would release XCode6 as a [free] public beta.

This would allow anyone with a Mac running Mavericks or Yosemite to experiment with Swift and Playgrounds ...

Why can't they do that now? You need to create a developer account but it's completely free to download Xcode.

tmcavoy2 · July 21, 2014 1:24PM

Has anyone updated iOS? Beta 3 wiped my entire phone and accompanying iCloud backup, so I'm a little reluctant to set my phone up from scratch again.

dick applebaum · July 21, 2014 1:25PM

solipsismx wrote: »

1) So far so good, but I didn't have any issues expect for audio in the last beta, which is now fixed.

2) The Light and Dark Mode dropdown option has been removed and replaced with a checkbox to darken only the Menu Bar and Dock. I wonder if it was proving too difficult to make all the apps dark.

3) I regret installing iTunes 12. When accessing a Home Sharing device there is no access to my playlists. That is the primary way I access my iTunes content.

dick applebaum wrote: »

I don't know if Apple plans to do this, but as soon as the Swift language solidifies a bit (including more sample code) -- it would be fantastic if they would release XCode6 as a [free] public beta.

This would allow anyone with a Mac running Mavericks or Yosemite to experiment with Swift and Playgrounds ...

Why can't they do that now? You need to create a developer account but it's completely free to download Xcode.

I didn't know about the free download of the xCode betas to anyone ... Great!

Is it just me, or is iTunes getting worse with each release? I can't seem to figure out how to display categories in list view -- much faster to scroll through than cover view ...
Arrgh!

solipsismx · July 21, 2014 1:32PM

tmcavoy2 wrote: »

Has anyone updated iOS? Beta 3 wiped my entire phone and accompanying iCloud backup, so I'm a little reluctant to set my phone up from scratch again.

1) Yes, but I also didn't have that problem with beta 3.

2) Do a manual backup via iTunes with iOS betas before updating.

dick applebaum wrote: »

I didn't know about the free download of the xCode betas to anyone ... Great!

It's new as of WWDC. I'm guessing it's to help with Swift adoption.

https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=07112014a

Is it just me, or is iTunes getting worse with each release? I can't seem to figure out how to display categories in list view -- much faster to scroll through than cover view ...
Arrgh!

I'm hoping it's just something they haven't included yet. If it's not I'll have to rethink my entire setup which likely means no buying a Mac mini once it's updated.

haggar · July 21, 2014 1:57PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

2) The Light and Dark Mode dropdown option has been removed and replaced with a checkbox to darken only the Menu Bar and Dock. I wonder if it was proving too difficult to make all the apps dark.

Also need to watch for how the Reduce Transparency option affects applications, whether using normal or dark mode.

dick applebaum · July 21, 2014 1:59PM

solipsismx wrote: »

tmcavoy2 wrote: »

Has anyone updated iOS? Beta 3 wiped my entire phone and accompanying iCloud backup, so I'm a little reluctant to set my phone up from scratch again.

1) Yes, but I also didn't have that problem with beta 3.

2) Do a manual backup via iTunes with iOS betas before updating.

dick applebaum wrote: »

I didn't know about the free download of the xCode betas to anyone ... Great!

It's new as of WWDC. I'm guessing it's to help with Swift adoption.

https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=07112014a

Is it just me, or is iTunes getting worse with each release? I can't seem to figure out how to display categories in list view -- much faster to scroll through than cover view ...
Arrgh!

I'm hoping it's just something they haven't included yet. If it's not I'll have to rethink my entire setup which likely means no buying a Mac mini once it's updated.

Aw, Shit! You can get list view on any category with the control to the far right at the top (the wording changes depending on what you are displaying). Of course they picked the most bandwidth-intensive display (album covers) as the default.\

I get the feeling that they are just changing things in iTunes, for the sake of change.

Ten years ago you could search the iTunes store for "Elvis" and get hundreds of hits at 1 tenth of the bandwidth that is used to day to get hits in groups of 50. They changed to JSON from XML to reduce bandwidth -- then immediately bloated it by always sending cover images.

Crap ... Just crap!

dick applebaum · July 21, 2014 2:11PM

I also don't like a couple of other things in Yosemite:

[LIST]
[*] the Finder icon is Fugly
[*] Safari with lots of tabs open -- the active tab is difficult to see as it is only slightly highlighted (lighter)
[*] Safari with lots of tabs open -- scrolling the page up distroys any highlighted tab because of transparency of the tab bar
[*] If you drag a Safary window from the wrong spot, it adds it as a tab to the underlying Safari window
[*]
[/LIST]

solipsismx · July 21, 2014 2:53PM

dick applebaum wrote: »

I also don't like a couple of other things in Yosemite:

the Finder icon is Fugly

Safari with lots of tabs open -- the active tab is difficult to see as it is only slightly highlighted (lighter)

Safari with lots of tabs open -- scrolling the page up distroys any highlighted tab because of transparency of the tab bar

If you drag a Safary window from the wrong spot, it adds it as a tab to the underlying Safari window

I don't understand the icon complaints. It's just an icon and it can easily be changed on Mac OS X, unlike with iOS, if one so desires.
This is an issue I've experienced. They simply don't have enough contrast between the foreground and background tabs.
The transparency is kind of cool when another color goes behind it but it's more inline with what I expect from a sci-fi movie, not something that helps usability. It's a fluff feature I hope we can turn off.
I'm not sure what you mean and doubt I have experienced this issue.

dick applebaum · July 21, 2014 4:34PM

solipsismx wrote: »

dick applebaum wrote: »

I also don't like a couple of other things in Yosemite:

the Finder icon is Fugly

Safari with lots of tabs open -- the active tab is difficult to see as it is only slightly highlighted (lighter)

Safari with lots of tabs open -- scrolling the page up distroys any highlighted tab because of transparency of the tab bar

If you drag a Safary window from the wrong spot, it adds it as a tab to the underlying Safari window

I don't understand the icon complaints. It's just an icon and it can easily be changed on Mac OS X, unlike with iOS, if one so desires.

This is an issue I've experienced. They simply don't have enough contrast between the foreground and background tabs.

The transparency is kind of cool when another color goes behind it but it's more inline with what I expect from a sci-fi movie, not something that helps usability. It's a fluff feature I hope we can turn off.

I'm not sure what you mean and doubt I have experienced this issue.

I want to drag a Safari window to somewhere else ...

If I click in the search area in the title bar, I get the favorite popup.

If I click any blank space in the title bar it works as expected

If i click slightly below the title bar it's into the tab bar and it assumes that I want to put this into a tab in the underlying window -- and does so if I let go (mouse up).

This is frustrating because:

Often the title bar is crowded and presents a small area on the side of the search area
the tab bar of a window with a single tab extends across the entire window -- even when the info displayed only takes a small portion of the tab bar
the title bar and tab bar get blurred together by transparency

solipsismx · July 21, 2014 4:45PM

dick applebaum wrote: »

[image]

Wow! You don't have much space at all up there.

One potential solution is to Show the Favorites Bar. The Favorites Bar in the new Safari organizes from the center, instead of left to right, so I have additional space on either side, but I see no reason why you couldn't also use a empty Favorites Bar.

igerbil · July 21, 2014 4:59PM

Just found a Swift training on Udemy at special price of 4$ for Xcode beta 4 release !
https://www.udemy.com/swiftdeveloper/?couponCode=XCODEBETA4

dick applebaum · July 21, 2014 5:10PM

solipsismx wrote: »

dick applebaum wrote: »

[image]

Wow! You don't have much space at all up there.

One potential solution is to Show the Favorites Bar. The Favorites Bar in the new Safari organizes from the center, instead of left to right, so I have additional space on either side, but I see no reason why you couldn't also use a empty Favorites Bar.

Thanks! I'll give that a try, later.

I just noticed that the AI forums do a very poor job when dictating using Siri dictation.

It is very slow compared to dictating into the mail app.

It's almost as if AI is pursing he input as you get Kate.

tallest skil · July 21, 2014 5:21PM

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

2) The Light and Dark Mode dropdown option has been removed and replaced with a checkbox to darken only the Menu Bar and Dock. I wonder if it was proving too difficult to make all the apps dark.

Wait, what? Were they ever planning to add a dark UI to any applications at all? I thought that was just my own wishful thinking.

By the way, they need to do that.

Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum

the Finder icon is Fugly

Hear hear.

igerbil · July 21, 2014 5:23PM

Just found a nicely discounted Swift course on Udemy.... 70% off to celebrate Xcode beta4 release
www.udemy.com/swiftdeveloper/?couponCode=SWIFT-BETA4

solipsismx · July 21, 2014 5:23PM

tallest skil wrote: »

Wait, what? Were they ever planning to add a dark UI to any applications at all? I thought that was just my own wishful thinking.

Based on the previous setting I thought that was the case but I can't say I recall a single app ever changing to Dark Mode when I had it enabled.

wizard69 · July 21, 2014 5:30PM

dick applebaum wrote: »

I don't know if Apple plans to do this, but as soon as the Swift language solidifies a bit (including more sample code) -- it would be fantastic if they would release XCode6 as a [free] public beta.

This would allow anyone with a Mac running Mavericks or Yosemite to experiment with Swift and Playgrounds ...

Or they can do so when it is released. I really don't think it is in Apples best interested to release developer tools early. They require people with the right mind set to stress the betas realizing that they are in fact betas. It is bad enough people download beta operating systems and then can't grasp what a beta is and start complaining instead of helping.

If somebody really wants Swift it can be add through normal developer channels. If those same people aren't willing to go through developer channels then maybe they shouldn't be given access to Swift.

Apple pushes fourth betas of iOS 8, OS X Yosemite to developers

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