Apple issues first public beta of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14

AppleInsider · July 9, 2020 5:30PM

Following two developer betas for its milestone operating systems, Apple on Thursday has moved on to offer its first public beta builds for iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and tvOS 14.

The first public beta builds can be acquired from the Apple Beta Software Program website, after signing up to take part in the initiative. Public betas typically arrive a short time after their developer counterparts, but for major releases, the lead time between developer and public beta variants is usually increased to a matter of days.

This is the first set of public beta builds for the milestone releases, and follows after two rounds of developer beta testing. The first developer beta took place on June 22, following the WWDC keynote, while the second batch arrived on July 7.

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The incoming iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 offer many new features, including updates to the Home screen and app interface, Siri, Messages, Safari, and Maps, along with Sound Recognition alerts and the introduction of CarKey, among other alterations.

The tvOS 14 beta introduces the Home app to Apple TV, with smaller changes made to HomeKit Secure Video and Apple Arcade.

Public beta versions for macOS Big Sur and watchOS 7 have not currently been released, but Apple says they are coming soon. macOS Big Sur is a major update that will lay the groundwork for the shift over to Apple Silicon. watchOS 7 introduces new features such as sleep tracking, new watch faces and additional workout options.

Thursday's public beta builds are generally expected to include the vast majority of functions and features that appear in the developer versions, but are generally believed to be more stable and resilient for use by the public.

Even so, AppleInsider, and Apple itself, strongly recommend users don't install the betas on to "mission-critical" or primary devices, as there is the remote possibility of data loss or other issues. Instead, testers should install betas onto secondary or non-essential devices, and to make sure there are sufficient backups of important data before updating.

Find any changes in the new betas? Reach out to us on Twitter at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at [email protected].

riverko · July 9, 2020 6:29PM

Strange behaviour on my iPhone 11 - it says the iOS 14 Public Beta 2 is downloaded, restarts to start installation. It show shortly white apple logo twice, boots back stating i was updated to 13.6... going to check with my old SE first gen if the behaviour is the same...

jwdawso · July 9, 2020 6:52PM

riverko said:

Strange behaviour on my iPhone 11 - it says the iOS 14 Public Beta 2 is downloaded, restarts to start installation. It show shortly white apple logo twice, boots back stating i was updated to 13.6... going to check with my old SE first gen if the behaviour is the same...

Not unusual for this to happen if not enough storage space available. Good luck!

ihatescreennames · July 9, 2020 7:09PM

I’m glad Home is coming to TV. Last year I was initiating a Siri request on my TV and received this message saying to open “Home”. Clicking the button did nothing.

riverko · July 9, 2020 7:47PM

jwdawso said:
Not unusual for this to happen if not enough storage space available. Good luck!

Thanks, seems it was the problem... However somehow i would expect to be notified about that...

Beats · July 9, 2020 8:11PM

ihatescreennames said:

I’m glad Home is coming to TV. Last year I was initiating a Siri request on my TV and received this message saying to open “Home”. Clicking the button did nothing.

W...T...F?! I thought the Home app was on Apple TV this whole time? What was that screen that allowed you to see your home devices? Was I dreaming?

I can't check at the moment but will when I get to my Apple TV.

doozydozen · July 9, 2020 9:53PM

Beta 2 broke Spotlight search on iPhone. Now it’s just a blank Gaussian blur.

kevin kee · July 10, 2020 12:15AM

How do you roll back to 13?

agilealtitude · July 10, 2020 12:29AM

Major bugs/issues?

Japhey · July 10, 2020 12:38AM

Upgraded an old 6s Plus with no major problems yet. The App Library wasn’t showing up for me at first, but then magically appeared later. I thought the widgets would be my favorite part of the upgrade, and maybe they will be once third party apps are iOS 14 ready; but for now it’s got to be the App Library...I didn’t realize how awesome it would actually be. Also, creating your own stacks is pretty slick, although not as slick as it will be when third party apps join the party. Sound recognition on the Control Center will be handy for extended ANC music sessions.

Fidonet127 · July 10, 2020 9:18AM

New SE here. Thought I was in big trouble with this beta. I had the phone say, “Attempting Data Recovery,” for a good bit of time, however after it was done, I was upgraded to iOS 14 and operating as normal. Wizards Unite is the only app not working for me so far.

Managermatt · July 10, 2020 11:15AM

Installed on my iPhone X last night. So far everything is pretty solid. Motions were a bit sluggish sometimes, but everything else looks good. I was really hoping the Weather App would have more info since it uses the DarkSky app. Although it does give the rain intensity (though with a different graphic) a weather map showing incoming storms would have been nice. And still no weather app for the ipad...

ihatescreennames · July 10, 2020 12:55PM

Beats said:

ihatescreennames said:

I’m glad Home is coming to TV. Last year I was initiating a Siri request on my TV and received this message saying to open “Home”. Clicking the button did nothing.

W...T...F?! I thought the Home app was on Apple TV this whole time? What was that screen that allowed you to see your home devices? Was I dreaming?

I can't check at the moment but will when I get to my Apple TV.

I think you were dreaming, ha ha! Siri can do many HomeKit functions on TV but I was asking it to unlock a door (Siri will lock but not unlock) just to see what would happen. I have never seen any list of my HK accessories on tvOS.

dewme · July 10, 2020 7:35PM

Managermatt said:

And still no weather app for the ipad...

Dark Sky, $3.99 one-time purchase.

That's 1.09 cents per day if you only use it for one year.

That's about how much Starbucks coffee most people dribble on themselves every day when driving to work.

fastasleep · July 11, 2020 1:30AM

dewme said:

Managermatt said:

And still no weather app for the ipad...

Dark Sky, $3.99 one-time purchase.

That's 1.09 cents per day if you only use it for one year.

That's about how much Starbucks coffee most people dribble on themselves every day when driving to work.

Surprised they're still charging for it since Apple bought 'em and have started integrating it into Weather on iOS.

longpath · July 11, 2020 1:32PM

This first Public Beta, despite its toughness around the edges, finally fixes the Reminders being unable to sync with iCloud that I’ve been dealing with since last Autumn. I tested the iPadOS version on a spare iPad and confirmed that Reminders work normally, for the first time since the deferred Reminders migration broke syncing. I eagerly await iOS 14 getting stable enough for regular use, so I can have Reminders work on my iPhone as well (the iPhone is my primary device, so a rough around the edges Beta is something I have misgivings about, despite fixing Reminders).

garrickk · July 16, 2020 4:54AM

With iPadOS 14, does sidecar still work with macOS Catalina? Would love to try public beta for various reasons, but I frequently use sidecar. Thank you.

Fidonet127 · July 19, 2020 8:34PM

They improved shortcuts. There is a new calculate expression function. I can now calculate BMI in one go, vs many steps before. I don’t have a connected scale, so I use a shortcut to input weight and body fat. The shortcut pulls the height from the Health app, calculates BMI and adds all three measurements to the Health app.

Apple issues first public beta of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14

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