Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/07/friday-morning-news080716/
When Apple said they were going to release the iOS 10 and macOS Sierra public betas in July, I kind of expected that to be towards the end of July. But here we are, eight days in, and both the iOS 10 and macOS Sierra public betas are now available. The iOS 10 beta in particular comes with the caveat that many publicly available apps may crash more frequently or be outright not usable — if you rely on your primary device for day-to-day productivity, I’d steer clear.
MacRumors has a bit of a guide on what to expect when installing the iOS 10 public beta. Given that developers were only seeded with the second beta earlier this week, there’s bound to be a lot of rough edges, along with crashes and apps that don’t work as expected due to API changes in the back-end. There’s a good chance we’ll see around 6 or so beta releases (one every fortnight or there abouts) before the full release, so make sure you can commit your device — or be prepared to do the downgrade dance.
The first public beta of macOS Sierra is now available via Apple’s public beta testing program. Unlike iOS, you can install it on a separate external drive or even partition your internal drive and boot it up to have a play. You’ll need a late 2009 machine or later, although it goes without saying that you should make a backup in case things go horribly wrong.
Macworld has a list of things to try out in the macOS Sierra public beta, including testing if the new Siri integration that could be a feature that works for you or is just another gimmick from the company that doesn’t care about its customers. You could test out the new iCloud integration that lets you see the files on your Desktop on other computers, but maybe only with a few files, thanks to Australia’s generally lacklustre home internet connections.
More importantly, Apple includes a Feedback Assistant in the iOS 10 and macOS Sierra public betas. Any time you come across something that doesn’t work as it should, or is different than what you might have been expecting, you should be submitting feedback. That’s why you’re using the public betas in the first place, right?
Tidibits found by AppleInsider in the latest iOS 10 beta says that even more stuff is unencrypted in the second developer beta (or first public beta). It’s a move that’s been accepted to mean Apple wants eyes on some of the more closed components of iOS, the parts that could lead to more serious compromises or exploits.
Although there aren’t a huge number of iOS 10 features specifically for the iPad, there are still a few improvements here and there, as covered by Macworld.
Six Colors covers the confusing void that is Apple’s two-step and two-factor authentication. Two-step was the one that originally debuted years ago, while two-step is still relatively new. Switching to true two-factor authentication means more security for your Apple ID/iCloud account, and a follow up post lists some of the caveats.
Pricing speculation from 9to5Mac wonders if the iPhone SE can get even cheaper with the introduction of this year’s iPhone.
It should go without saying that using a gun-shaped iPhone case is a stupendously bad idea.
