Crisis averted — Apple released iOS 12 public beta 6 — not public beta 7 — to software testers Wednesday, August 15. The update comes hours after the release of dev beta 8, which replaced the short-lived seventh developer beta. Apple released dev beta 7 Monday, August 13, but quickly pulled the update due to instability and poor performance.
By far, the biggest shock to come with public beta 6 is the news that group FaceTime won't be arriving with the official release of iOS 12 in the fall. In the release notes for dev beta 8, Apple quietly let testers know that the FaceTime update that would allow up to 32 people to chat at once would be missing from this year's public release. Apple notes that the feature will be included as part of a software update later this fall.
This bad news isn't the only change that iOS 12 public beta 6 brings to the table. The update sports a number of bug fixes and security patches, as well as some new bugs of its own. Check out our complete list of all new fixes and issues.
While iOS 12's most famous "feature" might be its general performance improvements over last year's iOS 11, this sixth beta update might not be its best. While Apple presumably addressed issues that caused the company to pull yesterday's update, testers should still look out for stability issues, including a dip in overall usability.
Poor performance in one beta is bad enough, but there are more reasons to avoid beta testing Apple's big upcoming update. Sometimes it pays to sit these things out.
Just updated your iPhone? You'll find new emoji, enhanced security, podcast transcripts, Apple Cash virtual numbers, and other useful features. There are even new additions hidden within Safari. Find out what's new and changed on your iPhone with the iOS 17.4 update.
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