Apple have been hard at work on the new version of iOS, as they have just pushed out the second beta of its 8.1.3 version to retail employees, adding various new features and bug fixes to the system. According to reports, the new build is coded 12B466, and is six builds newer than the last version which was released almost two weeks ago. Apple seem to be quite fast in pushing out changes to the operating system, and have been listening to feedback from the last version, especially negative comments.
It was recently speculated that the new update for the operating system might be almost done, as Apple shared a beta version of it with some of their retail employees. However, it seems that the company wasn’t completely happy with the feedback they received from the first beta round, so they’ve decided to push out another version to iron out even more issues.
The changelog for iOS 8.1.3 hasn’t been made public yet, but sources claim that the majority of changes in the new version are related to subtle performance improvements and bug fixes, and the new update doesn’t add any directly usable features to the system. In addition, the changelog hasn’t even been shared with employees who have been given access to the update, so information about the exact nature of the changes is still a bit questionable.
Some developers have been calling for Apple to share the update with them as well, in order for them to better prepare their apps for any changes that might be introduced with iOS 8.1.3. However, the company still hasn’t done that, nor have they given any indication that they plan on running a developer beta before the update is actually released. The company seems happy with the current system of testing the update through their retail employees, and they have been doing that for several years now with OS X successfully.
Meanwhile, the company has reportedly also been working on iOS 8.2, which will get a developer preview as it’s a more major release than 8.1.2 and 8.1.3. Apple are also planning even farther into the future, already preparing to unveil iOS 9 during the summer, as the company is planning to release the new operating system with their newest line of iPhone devices, as they usually do.
Apple seem to be working quite a bit faster when it comes to improving iOS, and this makes sense, as the company has been seeing some serious competition from other companies recently. Other mobile operating systems have been improving drastically, and Apple should definitely pay attention to the market if they want to avoid losing their hard-earned position.