Apple Cracking Down on Sites Selling Access to iOS 6 Developer Betas
Late last month, Wired covered the emergence of a cottage industry of businesses selling access to iOS developer betas prior to their official launch. Apple offers these developer betas to registered iOS developers. The fee for such a registration is $99/year. Some enterprising individuals have turned around and started selling their 100 possible device slots to users looking to install the iOS betas prior to their official launch.
Behind the scenes, each service uses the same simple backdoor: Registered iOS developers can activate up to 100 unique device IDs (or UDIDs) for their account, an essential tool for testing apps on multiple devices. Once registered with Apple, the activated device is also able to run pre-release versions of iOS, though developers are forbidden from sharing pre-release software outside their own team.
Ignoring these warnings, activation services charge a small fee to add a customer’s device to their developer accounts. When they hit the 100-device limit, they just register a new account with Apple.
This has been going on for a couple of years with no particular intervention from Apple. As Wired notes, it seems Apple just didn't seem to care, despite their wide availability.

That may have changed since the publication of the Wired article. MacStories has noted that many of the services listed in the original Wired article are no longer available. After reaching out to the sites, it seems that Apple has started taking action against these services.
While most of our emails bounced, we heard back from one of the site owners (who asked to remain anonymous), who confirmed his hosting provider took down the site after a complaint for copyright infringement by Apple. Similarly, the CEO of Fused tweeted in a reply to Andy Baio that Apple had been “fairly heavy-handed” with DMCA requests to UDID-selling sites hosted on their network.
MacStories exchanged emails with the owner of one of the services which made $75,000 since the release of the iOS 6 Beta in June.
Popular Stories
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple has a new perk for you, at no additional cost.
The new perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which launched in the App Store last month.
In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby showers, and more. Anyone ...
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly. It has been three and a half years since Apple first announced the...
While the first iOS 19 beta is still more than two months away, there are already plenty of rumors about the upcoming software update.
Below, we recap the key iOS 19 rumors so far.
visionOS-Like Design
In January, the YouTube channel Front Page Tech revealed a redesigned Camera app that is allegedly planned for iOS 19.
According to Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser, the Camera app...
While the iPhone 18 Pro models are still around a year and a half away from launching, there are already some early rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap some key iPhone 18 Pro rumors so far.
Under-Screen Face ID
In April 2023, display industry analyst Ross Young shared a roadmap showing that iPhone 17 Pro models would feature under-display Face ID. In May 2024, however, Young said ...
Is Apple experiencing a "Vista-like drift into systemically poor execution?"
That was a question posed by well-known technology analyst Benedict Evans, in a recent blog post covering Apple's innovation and execution, or seemingly lack thereof as of late. He is referring to Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, which was widely criticized when it launched in 2007 due to software bugs,...
Serial leaker Sonny Dickson today shared an image of what he claims is a first look at a third-party case for Apple's iPhone 17 Air. "If you didn’t know an Air was coming, you'd swear it was a Google Pixel case," he said.
Case manufacturers often obtain design specifications of upcoming iPhone models before their release by collaborating with Apple through official partnerships or...
All four iPhone 17 models launching later this year will feature an upgraded 24-megapixel front-facing camera, according to analyst Jeff Pu.
In a research note today with investment firm GF Securities, Pu shared a chart in which he reiterated that the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will each be equipped with a 24-megapixel front camera. By comparison, all four ...
Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson has shared more dummy models of Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 series, with the latest lot revealing a noticeable shift in Apple's iPhone Pro model design that goes beyond the much-talked-about new rear camera bar.
Dickson points out that the iPhone 17 Pro dummy models feature an outlined area on the back, beginning just below the camera module and extending to the...
Apple is planning some of the "biggest iOS and macOS redesigns in its history," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman reiterated that iOS 19 will have a visionOS-like design with more transparent interfaces:The new interfaces will adopt the design principles introduced in visionOS, the software for Apple's Vision Pro headset. That includes greater...