Previewed at WWDC, launching in the fall.
Signs of Apple's Work on iOS 7.0.1, iOS 7.0.2, iOS 7.1, and iOS 8 Showing Up in Web Logs
With the initial public release of iOS 7 slated for this Wednesday, September 18, signs of future iOS 7.0.1, iOS 7.0.2, and iOS 7.1 releases are all showing up in web logs. Their presence was noted by 9to5Mac and is also being seen in our own logs, showing visitors running those operating system versions coming from IPs associated with Apple. Our records are also showing a handful of visits via Apple's networks from devices reporting themselves as running iOS 8 starting at the very end of August.
While iOS 7.0.1 and 7.0.2 are expected to be minor bug fixes to the upcoming mobile operating system, iOS 7.1 could potentially bring a host of new features, similar to iOS 6.1 which brought LTE support for more carriers and Fandango Siri integration at the time.
iOS 7.0.1 visits from Apple's network began showing up in our logs as long ago as early August and began increasing significantly in late August, presumably as work on the version increased as Apple began locking down the golden master version of iOS 7.0.
Visitors to MacRumors.com via Apple's networks from devices running iOS 7.0.1
iOS 7.0.2 is a much more recent appearance, with the first sign of it showing up in our logs coming last week just after Apple's media event. And iOS 7.1 has been the least frequently seen version among the three upcoming iOS 7.x versions seen by MacRumors, with a small handful of visits coming in early August before appearing with increasing frequency in late August.
The prevalence of all of the future operating system versions among visits from Apple's networks remains very low, so it appears that they have not yet entered widespread testing within Apple.
iOS 7 features a brand new design along with a number of new features, including a vast overhaul of multitasking with a new cards look, a new universal settings window known as Control Center, and a revamp of Notification Center that offers new daily overviews. The software will also come pre-installed on Apple’s new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c devices, with owners of the iPhone 5s receiving device-specific features such as 64-bit support, Touch ID fingerprint sensing, and a several new camera features.
The golden master (GM) version of iOS 7 was seeded to developers last Tuesday following Apple’s special iPhone media event. The software update will be available for free upon its release this Wednesday, and will be compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, fifth-generation iPod touch, iPad 2, iPad with Retina Display (third- and fourth-generation), and the iPad mini, along with Apple’s new iPhones.
While iOS 7.0.1 and 7.0.2 are expected to be minor bug fixes to the upcoming mobile operating system, iOS 7.1 could potentially bring a host of new features, similar to iOS 6.1 which brought LTE support for more carriers and Fandango Siri integration at the time.
iOS 7.0.1 visits from Apple's network began showing up in our logs as long ago as early August and began increasing significantly in late August, presumably as work on the version increased as Apple began locking down the golden master version of iOS 7.0.
iOS 7.0.2 is a much more recent appearance, with the first sign of it showing up in our logs coming last week just after Apple's media event. And iOS 7.1 has been the least frequently seen version among the three upcoming iOS 7.x versions seen by MacRumors, with a small handful of visits coming in early August before appearing with increasing frequency in late August.
The prevalence of all of the future operating system versions among visits from Apple's networks remains very low, so it appears that they have not yet entered widespread testing within Apple.
iOS 7 features a brand new design along with a number of new features, including a vast overhaul of multitasking with a new cards look, a new universal settings window known as Control Center, and a revamp of Notification Center that offers new daily overviews. The software will also come pre-installed on Apple’s new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c devices, with owners of the iPhone 5s receiving device-specific features such as 64-bit support, Touch ID fingerprint sensing, and a several new camera features.
The golden master (GM) version of iOS 7 was seeded to developers last Tuesday following Apple’s special iPhone media event. The software update will be available for free upon its release this Wednesday, and will be compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, fifth-generation iPod touch, iPad 2, iPad with Retina Display (third- and fourth-generation), and the iPad mini, along with Apple’s new iPhones.
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63 months ago
Of course they are working on iOS8. And iPad 6 and iPhone 6 as well I am sure.
63 months ago
Too bad they'll probably not move away from the super-candy-colored, gaudy, flat, Katy Perry-ish style they're using for iOS 7.
This may be the first time I have ever heard "flat" and "Katy Perry" in the same sentence.
63 months ago
Of course they are working on iOS8. And iPad 6 and iPhone 6 as well I am sure.
I am always amazed by people who seem to think Apple throws together an OS release a month of two before WWDC.
63 months ago
Just a guess, but I bet they know 7 will be a huge departure, and basically will be listening and seeing what is right/wrong with 7, in terms of user experience, and most likely will be fixing those issues in 8 almost in real-time.
Bryan
Bryan
63 months ago
I'm guessing "iOS 8" is simply the latest trunk builds for iOS.
Development often works like this:
1. The main development line, sometimes called the trunk. New features, major or not, all enter this one. Since everything goes, it's unstable. Apple would never release a snapshot of this development line. But it's what all iOS versions are built from.
2. The branches. These are here to solve the stability problem. Apple simply decides "OK DONE. This current state of features will eventually become iOS 7.0. So let's take everything from the trunk thus far, and work on stabilizing this. Focus on bug fixes and stability only." (so called "feature freeze") Meanwhile, new features can aboslutely still enter the trunk as other development teams at Apple keeps working on brand new awesome features. Work on the trunk as well as the different active branches all happen in parallel! Different teams at Apple can work on iOS 8, iOS 7.0.1, and iOS 7.1, all at once.
Sometimes a branch can be pretty small. Basically a branch of a branch. Apple may, in similar fashion as above, decide "OK, don't add work planned for iOS 7.1 to this spin-off from iOS 7.0 and only focus on fixing outstanding bugs to eventually form iOS 7.0.1, so that we can get that one out the door earlier than iOS 7.1."
So I think all this is what we're seeing here.
iOS 8 may appear in the logs, but it'll probably be 1) unstable and 2) still very similar to iOS 7. Maybe some experimental under the hood changes, some bold optimizations or whatever, but nothing too exciting. However, as time moves on, the more different the trunk will be from what we see in iOS 7.
iOS 7.1 may also be pretty sparse in terms of new stuff still. However, maybe it's already received some thing they didn't get in time for iOS 7.0.
And iOS 7.0.1 may be small things discovered even during the late betas and GM development that the just didn't have time to fix, and they want to get out earliest.
Development often works like this:
1. The main development line, sometimes called the trunk. New features, major or not, all enter this one. Since everything goes, it's unstable. Apple would never release a snapshot of this development line. But it's what all iOS versions are built from.
2. The branches. These are here to solve the stability problem. Apple simply decides "OK DONE. This current state of features will eventually become iOS 7.0. So let's take everything from the trunk thus far, and work on stabilizing this. Focus on bug fixes and stability only." (so called "feature freeze") Meanwhile, new features can aboslutely still enter the trunk as other development teams at Apple keeps working on brand new awesome features. Work on the trunk as well as the different active branches all happen in parallel! Different teams at Apple can work on iOS 8, iOS 7.0.1, and iOS 7.1, all at once.
Sometimes a branch can be pretty small. Basically a branch of a branch. Apple may, in similar fashion as above, decide "OK, don't add work planned for iOS 7.1 to this spin-off from iOS 7.0 and only focus on fixing outstanding bugs to eventually form iOS 7.0.1, so that we can get that one out the door earlier than iOS 7.1."
So I think all this is what we're seeing here.
iOS 8 may appear in the logs, but it'll probably be 1) unstable and 2) still very similar to iOS 7. Maybe some experimental under the hood changes, some bold optimizations or whatever, but nothing too exciting. However, as time moves on, the more different the trunk will be from what we see in iOS 7.
iOS 7.1 may also be pretty sparse in terms of new stuff still. However, maybe it's already received some thing they didn't get in time for iOS 7.0.
And iOS 7.0.1 may be small things discovered even during the late betas and GM development that the just didn't have time to fix, and they want to get out earliest.
63 months ago
Of course iOS 8 is being worked on. I'm sure they have plans for the next several versions. The internal road maps on these products surely stretch out at least 5 years ahead of time.
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