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Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 12.4 to Developers

Wednesday May 15, 2019 10:13 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 12.4 update to developers, a few days after the launch of iOS 12.3, a major update that introduced Apple's revamped TV app.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 12.4 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.


As a 12.x update, the new software may include more significant features than the smaller 12.x.x updates. iOS 12.4 will mark the the fourth major update to iOS 12 after iOS 12.3, which introduced a redesigned TV app with Apple's new Channels feature for subscribing to and watching third-party subscription content right in the TV app.

We don't yet know what we can expect to see in iOS 12.4, but we'll update this post as soon as we download the software and discover what's new. It's likely that this beta includes some Apple Card-related features, as the Apple Card is set to launch in the summer.

iOS 12.4 may be one of the last updates to the iOS 12 operating system as Apple transitions to iOS 13, which is expected to be introduced at WWDC in June.

[ 91 comments ]

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iGeneo
26 weeks ago

So nothing is new? What is the point in constantly releasing updates with absolutely nothing new. Please Apple slow it down.


Bug fixes and minor tweaks at this point. Slow it down? By all means no, tweak away and fix the little nuances. if you want "new functionality" just wait for the full versions
Rating: 14 Votes
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Kaibelf
26 weeks ago

So nothing is new? What is the point in constantly releasing updates with absolutely nothing new. Please Apple slow it down.


Why on earth would you not want incremental updates every few months to address bugs as they are addressed rather than yearly windows of vulnerabilities?
Rating: 13 Votes
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lunarworks
26 weeks ago

Dark mode pls.

Every ****ing beta.
Rating: 12 Votes
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Smith288
26 weeks ago

So nothing is new? What is the point in constantly releasing updates with absolutely nothing new. Please Apple slow it down.

This is the whole reason behind delta updates. To be able to release bug fixes faster. Some people cant be pleased no matter how hard you try.
Rating: 12 Votes
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Futurix
26 weeks ago

Dark mode pls.

Apple is not going to introduce major UI feature in minor point release of iOS.
Rating: 10 Votes
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Polaroid
26 weeks ago

So in June will be 2 simultaneously different iOS beta versions to download? iOS 12.4 and iOS 13, will I be able to choose which one I want to download? Because I don’t think so...


Same as every year lol
Rating: 9 Votes
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jonblatho
26 weeks ago

A bit surprised that the last three iOS updates are all .x and no .0x iterations, even though the improvements or additions to them are negligible (other than the TV app and some emojis).

Apple does a decent job of following semantic versioning in the A.B.C format (with its own twist). When major, API-breaking changes are made, bump the major version number A by 1 and set B and C to 0. When new functionality is added or functionality is changed which doesn’t involve breaking changes to existing API, bump the minor version number B by 1 while retaining A and set C to 0. For releases that are just bug fixes, bump the patch version number C by 1 while retaining A and B.

Apple's only difference versus the semantic versioning specification for iOS is that when the patch version number is 0, it's omitted. The semantic versioning specification dictates that all three version numbers are included even if the patch version number is 0.
Rating: 9 Votes
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sdf
26 weeks ago

So iOS version updates have now become a single feature update? 12.3 was primarily a Apple TV app update, and now 12.4 is for Apple Card support?


There's very little "now" about this:

* iOS 5.1 added hardware support and changed the camera app.
* iOS 6.1 added carrier support had the ability to reset the advertising identifier.
* iOS 7.1 added CarPlay.
* iOS 8.1 added Apple Pay and Continuity.
* iOS 8.2 added Apple Watch support.
* iOS 8.3 added wireless CarPlay (and emoji).
* iOS 8.4 added Apple Music.
* iOS 9.1 added hardware support (and emoji).
* iOS 9.2 added hardware support (and some carrier/international fixes).
* iOS 9.3 actually added a bunch of stuff.

I'm going to stop there because I've already way more effort in than you did.
Rating: 7 Votes
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ghostface147
26 weeks ago
Straight to 12.4. Not even a 12.3.1. Damn.
Rating: 6 Votes
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nutmac
26 weeks ago

Apple Card?

Since Apple Card is scheduled for summer 2019 launch, iOS 12.4 will focus primarily on Apple Card.

WWDC only a month away, so all other features (not fixes) are likely destined for iOS 13 (fall 2019).
Rating: 5 Votes

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