Apple Seeds Eighth Betas of iOS and iPadOS 15 to Developers [Public Beta Available]

Apple today seeded the eighth betas of iOS and iPadOS 15 to developers for testing purposes, with the updates coming one week after Apple released the seventh betas.

iOS 15 icon on phone
Registered developers can download the profile for the iOS and iPadOS betas from the Apple Developer Center, and once the profile is installed, beta updates will be available over the air.

iOS 15 is a major update that introduces a slew of new features focused on cutting down on distractions and spending more time with friends and family.

FaceTime has a revamped interface with new SharePlay features for listening to music, watching videos, and sharing your screen with your friends and family members, though this is delayed until after the launch of iOS 15. In Messages, if something like a url, photo, news article, or song is shared with you, you can see the content in Apple's dedicated apps through a new Shared With You Feature.

Focus lets you create custom notification modes that hide irrelevant apps and notifications when you're doing things like working or spending time with your family so you can better focus on the activity at hand, and there's a new notification summary that de-prioritizes less important notifications so you're not constantly inundated with information.

Maps includes a new 3D view in select cities that lets you see 3D landmarks, there are immersive AR directions when walking, and driving directions are better than ever, especially at complex interchanges.

Safari has been redesigned with a new look that moves the Tab Bar to the bottom of the interface (though this is optional), plus it now supports Tab Groups for improved organization, and extensions can be used in Safari for iOS devices for the first time. Later this year you'll be able to add your ID card to the Wallet app in some U.S. states, and Apple is making it easier to add key cards for hotels, smart home locks, and more to the Wallet app.

Spotlight is better than ever and can bring up more tailored search results, and Photos has a "Live Text" feature that lets you take a photo of something with text like a receipt to translate it into typed text on your iPhone. ‌Photos‌ can also identify landmarks, books, plants, and pets, so you can snap a photo of a plant and get information on what it might be.

Apple has also added multiple privacy improvements, such as a new App Privacy report coming to the ‌iPhone‌ that will let you know how often apps access sensitive info like your location, a Mail feature that hides your IP address, and Siri processing that's done on device.

For a complete overview of everything that's new in iOS 15, we have a dedicated roundup that walks through all of the new features, and Apple has been adding feature refinements throughout the beta testing period. The sixth beta, for example, overhauled the design of Safari and added a toggle to disable changes introduced in earlier betas. In the seventh beta, Apple said that iCloud Private Relay will be introduced as a beta feature at launch.

Related Forum: iOS 15

Top Rated Comments

flowsy Avatar
23 months ago
Downgrading to iOS 14 right now... ?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigDO Avatar
23 months ago
Calling BS on public beta being available.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nebulosan Avatar
23 months ago
Any new wallpapers??
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kellycherish Avatar
23 months ago
not seeing public release. anyone seeing it?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
douglasb7 Avatar
23 months ago

Can someone please report if the safari bottom nav has changed again? Really not liking the one in the latest public beta.
You can always change it back in settings. Navigate from top. They added this setting in last beta release.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
5425642 Avatar
23 months ago

I am guessing this is the final beta before the GM release in 2 weeks, or Tuesday, September 14.
Nope, final beta are RC or GM etc. not beta 8
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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