“Apple’s OS schedule this year is pretty much the same as last year’s. Developers have already received real early beta versions of iOS 11, macOS High Sierra, tvOS 11 and watchOS 4. A few weeks later, regular Apple customers should be able to share in the joy; well, except for watchOS 4,” Gene Steinberg writes for The Tech Night Owl. “The Apple TV OS is being offered via the public beta program for the first time.”
“A key reason why watchOS isn’t offered is, if you get into trouble, you’d have to ship your Apple Watch back to Apple to set things right, maybe replace it,” Steinberg writes. “But that doesn’t mean you should be cavalier about running beta operating systems on your other Apple gear. It can be fun, but it can also be downright infuriating, because there may be all sorts of bugs, discovered and otherwise, waiting to bite.”
Steinberg writes, “My best recommendation, based on several decades of loyal and sometimes exasperated beta testing, is to hold off installing anything until you check the tech sites (we didn’t have that option in the old days) and see what others are encountering. I’ll let you know how things are working for me as I proceed through the process.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Let’s be careful out there! Install betas on machines (or external drives) that aren’t production machines. If you have an old iPad or iPhone that you’re not using, they’re the perfect place to try out the iOS betas if you’re so inclined. Good luck and have fun! Everyone else should skip the betas and wait until the public release date as usual.
FYI – iOS11 beta crashed my iPad Pro 12″ trying out some of the new windows management features. Had to do a factory restore on it to get it usable again (past the apple boot screen).
I’ve not had major issues running the betas since they have been available to the public. However, I keep very little locally. Most data is in the cloud OR external drives, so a quick reinstall is easy for me.
With that said, another option, I would suggest is making a clone of your Sierra machine on an external drive (ideally on an SSD via USB-C) just in case. That’s what I plan on doing. That way I can just replace if needed quicker than a full reinstall.
For iOS, I keep everything in a cloud solution of some sort (mainly iCloud, but also a bit of DropBox too). A reinstall of iOS is less painful to me than a Mac as you can usually easily roll it back (remove the profile enabling the beta first), the setup as a new device from the iCloud backup (make sure you made one of the old iOS first).
I usually try out the Public Betas, installing it on an external SSD for the desktop Macs. For iOS I try it out on an iPod Touch I have at the house to mostly stream music with- for beta testing I will load up apps normally only on my iPhone. As it gets closer to launch I try it out on my iPad Pro and on my MacBook Pro. I never put it on my iPhone.
I always install on a production machine… of course after a complete back up..
How else does apple know if it’s working? Shame on those who don’t install on a production machine.
You guys are the ones who bitch that it has issues on .1…
That’s why it’s called the Devoloper program. Use it like a cheap hooker I say…