back to article Got iOS 8.3 installed? Pssh, you are SO last week… version 8.4 is out

Apple has released beta builds of the iOS 8.4, now the latest version available for registered developers. The Cupertino idiot-tax operation announced the release of the build on Monday. Among the reported features being previewed in the iOS beta is an overhaul to the Music app. Early screenshots of the player suggest Apple …

  1. Dana W

    The idiots are the people running beta releases. I PAY Apple for their devices, they do NOT play me for beta testing.

    1. Snapper

      That's why we have icons!

      You needed to use the joke alert!

      What's that? You weren't joking!

    2. eSeM

      Every iOS release to date has been a beta test ... even 8.3 will be patched very soon.

      1. Flywheel
        WTF?

        I want my battery life back!!!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          ?

          I've not seen a change in battery life.

      2. Stuart Castle Silver badge

        "Every iOS release to date has been a beta test ."

        "Every OS release to date has been a beta test ."

        There. Fixed that for you. While it may not be accurate to state every OS is a beta release, every OS does have bugs, a lot of which need to be fixed. Personally, in this day and age, I would rather have an OS that does have patches from time to time than one that never has any, because the one that is never patched will still have bugs and will be insecure. Not a problem if you aren't connected to any networks, but Mobiles tend to be.

    3. John Robson Silver badge

      But the developers want to see what their apps need to handle in the next release, so that they can release updated software at the same time as the OS upgrade.

      This isn't beta testing, this is using a beta to test your own software...

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The idiots are the people running beta releases. I PAY Apple for their devices, they do NOT play me for beta testing.

      Yes, it's not Windows (Vista being the most well known example, although I'd call that more alpha than beta). Generally, I'm reasonably happy with the iOS releases, I have as yet one to bork on me.

  2. Nate Amsden

    here i am

    With wifi perhaps permanently disabled now so my note 3 doesn't upgrade to android 5. Sigh. Good thing i don't use much mobile data anyway

  3. Sebastian A

    You're gonna get so much hate

    for the "idiot tax" comment.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: You're gonna get so much hate

      Were you not here for the first hundred times they used that same phrasing?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: You're gonna get so much hate

      You're gonna get so much hate for the "idiot tax" comment.

      Yes, it's a bit sad really - I didn't realise El Reg is so much in need of hits. I have no problem with a bit of rabble rousing, but can we please keep it above Daily Mail levels? Otherwise you might as well start revising the editorial dictionary and introduce words like "phoarr".

      And use that picture of the blonde and the laptop. Again.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @AC

        I guess you haven't read the Reg's byline - "biting the hand that feeds IT"? It isn't like they only go after Apple, they go after them all. Maybe the "idiot tax" thing is more biting than how they describe Google, but that's just because they haven't thought of anything worse for them. Yet.

        When they figure it out, and get tired of the "idiot tax" and move on to the next it'll be the Google fanboys getting all butt hurt over the name calling and thinking the Reg is favoring Apple.

        The bylines and clever turns of phrase in the articles are why I read the Reg. They still deliver the IT news, but they don't regurgitate press releases without comment like half the sites, and don't pander to them and kiss ass to their advertisers like most of the rest.

        1. Cliff

          Re: @AC

          The Reg has always rabble roused and snarked cynically. It's what makes it not the BBC News Technology section, nor Ars Technica nor Wired

    3. Rik Myslewski

      Re: You're gonna get so much hate

      It is a bit sad, isn't it? Shaun is a smart, technically sophisticated man, but he's forced to masquerade as an Apple-hater due to The Reg's click-slavering management.

      As I said, it's sad, really. We're just talking about phones, gadgets, and tech stuff, but for reasons I've never been able to fathom, some stunted folks prefer to use tech disagreements as fodder for ad hominem attacks and tribal warfare. Hmm .... are Apple fans Shiites or Sunnis? Or are Android fans vice-versa?

      Ford/Chevy, Protestant/Catholic, Mac/Windows, anthropogenic global warming/skepticism, libertianism/communalism, candy mint/breath mint — can we cut the insulting snarkiness, eh?

      As I said above, it's sad, really.

  4. A Non e-mouse Silver badge
    Holmes

    News just in...

    A software company was found to be working on the next version of its product immediately after releasing the current version.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: News just in...

      you forgot the mandatory

      'Film at 11'

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The cool kids are the ones installing buggy software on their phones and paying for the privilege?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oooooh! Apple!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Wouldn't it be good if Apple finally fixed the random dropping of cover art, random duplication and loss of songs when iCloud clashes with iTunes, random loss of metadata, and all the other odd bugs and crashes that have plagued us since iOS 5 or so. They could then move onto the email client.

    But no, we'll get a new icon, some new branding and everything will be brilliant again. Sigh.

    1. Lee D Silver badge

      Tell me when they give controlled, as a authorised, enrolled, supervised access with profiles and MDM's for the damn basics.

      For iPads, you cannot stop people putting a passcode on (e.g. kids in schools using iPads) and nor can you stop someone with the passcode from changing it. But resetting the passcode is a faff if you don't know what it is.

      You cannot automatically install apps from your MDM without having the "install apps" permission. That gives anyone the right to install apps. Your only restriction is age-related, but most of the VPN apps advertised to "bypass all filters" are rated as 4+ and Apple refuse to deal with the problem (I have the email if you would like to see it). So basically any idiot can bypass your entire filtering with a free app.

      You cannot prevent people changing the name of the device, removing or changing wireless network details (there are tricks with profiles and device "supervision" but they can all be got around), and a whole host of other features that have been there for years and which can wreak havoc on any managed device. For a while, there was nothing stopping someone setting web restrictions and then "failing" the login for several dozen tries until the "next attempt" you were allowed was sometime next month. Now they have an option for "on/off" but still no way to override it or clear it if it does get turned on (short of resetting and reinstalling the entire iPad).

      And why? Because all the MDM manufacturers can ever do is what's specified in the MDM API and it doesn't let you do half the stuff you want to do. And when it does, it only does so in such a way that there are myriad knock-on effects from assigning that permission. And usually it involves putting supervision on and off which requires physical USB connection to a particular nominated Apple server.

      It's like group policy, but from back in the 90's when group policy barely let you change any options you needed to and so you ended up with logon scripts and third party utils. Except you can't put on any login scripts or third party utils that change those settings - at least not in a way that they can't be removed or reset or otherwise cleared off.

      Apple devices are not fit for use for many of the jobs they are sold for. Things like the email client are chicken feed in comparison to the time and effort wasted trying to stop users turning on simple options. But, hey, we can have Family Sharing which we'll prompt you for every so often until you turn it on with no way to turn the prompt off until someone agrees to set it up.

      1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

        @Lee D

        I think the problem is that you're using Apple devices in a corporate environment and Apple stopped targeting the corporate environment years ago.

        Apple's focus is on the consumer market. Apple like that corporates use their products, but they're not putting massive effort into supporting it.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @Lee D

          "I think the problem is that you're using Apple devices in a corporate environment and Apple stopped targeting the corporate environment years ago."

          I have the same issue - and I'm just trying to control what my 3-year old does with the iPad.

      2. Andy 31

        There is so much miss-information in that post it's breathtaking. I don't even know where to start.

  8. Anthony Hegedus Silver badge

    I'm so excited

    I love Apple and all their products. I want to buy all their watches and I have four iphones and a macbook air and a macbook pro. I want to give them all my money because I love them so much.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'm so excited

      Good heavens, I wouldn't even want you as a Microsoft client..

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'm so excited

      That's nice.

  9. stu 4

    weird

    I don't understand why apple doesn't/shouldn't demand a full automated test suite for apps, and then run a CI farm of all apps (or at least the top 10,000 or so) on the latest iOS builds.

    that would really start to make being part of the apple ecosystem more of a win win for developers.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    <sarcasm>Yay!</sarcasm>

    Had I realized when I bought an iPhone that I'd need to keep 2GB of the 16GB free for the iOS Update Of The Month that I'm constantly nagged about, I might have reconsidered. I want to go back to iOS 7, please!

    1. chris 17 Silver badge

      Re: <sarcasm>Yay!</sarcasm>

      @ Anonymous Coward

      plug your idevice into a computer and update via itunes, no extra space required then. the extra space is only required when updating over the air

  11. Howard Hanek
    Childcatcher

    Stable

    A place to keep farm animals......

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