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Apple seeds first iOS 8.1.1 beta: bug fixes and performance boosts for older devices

Screenshot 2014-11-03 23.23.45

Apple tonight has released the first beta of iOS 8.1.1 to developers. This update is packed with bug fixes, according to the release notes. Most notably, “this release includes bug fixes, increased stability and performance improvements for iPad 2 and iPhone 4s.”

This marks the first time in recent history that Apple is seeding a beta for a patch update. A new seed for the Apple TV is also available. Apple released the first OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 beta earlier today. iOS 8.1.1 is the follow-up to iOS 8.1, which includes Apple Pay support, SMS forwarding to Yosemite, and iCloud Photo Library Beta.

Apple is also developing iOS 8.2 and iOS 8.3 for release next year.

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Comments

  1. Edison Wrzosek - 9 years ago

    So does anyone have a changelog for this build?!

    • Jannik (@Apfelzeit) - 9 years ago

      iOS SDK Release Notes for iOS 8.1.1 Beta

      Contents:

      Introduction
      Bug Reporting
      Performance Improvements
      Notes and Known Issues
      Introduction
      iOS SDK 8.1.1 provides support for developing iOS apps. It is packaged with a complete set of Xcode tools, compilers, and frameworks for creating apps for iOS and OS X. These tools include the Xcode IDE and the Instruments analysis tool, among many others.

      With this software you can develop apps for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 8. You can also test your apps using the included iOS Simulator, which supports iOS 8. iOS SDK 8.1.1 requires a Mac computer running OS X v10.9.3 (Mavericks) or later.

      This version of iOS is intended for installation only on devices registered with the Apple Developer Program. Attempting to install this version of iOS in an unauthorized manner could put your device in an unusable state.

      For more information and additional support resources, visit http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/.

      Bug Reporting
      For issues not mentioned in the Notes and Known Issues section, please file bugs through the Apple Developer website (https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/ios/). Additionally, you may discuss these issues and iOS SDK 8.1.1 in the Apple Developer Forums: http://devforums.apple.com. To get more information about iCloud for Developers, go to http://developer.apple.com/icloud.

      Performance Improvements
      This release includes bug fixes, increased stability and performance improvements for iPad 2 and iPhone 4s.

      Notes and Known Issues
      The following issues relate to using iOS SDK 8.1.1 to develop code.

      AVCapture
      Known Issue
      Use of the new constant, AVCaptureISOCurrent, will result in inconsistent ISO values (as observed on the ISO property) if setExposureModeCustomWithDuration:ISO:completionHandler: is called repeatedly.

      CloudKit
      Note
      A single CKAsset instance can no longer be set as a value on multiple CKRecords.

      Contacts
      Note
      The Address Book UI people picker has been changed for iOS 8. A new mode with new API has been added where the app does not need access to the user’s contacts and the user will not be prompted for access. A temporary copy of the selected person is returned to the app. See ABPeoplePickerNavigationController.h for more details.

      See the new PeoplePicker: Picking a Person or Property sample project demonstrating usage of the new mode.

      Document Providers
      Notes
      Your app needs the iCloud entitlement to be able to be used as a document provider.
      The com.apple.developer.icloud-container-identifiers entitlement is required.
      Known Issues
      After rotating document picker to landscape, the status bar is hidden.
      Upon bringing up document picker in landscape, the containing view may be shifted beneath the navigation bar.
      Extensions
      Notes
      Extensions need an arm64 slice to run on 64-bit devices. If you try to run the armv7 slice on a 64-bit device it won’t work.
      Apps need to have an arm64 slice if the bundle contains a framework that both the app and the app extension link against.
      File System
      Note
      The file system layout of app containers has changed on disk. Rather than relying on hard-coded directory structure, use the NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains function or the URLForDirectory:inDomain:appropriateForURL:create:error: method of the NSFileManager class. See Accessing Files and Directories in File System Programming Guide.

      Fonts
      Note
      The Thai system font has increased in size to improve readability. This will cause clipping in many places in your UI if you don’t take appropriate action:

      Use UILabel as much as possible. If you use Interface Builder, make sure that Clip Subviews is not checked. UIKit will grow the clipping region as necessary to not clip text.
      Use Dynamic Type. This will ensure that you do not have overlapping glyphs in multiline labels or text fields.
      If you can’t do 1 and 2 because you implement your own views, you must implement measures not to clip. You can use CoreText to figure out the appropriate clipping region for a line of text by calling:

      CTLineGetBoundsWithOptions(lineRef, kCTLineBoundsIncludeLanguageExtents);
      To avoid overlapping glyphs in multiline text elements, adjust the line height. An additional 30% is recommended.

      This measure will also help your app perform better in other languages, including Arabic, Hindi, and Vietnamese.

      HealthKit
      Note
      Code that attempts to read workout information in HealthKit may be unable to make subsequent queries to HealthKit.

      If you are using HKWorkouts you should avoid reading workouts when running on iOS versions prior to 8.1 with:

      NSOperatingSystemVersion ios8_1_0 = (NSOperatingSystemVersion){8, 1, 0};
      if ([[NSProcessInfo processInfo] isOperatingSystemAtLeastVersion:ios8_1_0]) {
      // Read and write workout information to HealthKit.
      } else {
      // Write workout information to HealthKit
      }
      Known Issue
      Blood glucose data is currently not displayed in the Health app. 3rd party access and APIs are not affected. Access controls for Blood Glucose and all other Health data can still be managed in the Health app and in Settings > Privacy > Health.

      For more information, see https://support.apple.com/kb/HT6533.

      iCloud
      Note
      Mail handoff and AirDrop may stop working after changing your iCloud password at appleid.apple.com.

      Workaround: Sign out and back into iCloud on the device.

      iCloud Drive
      Note
      URLForUbiquityContainerIdentifier: might return nil when running your application in Xcode. If so, open System Preferences, navigate to iCloud > iCloud Drive, and enable Xcode.

      Keyboards
      Known Issue
      Additional Keyboards, including 3rd party keyboards, may not appear in Safari, Maps or 3rd party apps on the Simulator.

      Workaround: Keyboards should be testable in Calendar, Spotlight, Contacts, and Photos.

      Notification Center
      Note
      The schedule and intended use of widgetPerformUpdateWithCompletionHandler: is intended as a convenient home for all data/model update logic. If implemented, the system will call at opportune times for the widget to update its state, both when Notification Center is visible, as well as in the background. An implementation is required to enable background updates. It’s expected that the widget will perform the work to update asynchronously and off the main thread as much as possible. Widgets should call the argument block when the work is complete, passing the appropriate NCUpdateResult. Widgets should NOT block returning from viewWillAppear: on the results of this operation. Instead, widgets should load cached state in viewWillAppear: in order to match the state of the view from the last viewWillDisappear:, then transition smoothly to the new data when it arrives.

      NSURLSession
      Note
      The NSURLSessionTask class provides a new “priority” property with three associated constants: NSURLSessionTaskPriorityDefault, NSURLSessionTaskPriorityLow, and NSURLSessionTaskPriorityHigh. NSURLSessionTask priorities can be used to specify how multiple requests and responses to the same host should be prioritized. Note that the priority is a hint and not a strict guarantee of NSURLSessionTask performance.

      For complete usage details of NSURLSessionTask priorities, refer to the NSURLSession.h header file, which is provided by the Foundation framework.

      Phone
      Notes
      To activate Wi-Fi Calling functionality for T-Mobile (U.S. only), follow these steps:

      Go to Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi Calling.
      Toggle the Wi-Fi Calling switch to ON.
      If the carrier does not have the user’s registered emergency address, you will be asked to add it before the feature is activated.
      Photos
      Notes
      Maintain a backup of your photo library before enabling and while using iCloud Photo Library beta by:
      Importing to your Mac using iPhoto
      Importing to your Mac using Image Capture
      iCloud Photo Library beta will not download photos and videos that were synced to your device from iTunes. Any photos and videos synced to your device from iTunes will be removed when you enable iCloud Photo Library beta.
      iPhoto for iOS will not launch on iOS 8 Beta. Launching Photos.app will migrate your iPhoto edits to the iOS 8 Photo Library. Make sure your iPhoto for iOS data is included in your device backup.
      The ability to automatically optimize device space is enabled for all accounts larger than 5GB.
      When using iCloud Family Sharing, both iCloud Photo Sharing and My Photo Stream are enabled.
      Provisioning Profiles
      Known Issue
      If you have upgraded to the 8.1.1 Beta from iOS 8 Betas you may see your apps crashing due to provisioning profile issues.

      Workaround:

      Connect the device via USB to your Mac
      Launch Xcode
      Choose Window -> Devices
      Right click on the device in left column, choose “Show Provisioning Profiles”
      Click on the provisioning profile in question
      Press the “-” button
      Continue to removing all affected profiles.
      Re-install the app
      UIKit
      Notes
      UILabel has a default value of YES for clipsToBounds. This differs from the normal UIView default of NO.
      The leftLayoutGuide and rightLayoutGuide APIs have been removed. Please use the layoutMargins property instead.
      WebKit
      Notes
      The Navigation Timing API has been disabled only on iOS due to performance issues.

      Wi-Fi Calling (T-Mobile US only)
      Note
      The carrier name in the status bar will show “T-Mobile Wi-Fi” when the device is able to make and receive Wi-Fi calls.

  2. First time?! What about iOS 5.0.1 ???

    • Robbie Biederman - 9 years ago

      keep in mind too 5.0.1 beta 2 came out i believe 1 or 2 days after 5.0.1 beta 1. So that woullldddd bee coollllll again?

  3. aeronperyton - 9 years ago

    …or Apple thinks there’s something in this update that can only be properly tested in the wild?

  4. franeti1 - 9 years ago

    I I hope they have fixed multitasking gestures in ipad…

  5. 89p13 - 9 years ago

    I’m hoping for a Split Screen function on the iPad Air 2 – selfish, I admit, but it would be sweet to have!

  6. Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 9 years ago

    Hey Mark, Could you guys do another comparison with an iPhone 4s on iOS 7? I’d really like to see if the performance is any closer now with 8.1.1.

  7. bunim1 - 9 years ago

    Anyone have control center from lock screen issues where it doesn’t always pull up ? I’m on a 6 plus iOS 8:1

    • clintaustin26 - 9 years ago

      Yeah I get that sometimes too.

      • Robbie Biederman - 9 years ago

        go to settings control center make sure you don’t have “allow control center in apps” is selected because otherwise you CANT access control center unless on the home screen.

      • Robbie Biederman - 9 years ago

        lol go to settings control center make sure you have “allow control center in apps” selected because otherwise you CANT access control center unless on the home or lock screen.******** and I now see you said from lock screen. But my only suggestion is that.

  8. James McEwan - 9 years ago

    All I want is for Safari to get up to speed…literally!

  9. Jason Paris (@jparismd) - 9 years ago

    annoying bugs I hope are fixed: 1. keyboard won’t come up when in a text field. 2. orientation freezes in one orientation or another.

  10. anthonyharris7 - 9 years ago

    Will they finally collapse the album view in the music player app? Seems like a small thing but to people with multiple albums by the same artists it gets annoying to scroll through every single song.

  11. Krystal N Bubba Coleman - 9 years ago

    When will we get are iPhone 4s wifi back //?/