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Apple to widen pre-release iOS testing by roping in retail employees

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Apple will begin providing select retail store employees access to upcoming versions of iOS in order to widen its pre-release testing program, according to multiple sources. The program will begin in the near-future with an upcoming iOS release, perhaps version 8.2, which is slated to be released alongside the Apple Watch

This new program will mark Apple’s first expansion of pre-release iOS version testing beyond developers and employees within the walls of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters. For the past few Mac OS X releases, Apple has provided early copies of the system to employees, which has helped Apple identify bugs before public launches.

It is likely that Apple is expanding its testing program in order to ensure that it receives a wider array of proper feedback during beta periods. Apple has acknowledged that its beta testing pool is filled with a notable percentage of users who solely wish to test out new features, not program their apps or provide critical feedback.

Apple has recently faced criticism with claims that the company’s most recent operating systems do not include the superior fit-and-finish that iOS and OS X have become known for over the past decade. iOS 8’s launch in 2014 was notably substandard due to issues with the new Health app and a botched over-the-air bug fix release.

Hopefully the expansion of internal iOS testing will lead to more reliable releases for the future.

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Comments

  1. Nandan Desai (@nnddesai) - 9 years ago

    So now along with crappy software experience, we can expect lower retail experience.

  2. Please do, the bugs these guys are releasing constantly now is starting to wear on my loyalty.

    • Gregory Wright - 9 years ago

      There will always be bugs.

      • I don’t mind bugs, that’s software, it’s the ones that go unfixed for months that are bothering me.

      • There will, but iOS 8 is inexcusable. Apple have consistently gotten worse since like iOS 5 at releasing a buggy OS update and then leaving them for months. I personally believe that iOS 8 shouldn’t even be public, the bugs it has are literally breaking the phones usability on my 6 Plus. Safari is quite literally worthless.

  3. mikhailt - 9 years ago

    It could lead to public iOS beta testing like they did for OS X.

    • rogifan - 9 years ago

      No way that will ever happen. Already you have people getting access to betas not to do proper testing but because they’re curious about new features or new look and feel. So they play around with it for a while just to check things out and that’s it. I can only imagine that increasing 10x if there was a public beta.

    • hijaszu - 9 years ago

      In case you haven’t notified you are participating in the beta test program called “stable” release. :/

  4. hijaszu - 9 years ago

    Just in time. And maybe Apple should not rewrite every app from scratch for each os version, because the samely already fixed bugs are reappearing time to time.

    • Gregory Wright - 9 years ago

      Innovation requires doing things differently. You can’t innovate using the same systems. Besides, how is Apple going to keep the loyalist happy without bringing something new to the market every year.

      • hijaszu - 9 years ago

        System development requires progress towards something. You cannot develop a stable software in a way that you are always restarting it from scratch. What you would like to have is not in conflict what I am saying. Particularly, the changes that I am talking about are on system parts which are not even affected by the new features.

  5. PMZanetti - 9 years ago

    I don’t think Apple needs more people with beta-iOS on their phone. If the 10 million registered developers isn’t enough, thats not your problem…

    They need to fire their quality assurance manager and hire one that doesn’t let unacceptable bugs go out the door.

    All software has bugs. All releases have bugs. Its up to the QAM to decide which are acceptable and can be fixed in the next round of development, and which mush be squashed before ever facing a real user.

    The keyboard bugs in iOS 8 and the Mission Control animation issues on the Retina iMac are perfect examples of a quality assurance failure.

  6. Apple needs to take a year, yes 12 months, off and not release a single new product besides the annual iPhone update and spend that time doing software maintenance. Both iOS and Yosemite are perfect examples of piss poor QA and doing something in a rush. iOS 8 still shouldn’t be public in my opinion and they really need to get their shit together. If they continue on this cycle of release buggy garbage and somewhat fix it later I will no longer buy iPhones and I’m already not planning on buying another Mac. After having to pay twice out of pocket for a logic board replacement on my 2011 MBP I’m not interested in spending $3k on a machine that is failing both in and out of warranty. The fact that they are ignoring a very widespread design fault is a slap in the face. I spend $3k on a machine and they ignore that they have a huge problem, that’s the perfect way to drive away repeat customers. I’m getting real tired of Apple releasing buggy crap and letting it ride for years on end.