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This week’s top stories: iOS 15 public beta, Apple’s return to in-person work, and more

Chance Miller | Jul 4 2021 - 8:31 am PT

In this week’s top stories: Apple doubles down on its return to in-person work, larger iPads in development, more iOS 15 beta news, and much more. Read on for all of this week’s top stories and more.

Apple’s return to work plan

Despite backlash from employees, Apple is doubling down on its plan to return to in-person work beginning in September. In a new video this week, Apple’s senior VP of retail and people Deirdre O’Brien said that Apple believes that “in-person collaboration is essential to our culture and our future.”

“If we take a moment to reflect on our unbelievable product launches this past year, the products and the launch execution were built upon the base of years of work that we did when we were all together in-person.”

Apple says that remote work decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis and all future remote work positions will require executive approval.

iOS 15 public beta

Apple this week officially began public beta testing of iOS 15, watchOS 8, tvOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey. This allows anyone to try out the new features coming to iPhone later this year in beta form. iOS 15 brings new features to FaceTime, upgrades to notifications, Focus, SharePlay, and much more.

If you’re interested in signing up for Apple’s public beta testing program, you can do so via Apple’s website right here. Apple’s new software version won’t be complete until the fall, at which point it will be released to the general public. Testers should still expect performance and stability issues when running the iOS 15 public beta on primary devices for the time being.

Larger iPads in development

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported this week that Apple is exploring future iPad designs with larger displays. Gurman says that any new iPad screen size change is at least a ‘couple of years down the road’ and has not yet left the exploratory stages.

The new iPads could be between 14-inches and 16-inches, which is a notable increase from the current 12.9-inch iPad Pro. As productivity on iPadOS increases, so does the demand for more screen real estate to get work done and aid multitasking use cases.

These and the rest of this week’s top stories below.

iOS |

iPhone |

Apple Watch |

Apple TV and HomePod |

Mac |

iPad |

Apps |

Apple Stores |

Tech Industry |

AAPL Company |

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This week’s top videos |

iPadOS 15 Beta Top 50+ Features / Changes! – What’s new?

9to5Mac Daily |

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

9to5Mac Happy Hour Podcast |

This week on Happy Hour 9to5tMac’s Benjamin and Taylor discuss a bevy of recent iPad rumors, look back on a decade of the selfie, evaluate the new lineup of Apple Watch International bands, and discuss the new features and changes in iOS 15 beta 2.

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9to5Mac Happy Hour is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Stacktrace Podcast |

It’s the Stacktrace App Store special! What could happen if Apple were to enable sideloading on iOS, and what other changes could Apple make to improve the App Store and its relationship to third-party developers? Also, connecting Combine with async/await, using design tools, alternatives to using analytics SDKs, and much more.

Stacktrace by 9to5Mac is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.