Apple will enable a new test process in iOS 14

Since the release of the official version of iOS 13, Apple has released eight updates. These frequently released updates are used to solve various problems in the iOS 13 series. For example, this version has experienced application crashes, visual failures, unfinished dark mode, missing features, and frequent killing of background applications. Compared with the past, Apple’s update quality in software systems has continued to decline. In the end, Apple feels that it is not acceptable to constantly fix old problems and bring new problems, so Apple will only improve the process in the operating system released next year.

Google Chrome’s development model is divided into a stable version, namely the official version, the beta version, the developer version, and the canary version, and can also enable experimental functions by itself. In this way, Google is widely attracting users to participate in testing and feedback on potential problems at any time. Users can freely enable experimental functions and find problems more easily. Now Apple seems to be preparing to use this method for development testing. Bloomberg reported that the iOS 14/Mac OS system next year may adopt this model. Apple’s own development engineers can make changes at any time in iOS 14 Beta, while test users can turn on experimental features at their own interest. Bloomberg did not explicitly mention the components of iOS version 14, but apparently Apple is reluctant to continue to update this way and want to change the original development process.

We know that Apple will launch a new iPhone every year and also release a new version of iOS. For Apple engineers, the pressure on 1 year is still very big. This means that Apple engineers may have been preparing for iOS 14 and then completing major feature development in the middle of next year, and will release the official version next fall. These engineers need to test new features and compatibility for different devices, so this update strategy may also degrade its quality over time. But at least for now, Apple has no plans to abandon the current update strategy, that is, it will launch a new version of the iOS system every year when the new iPhone goes on the market.