While we saw the release on Monday of Developer Preview 6 of OS X Yosemite, a Beta 6 seed of iOS 8 was conspicuously absent. A new report from BGR says Apple did release iOS 8 Beta 6, but only to its carrier partners.
Details on the carrier-only iOS 8 beta 6 were revealed on Tuesday by BGR, which alleged that developers were not provided the software because Apple is “so close” to releasing a golden master. In development lingo, a “GM” build of software is considered a candidate for final public release, and Apple golden masters are frequently identical to the shipping software.
The report claims Apple’s iOS 8 Beta 6 must be approved by all testing partners by September 5th. That’s just days before Apple’s expected September 9th media event, where it should debut the highly-anticipated iPhone 6.
Apple has provided developers with five betas of iOS 8 so far, going back to its debut at June’s WWDC 2014. Since then a new beta of iOS 8 has been released alongside the developer preview releases of OS X Yosemite, until Monday.
BGR says the carrier-only release of iOS 8 Beta 6 has already been rejected due to an issue that causes YouTube to malfunction in the Safari browser.
If Apple’s usual release schedule is followed, the GM of iOS 8 will be seeded to developers the same day the new iPhone(s) are announced, which is expected to be September 9th. Previous years have seen Apple release new versions of iOS to the public two days before new handsets go on sale. That could mean a Wednesday September 17th public release for iOS 8, if the usual schedule is followed.
