iOS 17.1 and iPadOS 17.1 Release Candidates Now Available to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the Release Candidate of its upcoming iOS 17.1 and iPadOS 17.1 updates for testing. The Release Candidates come one week after the third betas.

The developer beta builds are available to developers who opt into the betas by going to “Settings” -> “Software Update,” then tapping on the “Beta Updates” option and turning on the iOS 17 Developer Beta. An Apple ID associated with a developer account is required to download and install the beta.

Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple’s beta testing program can download the ‌iOS 17‌.1 and ‌iPadOS 17‌.1 updates by opening the Settings app, going to “General,” tapping on the “Software Update” section and turning on the ‌iOS 17‌ Public Beta option.

The 17.1 update brings several new features that didn’t make it into the initial iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 releases.

Apple’s release notes for the update are below:

AirDrop
– Content continues to transfer over the internet when you step out of AirDrop range

StandBy
– New options to control when the display turns off (iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max)

Music
– Favorites expanded to include songs, albums, and playlists, and you can filter to display your favorites in the library
– New cover art collection offers designs that change colors to reflect the music in your playlist
– Song suggestions appear at the bottom of every playlist, making it easy to add music that matches the vibe of your playlist

This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:
– Option to choose a specific album to use with Photo Shuffle on the Lock Screen
– Home key support for Matter locks
– Improved reliability of Screen Time settings syncing across devices
– Fixes an issue that may cause the Significant Location privacy setting to reset when transferring an Apple Watch or pairing it for the first time
– Resolves an issue where the names of incoming callers may not appear when you are on another call
– Addresses an issue where custom and purchased ringtones may not appear as options for your text tone
– Fixes an issue that may cause the keyboard to be less responsive
– Crash detection optimizations (all iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 models)
– Fixes an issue that may cause display image persistence

Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

For the iPad, the update also adds support for the new USB-C Apple Pencil.

As usual, MacTrast and Apple both warn users to not install any betas or Release Candidates on their daily driver iPhone or iPad. Instead, only install betas on a device set aside for testing purposes.