On Tuesday, Apple seeded new developer betas for iOS and macOS, just five days after releasing the latest stable updates. Wednesday, the Cupertino-hard company issued the first public beta builds. The new iOS 15.5 and macOS Monterey 12.4 betas mainly address bugs. However, there are a few notable additions and changes.
What’s New in iOS and iPadOS 15.5 Beta 1
This beta only has a few obvious changes over 15.4, but they are significant. Digging into the code base, a number of new SportsKit references appear. These look to supplement Apple TV+ Major League Baseball offerings. There are also fresh references to Apple Classical, the rumored but unannounced app to support Cupertino’s foray into classical music after acquiring Primephonic. Text such as “Open in Apple Classical” and “Open this in the new app designed for classical music” has appeared in the Music app code. It seems the new classical music app may be right around the corner.
Other changes look to suggest various rebranding efforts. Apple Pay in the Messages app is now called Apple Cash. Cupertino is referring to its physical Apple Card as the “Titanium Card,” and the iTunes Pass is renamed “Apple Account Card.”
Lastly, Apple has added a WiFi signal strength meter in the Home app for HomePod speakers. You don’t need to update your HomePod devices to beta dictate for this, either. It’s an iOS change. The new meter should make it easier to troubleshoot connection problems with the smart speakers.
Universal Control Won’t Work Between macOS 12.3 and IPadOS 15.5
We’ve yet to see any real changes in macOS Monterey 12.4 beta 1, but Apple does note that Universal Control will not work across iPadOS 15.5 and macOS 12.3. It’s possible Cupertino has released the desktop beta only to maintain Universal Control functionality.
If you wish to install any of the beta releases, you can do so either through the Apple Developer portal or Cupertino’s public beta program. It is worth noting, however, that we do not recommend installing beta software on primary devices. You can and should expect bugs, sometimes serious ones, especially in early beta releases.