Apple seeds iOS 7 beta 6 with fix for iTunes in the Cloud issue

Apple has unexpectedly seeded iOS 7 beta 6 to developers this afternoon, breaking its typical two-week cycle. The update comes just a little more than week after beta 5 landed, and appears to be an emergency fix-related release.

Beta 6 is available now to all registered Apple developers via both the Dev Center and OTA, which can be installed by visiting the Software Update section in the Settings app of proper devices that currently have iOS 7 installed…

A report from BGR earlier today claimed that Beta 6 would be released next week, with a GM build landing on September 10. However, it seems the site’s sources weren’t aware that there was a problem with iTunes in the Cloud.

From the iOS 7 beta 6 change log:

This update address an issue with iTunes in the Cloud, where some purchases may download or play unexpected items. If you have any devices running previous versions of iOS 7 beta, you must:

– Install iOS 7 beta 6

– Install the ResetMusicAndVideosLibraries configuration profile

– From Settings > Music, tap the Reset Media Library button

– Restart the device

Outside of this, we’re not aware of any other changes in beta 6. But rest assured we’ll be combing over it this evening for anything worth note.

Apple seeds iOS 7 beta 5 to developers: Tweaks to icons, Control Center and more!

A little over a week after iOS 7 beta 4, Apple has seeded iOS 7 beta 5 to developers. It is available over-the-air via Software Update. The previous beta brought several minor interface and performance tweaks to the operating system, and beta 5 will likely continue doing that.

A new Apple TV seed is also available:

Notes

• You can now use an iOS 7 device to set up an Apple TV after restoring or resetting all settings. (iPhone 4 and iPad 2 are not supported.)

We will continuously update this post with discovered changes.

– All Settings icons redesigned (left is new) :

– More Yahoo presence:

– New Twitter icon in iOS 7:

– Can now disable Control Center while in apps:

– Major performance improvements across the system

– Camera swipe access from Lock screen is easier

– New slide to power off design:

– New in-call icons:

– New option to pull down on a banner

– Some transparency, blur, UI animation changes across the system.

Apple releases iOS 7 beta 4 to developers

As expected, Apple has released the fourth beta of iOS 7 this morning. The update comes three weeks after the release of beta 3—longer than the the time period between previous betas due to a lengthy Developer Center outage caused by a security breach.

Beta 4 is available now to all registered Apple developers via OTA (over the air update), which can be installed by visiting the Software Update section in the Settings app of devices that currently have iOS 7 installed. And it should post soon to the dev portal…

The previous beta brought about a number of UI tweaks and changes in apps like Music, Mail, Weather and the Notification Center. There were also several performance improvements made, making the firmware faster and more reliable than previous releases.

The fourth beta is available for compatible iPhones, iPads and iPod touch models. We’re currently installing it ourselves, and will be reporting back with any new stuff we find. So make sure you keep checking back with this post throughout the day for changes.

We will keep updating this post with a running change log of findings (below):

Lock screen is no longer confusing:

– Call button in Phone dialer is tweaked:

– Phone answer buttons tweaked:

Spotlight:

HDR in camera re-located:

– You can now swipe between panels in Notification Center

– Tweaks to image download in Mail.app:

– Safari graphics tweaks:

Tweaked filters UI (and added for some older iPhone models):

Search bar in Reminders:

– Readers reporting minor keyboard tweaks

– Improved back buttons in setup:

– New AirPlay icons:

– Slight UI tweak to Newsstand:

– Shuffle all songs is back:

– Improved animations and transparency in folders on the Home screen.

– New iPad resolution changing button while running iPhone-only apps:

– Completed uploads notifications:

–  Siri Q/A

WWDC 2013 tickets: Gone in 120 seconds!

Well, that sure didn’t take long. In under two minutes after Apple put up WWDC 2013 tickets on sale at 10am PDT, the WWDC web site greeted developers looking to buy their seat with the Sold Out message. By comparison, tickets for WWDC 2012 sold out in under two hours.

WWDC 2011 and 2010 respectively sold out in ten hours and eight days (one month and two months for 2009 and 2008 WWDCs, respectively).

And tickets for Google I/O 2013, which takes place June 27-29 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, sold out in under twenty minutes. Google I/O 2009 sold out in 90 days and tickets for Google I/O 2011 took 59 minutes to sell out…

Luckily enough, this time around Apple made sure not to screw people by putting tickets on sale too early in the morning, when West Coast-based developers haven’t even woke up.

The annual pilgrimage for developers takes place from Monday, June 10 until Friday, June 14 at San Francisco’s Moscone West.

We are not expecting any hardware announcements: this year’s five-day event will be focused on software, with Apple saying it “can’t wait to get new versions of iOS and OS X”into the hands of developers at WWDC.

Running at $1,599 each, WWDC tickets didn’t exactly come cheap.

By comparison, Google I/O tickets cost $900 for general admission.

Of course, the even is focused on developers even if WWDC traditionally served as a venue to announce major new products. For example, each iPhone except for the original iPhone and the iPhone 4S/5 was introduced at WWDC.

To appease to those who couldn’t buy their ticket, Apple promised to make session videos available during the conference. Previously, those videos would wind up online a few weeks after the event had wrapped up.

Can’t make it to WWDC? We’ll be posting videos of all our sessions during the conference, so Registered Apple Developers can take advantage of great WWDC content.

The company is also giving away 150 free WWDC tickets to students at its own discretion.

Part of the WWDC 2013 Student Scholarship program, which starts April 29 at 9am PDT, Apple will select the winners based on their coding skills and creativity, based on example apps they submit by May 2, 2013 at 5pm PDT.