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 Apple Opens Public Betas for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS 11 Big Sur, and tvOS 14

   Josh Centers

   The big day is here, and public betas are now available for Apple's
   next round of operating systems: iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS 11 Big Sur,
   and tvOS 14 (the public beta for watchOS 7 is coming soon).

   These betas are public and open to everyone, but be advised that
   putting these on your primary machines isn't smart. Let us rephrase
   that. Putting an operating system beta on a device that you rely on to
   function would be really dumb. While these betas are some of the most
   stable we've ever seen (likely due to Apple rejiggering its development
   process after the botched releases last year, see '[1]Six Reasons Why
   iOS 13 and Catalina Are So Buggy,' 21 October 2019, and '[2]iOS 13 Bugs
   Cause Apple to Overhaul Software Testing,' 25 November 2019), crashes
   and misbehaviors are possible'even likely'at any point in the beta
   cycle.

   To try one of the betas, go to Apple's [3]public beta page, sign in or
   sign up, choose your operating system, and follow the instructions,
   which usually involve installing a special profile on your machine and
   then updating its operating system. (You can also jump right to the
   [4]Guide for Public Betas page to access the downloads if you like.)

   Be aware that while APFS made it super easy to install the macOS 10.15
   Catalina beta alongside macOS 10.14 Mojave, there are problems with
   that approach in Big Sur. Buried deep in the developer beta release
   notes is this warning:

     If macOS Big Sur 11 beta is installed into the same APFS container
     as previous versions of macOS, system software updates can no longer
     be installed on the previous versions of macOS.

   In other words, if you install the Big Sur beta in a container
   alongside Catalina, you won't be able to update Catalina. Instead,
   you'll want to [5]create a separate partition for Big Sur on your test
   Mac or just install over the current operating system if it's a
   sacrificial machine.

   And remember, the main reason to test public betas is so you can report
   bugs, so be sure to revisit David Shayer's advice in '[6]How to Report
   Bugs to Apple So They Get Fixed' (17 June 2020).

References

   Visible links
   1. https://tidbits.com/2019/10/21/six-reasons-why-ios-13-and-catalina-are-so-buggy/
   2. https://tidbits.com/2019/11/25/ios-13-bugs-cause-apple-to-overhaul-software-testing/
   3. https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/enroll
   4. https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/guide
   5. https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/partition-a-physical-disk-dskutl14027/mac
   6. https://tidbits.com/2020/06/17/how-to-report-bugs-to-apple-so-they-get-fixed/

   Hidden links:
   7. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2020/07/Betas.jpg

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