The iOS beta program is fundamentally broken.

iOS beta users have become secondary when they should be a prized possession.

Graphic work by Meerkatjack

The work Apple’s engineers do on the iOS, macOS, watchOS, iPadOS, and yes, even the tvOS team covered in a bag of dust and cobwebs, is tiresome and worthy of recognition. However, that does not make the updates and the work they do immune from criticism.

I often remind myself that as customers, we view Apple as an entity - its being in a sense. But a company is a mere collection of people. When we criticize something, we’re disparaging someone’s work that they themselves are proud enough to ship to billions of people. That empathy and sense of humanity do have a line where it no longer applies - when it starts to impact everyone else.

I am a genuine admirer of Craig and his entire team and some of the work the OS division has done in recent years. They’ve pushed the industry in new, exciting, and privacy-focused ways by invoking meaningful changes like ATT, a firm stance on privacy, and incredibly innovative features like Universal Control (macOS Ventura, to my bewilderment, actually made Universal Control much better!).

When you look at the last three years of Apple’s OS department, however, you notice a worrying trend - a decline in a focus on quality for the sake of meeting a deadline, features being pushed out the door before they’re ready, and a mere sense of arrogance that “Apple knows best” because it’s some “higher power.”

While I’ll save my thoughts on the company's overall direction for another day, I want to focus on one often-overlooked aspect of Apple and how it develops iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and iPadOS updates: betas.

Beta testing at its core means the software is buggy and incomplete. Bugs and features not working right are to be expected cause that’s what intrinsically makes it a beta. I’m not complaining that iOS beta updates are buggy. But, I will vocally complain that if beta updates are naturally expected to be buggy, then beta testing should result in more refined and functional software at the end.

Apple’s Craig Federighi at WWDC 2020 demoing Apple Silicon

Increasingly, that’s not been the case for Apple.

Anyone who remotely follows Apple or the tech-news industry can tell you that the last few years of iOS updates have been rocky. Features are working inconsistently, weird system UI glitches, and an overall perception of poor quality and lackluster underlining software.

Now look, in Apple’s complete defense, billions of iPhones are in use worldwide. The small subset of Twitter, Reddit, and forum users who complain and shout about the bugs do not represent the experience of the vast majority of iPhone users. But, when you charge $1,000+ for a “luxurious” premium smartphone experience, even the smallest subset of users should be recognized and their concerns addressed. It’s only right to expect that in return for a company that’s existence relies on the masses staying loyal and adherent to the “Apple philosophy.”

Even without an accurate and entirely fair representation of the billions of iPhone users, the criticism that points to bug-ridden iOS releases in the last few years represent a systemic issue with how Apple treats software development and the beta testing that supposedly “helps make our software the best yet.”

I do believe, in many instances, Apple is being spread too thin. The company is taking on a lot, and rightfully so with $200 billion in cash, but at the same time, you never add more to your plate when you can’t perfect what you already have (the launch of realityOS is incredibly worrying in this sense).

Even if the company is spread too thin, we’ve seen that Apple’s OS teams can create incredible and beautiful experiences. But a burdening focus on meeting deadlines met with a fundamentally broken beta testing program means updates fail to prepare adequately for mainstream usage.

The Beta User Problem

It dawned upon me a few weeks ago when I went to install an iOS 16 beta on my iPhone that it’s scarily easy - freakishly easy - unbelievably easy to download iOS betas on your phone.

Apple has been vocal against sideloading on iOS because it’s concerned, among many reasons, that opening the floodgates of hell to alternative ways of downloading apps would mean some users could easily be exposed to having their iPhone experience ruined, put into harm’s way, or have their data lost.

Where’s that same approach when it comes to unreleased software? Why is it that if I want to download an iOS beta, I need a profile that’s readily disbursed online and a quick restart? Isn’t that jeopardizing users' experience by weaponizing the core software that runs on an iPhone?

Apple provides ample warnings about downloading betas on your primary device. Still, it’s not enough cause no one listens cause they don't have to. Apple doesn’t give the exact number of beta testers on its developer and public beta program, but whatever the number, I think it’s safe to say the entirety of the beta program needs to be drained out and started over again.

To start, Apple needs to make downloading and using beta software more structured and disciplined. Here’s my suggestion: get rid of the beta profile system. Beta software should not be distributed through the beta profile but through a more rigid registration system that pushes the betas to only registered devices.

Concept of what an iOS Beta Program registration screen could look like.

For developers, let it be the same approach, where a device must be registered and dedicated as an “iOS Tester Device” before a beta update is pushed server-side to it - no profile needed.

It’s not a full-proof plan, but it’s one step closer to providing a more uniform, official, and structured approach to beta testing, which Apple has largely ignored for the last few years. A more structured process for gaining access to the beta will eliminate what I like to call the “TikTok crowd” of iPhone users who have no clue what they’re doing.

The Not-So-Feedback App

When your feedback app fails in its purpose of being a feedback app, you know you’re in the rear end.

The Feedback app that comes pre-installed with betas is long overdue for a complete head-to-toe redesign. Feedback, especially for something as complex and user-driven as an operating system, should feel like a conversation between the ultimate user and its makers, not a one-way road.

The Feedback app fails in its ability to provide validation to users. More often than not, beta users (the few who submit feedback) feel like they’re shouting into an empty void when they never hear back from Apple or their bug or suggestion is never fixed or acted upon. That discourages users from submitting feedback again, which means issues are never resolved, and possibly great ideas are never considered.

Ignoring the convoluted process of submitting a report, the Feedback app, in its design and form, fails to facilitate a conversation of ideas, suggestions, and meaningful dialogue between Apple and its user base. This is the peak representation of Apple’s long-standing mentality that “Apple knows best and users are incompetent.”

Apple does reply sometimes. Here’s a snarky response I got in 2020 when I suggested the Clock app should get a widget in iOS 14.

The Feedback app is built on the premise that beta users are secondary, and their only purpose is to stand around while Apple and its “we know best” mentality handles the bulk of the work. I believe Apple is grateful to beta testers, but that appreciation has to manifest in more ways.

The actual process of submitting feedback within the app is also a mess. Apple here must strike a delicate balance: make it easy and intuitive for users to submit feedback, but also make sure they provide as many details as possible about the bug or suggestion so it can be “reproduced and ‘fixed’’ or properly considered. It’s a balance that has skewed heavily towards the latter.

Here’s my suggestion: create a feedback app/website and experience built around conversations between users and members of Apple. Reddit is the inspiration. If a user faces an abnormality on a beta, they create a post with relevant diagnostic information only accessible by Apple but with other details accessible to all beta testers. If others face the same issue, they can publicly say so and upload their own diagnostic information to Apple while piling onto that specific thread.

In other cases, beta testers and members of Apple’s team can discuss issues and suggestions and have a more open conversation currently nearly impossible on the Feedback app. Now, Apple does deploy a similar system internally, where if enough people report the same thing, that issue is pooled together with a “More than 10 users” marker but more needs to be done.

What gives me hope is Craig. Craig is a smart guy. He’s Craig. And the hair.

In Hair We Trust,