The third beta for iOS 11.4 arrived for developers on May 1 and public beta testers the following day. Since then, users have had time to sit with the software to see what works, what doesn't, what has changed, and what needs to be improved. In this State of the Beta, we hope to bring you the full story of iOS 11.4 beta 3 and what we can expect looking forward.
Things have already changed since the second beta, released 15 days before beta 3. That beta release brought with it new wallpaper and fixes for Music, Keychain, and AirPlay. However, beta 2 also brought some bugs, with users complaining of issues with their touch screens, Siri, and overall performance. How does beta 3 address these issues, and is it a worthy upgrade from what came before?
Fixes & Features
iOS 11.4's third beta release doesn't include many new features, which isn't unusual for beta updates. However, the best one is for AirPlay 2; Now, users can control compatible AirPlay 2 speakers using Siri. You can ask Siri to turn on your Apple TV and play a song or podcast, skip through a track with specific time frames, and start or stop playing in other speakers through the house.
Beta 3 also fixes a 3D Touch issue, where the feature would be unresponsive after unlocking your iPhone. While it was an annoying bug, the problem did not pick up much mainstream attention, so it's a welcome surprise Apple has patched it so quickly. (We were the first to write about the bug shortly after iOS 11.3 was released.)
Apple lists zero resolved issues in its beta 3 release notes, which is usually a sign the update mostly contains bug fixes and security patches. However, we quickly realized that 3D Touch was working normally again as soon as we installed iOS 11.4 beta 3 on all of our affected models. Also, according to Banglazed in the MacRumors forum, there is a list of additional fixes not addressed officially by Apple.
Included on the list is a fix for the volume slider in Control Center that accurately reflects the volume level of your device; a fix for a bug where Siri would play the first alphabetical song in your library instead of the song requested; a patch for a laggy keyboard in Spotlight search; and a fix for the iMessage bug that would not allow you to delete images.
Known Issues
Although beta 3 squashes quite a number of bugs, there are a few known issues that have not been fixed yet. If there are any temporary fixes, Apple lists them here as "workarounds:"
Foundation
- ClientsofNSURLSessionStreamTaskthatuseanon-secureconnectionfailtoconnect when an error occurs during PAC file evaluation and the system is configured for either Web Proxy Auto Discovery (WPAD) or Proxy Automatic Configuration (PAC). A PAC evaluation failure can occur when the PAC file contains invalid JavaScript or the HTTP host serving the PAC file is unreachable.
- Workaround: Use startSecureConnection to establish a secure connection.
Vision
• Facial landmarks identified by the Vision framework may flicker in temporal use cases such as video.
Xcode
- Debugging a disabled Messages extension may cause Messages to crash
- Workaround: Before starting the debug session, enable the extension by tapping the More (...) button to show the list of apps, then tapping the Edit button, and then tapping the switch to turn on the extension.
- After a simulated iOS device starts up, it's not possible to pull down the Lock screen.
- Workaround: Lock and unlock the simulated device and then reopen Home screen.
User Experience
Unlike beta 2, beta 3 seems to have improved upon many of the performance hiccups and user issues that have weighed down iOS 11.4 so far. In general, user chatter on forums is more upbeat than beta 2, where users had constant complaints about lag and poor performance with use.
With that said, there are a few bugs that appear to be widespread nuisances in this beta. First, Apple News links do not function with 3D Touch. Whether you try in Messages, Notes, or most apps, 3D Touch fails on Apple News links every time. Because this isn't the first 3D Touch bug to pop up lately (see above), this has us a little concerned about the feature, especially with rumors that future iPhones will drop 3D Touch entirely.
The second major bug deals with search in Settings. When you search for Do Not Disturb, by the time you type "Do," you are presented with many multiple Do Not Disturb options. We haven't been able to replicate this problem with other searches, and it doesn't appear to be an issue in Spotlight search. Still, it's an odd bug.
Third, back to Messages. Users are reporting beta 3 brings out of order messages once again. This issue seemed to resolve itself with iOS 11.3, but no more. If you experience this bug, our guide has tips you can attempt to fix the issue, until Apple comes back with a patch (hopefully with beta 4).
- More Info: How to Fix Out of Order Messages on Your iPhone
Our Conclusion
While beta 3 has its bugs to contend with — and while we certainly aren't thrilled to see out of order messages make their return — in general, this third beta is a significant improvement over its predecessors. Performance in this version of 11.4 is so much better that it restores my faith in Apple to fix the most significant issues with iOS 11 as a whole.
If you have an Apple TV running tvOS 11.4, you can't go wrong using Siri to control your music and podcasts. It works great and serves as a source of inspiration for where Siri can go. Soon, we could be using the assistant for more than settings alarms and checking the weather.
If you're running the iOS 11.4 beta, updating to beta 3 is a no-brainer (although you should always update to keep your phone secure anyway). While its far from perfect, beta 3 shows excellent improvement. I believe the State of the Beta is strong, and look forward to what Apple has in store for us in coming weeks.