14 DAY TRIAL // It's only been less than 3 weeks since the last iOS 8 beta was seeded to developers. Apple is getting ready to release Beta 3 of the iPhone software and makes no surprise of the launch date.
Furthermore, the developers are being warned on possible data loss if they are using CloudKit. In a letter sent today, Apple says they will be performing a server-side data wipe on all CloudKit public and private databases for iOS 8 beta and OS X Yosemite Preview users. The deletion will take place on Monday, July 7th, 2014. Apple lets the developers know that this wipe will affect iCloud Drive, iCloud Photo Library and Mail Drop.
In other words, if you're using the new CloudKit to store your files, you may want to back-up everything in order not to lose functionality to your app.
The email sent to the developers goes on saying that photos and videos stored in iCloud Photo Library should stay on the iDevices running iOS 8 and after the update, they will get re-uploaded to Apple's servers automatically.
Also, iCloud Drive can be re-enabled after going to the new Beta 3 of iOS 8. If a developer uses iCloud Drive as a storage solution, all Documents and Data will be copied automatically.
Apple asks the developers to sign in using their account in the Developer Forums and post any questions regarding this change. In the first half hour since the developers have received the short letter from Apple, there were already some questions regarding the type of files affected by this wipe. One developer was looking to find out whether this will delete the Keynote, Numbers and Pages documents synced via iCloud.
CloudKit is a virtually free service offered by Apple to developers. When iOS 8 launches, CloudKit should become the heart of most AppStore apps. Just by using a developer account you can go by using Apple's Data Centers for free as long as you do not go over 1PB assets, 10TB of Database storage, 5TB a day assets transfer and 50GB/day database transfer.
Currently, the developers have to pay expensive services and servers from Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services in order to get similar features.
Apple promotes this service to developers as a way to get rid of writing server-side application logic. You just login using your iCloud password and have access to all the APIs. However, until fall when iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite launch, developers need to be extra careful with their files and documents and they have to make sure they understand that Apple is not joking when they use the BETA tag.