14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has released the third beta of iOS 7 and Xcode 5 DP 3 to developers with an encouragement to “download these new releases today and start developing your apps.”
Tim Cook’s company headquartered at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California continues to iron out bugs, as well as to add new features to iOS 7 with the release of a third beta available immediately to developers via Apple’s iOS Dev Center.
The iPhone maker tells developers to download the goods - iOS 7 and Xcode 5 - and “take advantage of new multitasking APIs, dynamic motion controls in UIKit, Air Drop, Sprite Kit, enhanced video APIs, new features in Game Center and Map Kit, and so much more.”
The release notes accompanying iOS 7 Beta 3 mostly document known issues and fixed bugs spanning all areas of the operating system, including AirDrop, AirPlay, Calendar, Contacts, Core Animation, iCloud, Maps, Messages, Music Player, Newsstand, Passbook, Safari, Siri, VoiceOver, Weather, and WebKit.
Developers are told that “This version of iOS is intended for installation only on devices registered with the Apple Developer Program.”
Apple warns against installing this version of iOS in an unauthorized manner as it can put a device “in an unusable state.”
One noticeable change in the new beta is the addition of a new font. Text is more visible now across a wide range of apps and services, and one person familiar with the software (Cabel Maxfield Sasser) has shared a GIF image to illustrate the change.
The status bar has also been increased in size, in what is an obvious acknowledgment from Apple that certain things weren’t visible enough in previous betas.
The music app is also redesigned a bit, and the Podcasts app now works properly, people familiar with the software say.
Calendar has been tweaked a bit to display gray dots next to days with events included in them, and Siri sounds more natural now, some users say.