iOS 12.1.3 Public Beta 2: The 'What Happened To 1?' Edition

Welcome back! If you haven't already, it's time to download the latest Public Beta version of iOS 12.1.2!

...what?

It was released already?

But there was only a single beta release! What's the point of-?

…ahem

After last week's surprising public release of iOS 12.1.2, Apple is back this week with iOS 12.1.3. While the quick turnaround of the previous release was surprising, it made sense in retrospect. Why? First we have to talk about Apple’s corporate woes.

The Fine Print

The escalating legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm has a little bit of everything: corporate espionage, jacked up royalties, withholding of evidence, and enough fines to start your own little country.

An injunction had been leveled against Apple, requiring them to stop selling iPhones in China. Surprising absolutely no one, Apple kept on selling iPhones, saying that those iPhones loaded with the latest version of iOS no longer infringed upon Qualcomm's patents.

The Smoking Beta

So where does last week's iOS 12 beta come in? It turns out that, in addition to the bug fixes that were disclosed, Apple included some very specific additional coding. This ensured Apple's claims were correct and that those iPhone devices sold in China, upgraded to the most current version of iOS 12, do not violate the court ruling against Apple.

The Phantom PB 2

That at least explains the quick turnaround on iOS 12.1.2, but what about iOS 12.1.3?

Judging by the fact that this has a “public beta 2” tag instead of the expected “public beta 1,” it’s apparent that these are the additional fixes that we would have seen included in an iOS 12.1.2 Public Beta 2, if it had actually dropped last week as expected.

So no, you didn’t miss a beta last week, Apple’s just been having to generate new betas on the fly and forgot to reset the version numbering when they started over with iOS 12.1.3.

What’s Fixed

Along those lines, the release notes for iOS 12.1.3 are exactly the same as they were for iOS 12.1.2.

All interface elements should now be accessible via VoiceOver in the ECG app and audio issues that have plagued the iPad Pro are now resolved. But then that’s not really news, because they’re already out and fixed in the latest public release.

What is news (and isn’t listed in the notes) is the fact that the ECG app will now work for those that are running the current beta. No longer do you have to be envious of your non beta friends (incidentally, if you ever want to punt back to general releases, you can use my guide to get there).

What’s Next

I don't expect to see iOS 12.1.3 Public Beta 2 before mid-week next week. With Christmas Eve and Christmas Day falling on Monday and Tuesday, it would be insane for Apple to push out a system update, no matter how minor, before Wednesday.

But then again, I've been surprised by Apple more than once in this latter half of 2018, I wouldn't put it past them to squeeze in one more release over the weekend.

If that happens, I'll be back. Otherwise, have a safe and happy holiday, Betanauts!