Just days after the release of the final beta of iOS 14.6, and before it is released to the general public, Apple has begun beta testing iOS 14.7. A point-seven release ties iOS 14 with iOS 13 for the most point releases of any iOS version ever. Even that is a bit of a technicality, as iOS 13.7 was released in September of 2020, many months after iOS 13.6, just to get the new COVID-19 contact tracing technology out to as many people as possible.
Betas of the associated operating systems—iPadOS 14.7, tvOS 14.7, and watchOS 7.6—have also been released.
Updated 07/12/21: Apple has released the fifth public beta of iOS 14.7 (and associated operating systems iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS).
What’s new in iOS 14.7
We don’t have word yet of any major new user-facing features of iOS 14.7, but several users overseas have noted that they are seeing Air Quality Index reports in the Weather app. Along with Canada, 9to5Mac reports that the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Spain are also included. The only other user-visible feature found so far is the ability to manage HomePod timers from within the HomePod’s interface in the Home app, and Apple is expected to further refine the Podcasts app in this release, to go along with the new Podcast Subscriptions feature.
According to YouTuber Aaron Zollo, Apple has also fixed the bizarre Wi-Fi bug that disabled network access when connecting to an SSID with %p and %s in the name.
How to get the iOS 14.7 beta
If you’re feeling brave, you can try out iOS 14.7 before its general release. Apple suggests you do not run the beta on any critical device, and that’s good advice—you never know what can go wrong.
Developers can go head to developer.apple.com/download on the device upon which they which to run the beta, and download a developer beta profile. Those who aren’t developers can join the public beta by heading to beta.apple.com using the device upon which you wish to run the beta, signing in, and downloading the beta profile.
Once you have the profile you must enable it by going to Settings > General > Profile. Your device will reset to enable the profile. After it has reset with the profile enabled, you can head to Settings > General > Software Updates to download the latest beta release.
If you’re already on the release candidate version of iOS 14.6, you’ll see the 14.7 update listed under a new “Also Available” section in Software Updates. This allows you to either stay on the iOS 14.6 release or jump on the new beta.
When will iOS 14.7 release
Apple began testing iOS 14.7 in May and we originally expected to see a public release in June. We would be very surprised if iOS 14.7 didn’t release before the end of July.
I have written professionally about technology for my entire adult professional life – over 20 years. I like to figure out how complicated technology works and explain it in a way anyone can understand.
