Apple’s first iOS 8 beta was released on June 2nd and the second one came just as expected two weeks later. Now, Apple has released a much-needed third beta of its next-generation mobile platform. iOS 8 beta 3 brings with it a number of bug fixes and various new items as well. While Apple’s iOS 8 betas are intended for use by developers only on test devices, many people use the software on their personal phones, so the fixes brought about by iOS 8 beta 3 will certainly be greatly appreciated.
FROM EARLIER: Cutting through the hype: The 5 best new features in iOS 8
iOS 8 beta 3 is available beginning immediately for developers with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices that are compatible with the new software. It can be installed as an over the air (OTA) update and is not yet available as a download from Apple’s developer portal.
The new software addresses several troublesome bugs from the first two iOS 8 beta releases, and we’ll update this post with Apple’s full release notes / change log as soon as we receive them.
For non-developers who have the iOS 8 beta installed, iOS 8 beta 3 will address some issues but plenty more will remain, so you might want to consider rolling back to the latest version of iOS 7.1 until the final version of iOS 8 is released to the public.
For more on iOS 8, read our preview: A week with iOS 8
UPDATE: The downloads are now available on Apple’s developer portal, as is the full change log / release notes.
Notes and Known Issues
The following issues relate to using iOS SDK 8.0 to develop code.Authentication
Fixed in beta 3
Projects using LocalAuthentication won’t build if the Destination is set to iOS Simulator.AVCapture
Fixed in beta 3
The API returns incorrect values in some cases.Known Issues
Use of the AVCaptureDevice method rampToVideoZoomFactor:withRate: will fail.
Use of the new constant, AVCaptureISOCurrent, will result in inconsistent ISO values (as observed on the ISO property) if setExposureModeCustomWithDuration:ISO:completionHandler: is called repeatedly.
In some configurations, the maxBracketedCaptureStillImageCount property on AVCaptureStillImageOutput will yield incorrect results.
Backup
Fixed in beta 3
If you do a clean installation, iCloud Backups may not be completely restored to your device.Workaround: Use iTunes to back up and restore your iOS 8 beta devices.
Battery Life
Fixed in beta 3
Extensive console logging of NCLaunchstats may be a cause of reduced battery life.Workaround: Launch Notification Center, then reboot the device.
Bluetooth
Fixed in beta 3
The CoreBluetooth State Preservation & Restoration feature does not work. If your application is jetsammed while in the background performing long-term action(s) with CoreBluetooth, those applications will cease and the application will not be restored.Bug Reporter
Fixed in beta 3
The switch in Developer Settings to hide Bug Reporter is not working.
Workaround: Remove it from the Notification tab in Notification Center settings.The Bug Reporter icon does not appear on the Home Screen on iPad.
Workaround: Open the app from the Notification tab in Notification Center settings.The cursor may not get placed in the appropriate text field.
CarPlay
Fixed in beta 3
When using the knob only, the highlight can move off screen but the scroll position of view doesn’t follow.Known Issues
The Now Playing screen is missing the Back button in the top-left corner.CFPreferences
Fixed in beta 3
After memory pressure events, apps and system services may lose their preferences.Workaround: Reboot the device.
CloudKit
Fixed in beta 3
Sometimes, very large syncs may fail.Known issue
Clients sending multiple simultaneous record update requests to the same zone in the private database may encounter CKErrorZoneBusy errors.Workaround: Clients should send update requests for a given zone one at a time. In addition, they should handle CKErrorZoneBusy errors by retrying with an exponential back off.
Contacts
Notes
The Address Book UI people picker has been changed for iOS 8. A new mode with new API has been added where the app does not need access to the user’s contacts and the user will not be prompted for access. A temporary copy of the selected person is returned to the app. See ABPeoplePickerNavigationController.h for more details.In iOS 8 beta 3, you must use the new mode. The old mode has been deprecated with this beta.
See the new PeoplePicker: Picking a Person or Property sample project demonstrating usage of the new mode.
Fixed in beta 3
If the user selects a property from a unified contact, an incorrect person for that property may be returned by the people picker.Document Providers
Note
Your app needs the iCloud entitlement to be able to be used as a document provider.Fixed in beta 3
Document provider extension will not load if changes are made to an existing document provider on device.
Workaround: You need to either reboot the device or delete the app and reinstall it.Moving some files via UIDocumentPickerViewController may cause a crash if the file was not created locally.
Workaround: Create a local file in the iCloud container and use this URL to move files.Sometimes, bringing up a Document Provider UI Extension will not show up after redeploying the app via Xcode.
Workaround: Force-quit the app, and then it should appear properly.FileProvider extensions do not see the host app’s file removed when copying the file to a shared group container.
Own app’s container does not show up in document picker.
Known Issues
App icons in the document picker do not show up on iPhones and iPads.
Document provider extensions sometimes crash when trying to import a document from a document provider view controller.
Document providers may hang when importing files.
After deploying a FileProvider via Xcode, your documentStorageURL may be nil and cause your extension to crash.
Workaround: Force quit the app and re-use the extension or reboot the device.Selecting a file in a document picker twice in a row may cause the document picker to hang.
Workaround: Force quit the app.After rotating document picker to landscape the status bar is hidden.
Upon bringing up document picker in landscape, the containing view may be shifted beneath the navigation bar.
Auto layout does not provide direct support for the layoutMargins property of UIView currently.
Extensions
Fixed in beta 3
Certain types of media, such as those synced from iTunes, are not editable in the Photos app.
Sharing extensions are enabled by default.
Sharing extensions display the name of the project instead of the name of the target.
During a debug session, extensions may time out before loading.
Known Issues
When Extension with UI is killed, it relaunches and is not dismissed.
Workaround: Kill the hosting application.Sometimes your Sharing or Action extension can hang.
Workaround: Kill the hosting application.Using xpc_service_set_attach_handler to profile app extensions for keyboard does not work.
Workaround: Run your app extension in Simulator, then trigger the Keyboard extension to load and attach to the running instance (for example, com.thirdparty.foo.keyboard (123)) from Instruments’ target chooser.Application extensions may behave unpredictably with respect to location access.
Redeploying an extension may disable it in Notification Center.
Workaround: To debug the Today view extension. use “Attach to process.”After redeploying an app, the Today view extension may not be launched, and sometimes its bundle display name becomes the name of the app.
Workaround: Reboot the device.Extensions sometimes fail to launch when debugging from Xcode.
FaceTime
Known Issue
FaceTime does not work properly in landscape orientation.Family Sharing
Fixed in beta 3
You can’t approve an “Ask to Buy” request from the requestor’s iOS device.
Push notifications are not received.
“Ask to Buy” request notifications do not appear, and requests are not actionable from devices running iOS 8 beta 2.
Known Issues
Items already owned by family members must be re-downloaded from the Purchased page (not Store pages) to get them free of additional charge.
Under 13 account creation is disabled in this beta.
Email invitations are not enabled; members can join using push notifications or via inline password entry flow.
A blank screen may be seen after creating a family on iPad.
Workaround: Tap on other settings and then back to iCloud settings.File System
Note
The file system layout of app containers has changed on disk. Rather than relying on hard-coded directory structure, use the NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains function or the URLForDirectory:inDomain:appropriateForURL:create:error: method of the NSFileManager class. See Accessing Files and Directories in File System Programming Guide.Find My Friends
Note
Now that the Share My Location feature is integrated into Messages, Find My Friends only supports the Apple ID configured in Settings > iCloud.Fonts
Known Issue
Some Hindi strings are incorrectly displayed, causing search and rendering issues.Game Center
Fixed in beta 3
Invites to matchmaking may get stuck on Waiting.Workaround: Use automatch.
Known issue
Swiping or tapping a Game Center friend request notification anywhere automatically accepts the friend request..Handoff
Note
Handoff is incompatible between devices using this beta and the prior beta. You should test Handoff with the most recent beta software because it is not backward-compatible with previous betas.Fixed in beta 3
When using a Mac, Handoff may sometimes stop showing icons on other iOS and OS X devices. Powering the Mac off and then back on can sometimes work around this issue.
Phone Calls to and from the Mac may sometimes not complete or send and receive audio.
HealthKit
Notes
Any blood type that was previously set in Medical ID will be cleared in beta 3.
The pairing UI for BTLE health devices has been removed from Health and is now available in Settings -> Bluetooth.
Fixed in beta 3
Health does not support locales outside of en-US at this time.Known issue
BTLE health devices will pair but data will not be saved to HealthKit.HomeKit
Fixed in beta 3
HomeKit Bluetooth LE support is not enabled.
When upgrading from an earlier beta, you may need to remove accessories from Home Kit Accessory Simulator and then re-add them.
iCloud Drive
Notes
A server-side data wipe on all CloudKit public and private databases will occur on July 7, 2014.
With the release of iOS 8 beta 3, iCloud Drive, iCloud Photo Library, Safari history, and Call history will stop syncing on earlier betas.
iCloud Drive can be re-enabled from Setup Assistant after upgrade. If you choose to store your documents in iCloud Drive, your Documents & Data will automatically be copied to iCloud Drive. iCloud Drive will not update across earlier betas or operating systems. If you do not upgrade to iCloud Drive, your documents will continue to back up.
iCloud Photo Library can be enabled from the Photos app and in iCloud Settings. Photos and videos previously stored in iCloud Photo Library will remain on their original iOS 8 devices and will upload to iCloud Photo Library again automatically.
All containers used by CloudKit applications will be emptied.
Document storage containers created using the UIDocument class in iOS 7 are not yet available for use with iCloud Documents through Xcode 6 beta or in the Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles section of Member Center. These containers will be migrated in an upcoming beta and associated with your existing App IDs.
Fixed in beta 3
In some cases, signing into iCloud can take up to two minutes.
Newly added files may not sync automatically.
Workaround: After signing into iCloud, reboot the device.Known issue
iCloud Drive may not be correctly enabled on a 2nd device after signing in via Buddy or Settings.Workaround: Logging out of iCloud, logging back in and enabling iCloud Drive should resolve the issue. In some cases, you may need to try these steps more than once.
iCloud Keychain
Known Issues
Initial sync does not work if the approving device is locked when the approval occurs.
Workaround: Toggle keychain off and then on again.After changing an iCloud account password, you may notice an “iCloud Keychain has been reset” message.
Workaround: Add your device back into the keychain syncing circle.Using the recovery option can leave you in a state where new items added to the keychain do not sync.
Workaround: Use approval method with other devices unlocked.Keyboards
Fixed in beta 3
In some cases, you may need to restart an app to get third-party keyboard input to register.
The requestSupplementaryLexiconWithCompletion: method does not return any lexicon entries.
On-screen keyboards do not correctly respond to some notifications (such as layout changes made in Settings).
Workaround: Stop the running process and relaunch it or reboot the simulated device.Keyboard keys are not being highlighted on some previous-generation devices.
When selecting a keyboard app in the Add New Keyboard menu, you may see an empty sheet. This happens when the containing app has a single keyboard target.
Workaround: To add the keyboard, tap Done on the top-right of the sheet.The Delete button may not show up when trying to remove an iPad keyboard.
Workaround: Tap on the blank space where the Delete button would be to remove the keyboard.Known Issues
If an iPad is restored while in landscape, it may end up with an offscreen keyboard in certain views.
Workaround: Reboot the device.There is a known performance issue, which is evident as a time lag between viewDidLoad and the textDidChange: callbacks firing.
Localization
Fixed in beta 3
There are a number of strings that will display in English for people running the iOS in other languages. Known areas include, but may not be limited to:Podcasts: not localized for Hindi, Australian English, Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong/zh_HK), or Canadian French
Messages/iChat: “%@’s Location” not localized in any language
Health/Healthkit: not localized for Arabic, Austrailian English, British English, Croatian, Czech, Spanish (Spain), Hebrew, Hindi, Traditional Chinese (both zh_TW and zh_HK), Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese
Spotlight Search “Learn More” explanatory text: not translated
Data Activation Strings “Location is required”, “Location Unavailable”, “Location Disabled”: not translated in all languages
Camera: most UI is not translated in all languages
Location Services
Fixed in beta 3
When Location Services is turned on, the device’s current location is used to suggest relevant apps on the lock screen. These suggested apps will remain on the lock screen even after leaving the relevant location.Lock Screen
Fixed in beta 3
Sometimes devices may not wake when the home button is pushed.
Workaround: Use the sleep/wake/power button.Tapping Emergency on the lock screen does not do anything.
Known issue
Location-based recommended apps will not display on the lock screen.Lost Mode
Fixed in beta 3
A device doesn’t display the Lost Mode message in the lock screen if the device was locked at the time it was put into Lost Mode.
Workaround: Reboot the device.After remote wiping a device and logging into the same (@icloud.com) iCloud account, the Lost Mode lock screen is displayed and the device cannot be unlocked.
Fixed in beta 3
Sometimes Mail crashes when replying to an email with an attachment.MapKit
Fixed in beta 3
Taking multiple snapshots using MKMapSnapshotter can sometimes produce a distorted map snapshot.Metal and OpenGL
Known issue
Shadow samplers are broken when using linear filtering.Workaround: For OpenGL, set GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER and GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER to GL_NEAREST. For Metal, set the mag_filter and min_filter sampler properties to nearest in the shader source.
Messages
Fixed in beta 3
SMS relay may not work until an iMessage is sent from the device.
The keyboard may cover the predictive text bar if you launch Messages from the App Switcher.
Known issue
If you have Send As SMS enabled in Messages Settings, the Messages app may periodically become unresponsive.Workaround: Reboot your device.
Newsstand
Known Issue
Content downloaded via NKAssetDownload doesn’t get returned to the app.Notification Center
Note
The schedule and intended use of widgetPerformUpdateWithCompletionHandler: has changed from previous betas. It is now intended as a convenient home for all data/model update logic. If implemented, the system will call at opportune times for the widget to update its state, both when the Notification Center is visible as well as in the background. An implementation is required to enable background updates. It’s expected that the widget will perform the work to update asynchronously and off the main thread as much as possible. Widgets should call the argument block when the work is complete, passing the appropriate NCUpdateResult. Widgets should NOT block returning from viewWillAppear: on the results of this operation. Instead, widgets should load cached state in viewWillAppear: in order to match the state of the view from the last viewWillDisappear:, then transition smoothly to the new data when it arrives.Notifications
Fixed in beta 3
User notification custom action buttons don’t show when context is only set to UIUserNotificationActionContextDefault.Workaround: Set the context to both Default and Minimal.
NSURLSession
Note
Beginning in iOS 8 beta 2, the NSURLSessionTask class provides a new “priority” property with three associated constants: NSURLSessionTaskPriorityDefault, NSURLSessionTaskPriorityLow, and NSURLSessionTaskPriorityHigh. NSURLSessionTask priorities can be used to specify how multiple requests and responses to the same host should be prioritized. Note that the priority is a hint and not a strict guarantee of NSURLSessionTask performance.For complete usage details of NSURLSessionTask priorities, refer to the NSURLSession.h header file, which is provided by the Foundation framework.
Passbook
Fixed in beta 3
Passes added on iOS 7 devices won’t appear in iOS 8 devices, and vice versa.Phone
Notes
To activate Wi-Fi Calling functionality for T-Mobile (US only), please follow these steps:Go to Settings -> Phone -> Wi-Fi Calling
Toggle the ‘Wi-Fi Calling’ switch to ON
If the carrier does not have user’s registered emergency address, you will be asked to add it before the feature is activated
Fixed in beta 3
Bringing up a contact card in Mail during a call causes a hang.
Phone call relay uses Bluetooth when it should be using Wi-Fi. Since not all devices have the necessary Bluetooth support, this may fail on some hardware.
Known issue
Call UI may appear on top of the home screen when it is originated from the app switcher.Photos
Notes
You need to upgrade to beta 3 to use iCloud Photo Library. Beta 1 and 2 will no longer supports this feature.
Back up your photo libraries before enabling iCloud Photo Library by:
Importing to your Mac using iPhoto
Importing to your Mac using Image Capture
Enabling iCloud Photo Library will not add photos/videos that have been synced with iTunes to the cloud.
iPhoto for iOS will not launch on iOS 8 Beta. Launching Photos.app will migrate your iPhoto edits to the iOS 8 Photo Library. Make sure your iPhoto for iOS data is included in your device backup.
Fixed in beta 3
Slow motion clips that have been trimmed sync to other devices as a gray thumbnail.
iCloud Photo downloads stall when a device is idle for a long period of time.
Workaround: Sync resumes when the device wakes up.iCloud Photo Library does not upload Photos synced from iTunes.
Known Issues
The ability to automatically optimize device space is not enabled in this beta.
When using iCloud Family, both iCloud Photos and My Photostream are enabled.
After restore from iCloud backup, modified photos may show unmodified thumbnails.
If you reach your iCloud quota, there is no way to add or delete data within the Photos app.
If both iCloud Photos and Photostream are enabled, duplicate photos are displayed.
After upgrading to beta 3, your device may get stuck while uploading photos to iCloud.
Workaround: Reboot the device.PhotosUI
Fixed in beta 3
PHContentEditingController protocol methods may be called on background threads.Reminders
Fixed in beta 3
When you select Edit in a list of reminders and then scroll, reminders in the list are no longer editable.Safari
Note
Safari now blocks ads from automatically redirecting to the App Store without user interaction. If you still see the previous behavior, or find legitimate redirection to the App Store to be broken in some way, please file a bug.
You can now quickly add a site to Shared Links or save a bookmark by tapping and holding on the bookmarks button.
Settings
Fixed in beta 3
You are unable to use the “Forgot Apple ID or Password” dialog on your device.
Workaround: Reset passwords from appleid.apple.com.The username and password fields in iCloud Settings do not display properly.
Setup
Known Issues
Updating the iCloud settings screen may appear to hang during setup.
Workaround: Some accounts may have an extra long lag. Wait a couple of minutes and they should complete.Upon upgrade install, Touch ID is disabled for iPhone unlock.
Workaround: Enable iPhone Unlock option in Settings > Touch ID & Passcode.Simulator
Fixed in beta 3
Changing keyboards in Settings > General > Keyboard requires you to relaunch your app before the new settings are observed.
The Toggle In-Call Status Bar menu option in the Hardware menu does not work.
You cannot log into an iCloud account in Simulator.
Certificates and profiles are not being added when drag and dropping them into an iOS Simulator window.
Workaround: Open via Safari in the simulated device by inserting a file:// URL into the address bar.Known Issues
Apps deployed to CarPlay do not launch or display controls.
If you rename Xcode.app after having previously run it, Simulator stops working.
Workaround: Reboot or revert the name change.The software keyboard in the resizable iPhone sim does not appear.
Workaround: The hardware keyboard can still be used for text input.The resizable sim will not resize while social, photo sharing, or action extension items are displayed.
Workaround: Dismiss the view, app switch to another app and back.Siri
Fixed in beta 3
Localized strings for Voice Activation phrases don’t appear in Settings > General > Siri.
Voice Activation phrase for each Siri Language:English (US, UK, AU, CA): Hey Siri
French (FR, CA, CH): Dis Siri
German (DE, CH): Hey Siri
German (DE, CH): Hey Siri
Italian (IT, CH): Ehi Siri
Japanese (JP): Hey Siri
Chinese – Cantonese (HK): 喂Siri
Chinese – Mandarin (CN, TW): 嘿Siri
Spanish (MX, SP, US): Oye Siri
Korean (KR): Siri야
If you use Bluetooth to activate Siri and ask what song is playing, Siri fails to identify the song.
After memory pressure events, pressing and holding the home button may launch Voice Control instead of Siri when Siri is enabled (Settings > General > Siri).
Workaround: Reboot the device to have Siri activate as expected.Known issues
Speaking “Hey, Siri” may fail to launch Siri for subsuquent requests if you leave the UI by tapping the home button while Siri is still speaking.
Workaround: Re-launch Siri with the home button, speak your request, and do not exit the UI until Siri finishes speaking.The ‘Hey, Siri’ feature is not available when Japanese is selected in Settings -> General -> Siri -> Language.
Springboard
Known Issues
Some projects may launch in portrait when the destination device is in landscape.
Workaround: Rotate the device to portrait and back to landscape to continue in landscape.SpringBoard will crash when a device is locked while viewing a folder.
Workaround: Exit folder before locking device.Stores
Known issue
Sometimes, loading certain pages or performing a search on the App Store or iTunes Store can be slow.UIKit
Note
UILabel has a default value of YES for clipsToBounds. This differs from the normal UIView default of NOfalse.Fixed in beta 3
Share sheets sometimes include the “Send to Shared Photostream” item when they should not.Known Issue
If an app is using a xib as its main window and is launched in landscape iPad, the main window will have the incorrect dimensions, causing significant distortion and difficulty using presented view controllers. An app may have to be force-quit after presenting a system view controller to function again.Workaround: Launch all apps in portrait before rotating to landscape.
Weather
Known issue
On iPhone 4S, Weather is missing it’s background color, letting the wallpaper see through behing the condition animations.WebKit
Notes
Subpixel rendering is now on by default for all web content. Websites or in-app web views with extremely tight design constraints may render differently. Solutions for each issue will vary, but use Web Inspector to adjust position, border thickness, and width or height of elements.
In iOS 8.0 beta 2 and later, CSS object model getters (offset{Left|Top|Width|Height} and client{Left|Top|Width|Height}) return fractional double values based on subpixel metrics instead of rounded integral values.
When passing information from a UIWebView back to a native app using a custom URL scheme, the URL must be well-formed or WebKit will not issue a load request, and thus the -webView:shouldStartLoadWithRequest:navigationType: UIWebViewDelegate method will not be called.
Workaround: Typically this means properly encoding each part of the URL, such as placing a query string after a ‘?’ character.Fixed in beta 3
Applications that use Apache Cordova/PhoneGap are broken due to a bug that causes the window.navigator.userAgent object to become undefined when window.navigator is replaced by a pure JavaScript wrapper object.
Apps that play video in a UIWebView may fail playback.
Known issue
If you pass NULL for the fqdn parameter of SecRequestSharedWebCredential as recommended, only the first domain in the entitlement is used.
