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iOS 17 beta 8 now available to developers as RC version nears

Published Aug 29th, 2023 1:04PM EDT
iOS 17 beta 1
Image: José Adorno for BGR

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As the iPhone 15 announcement nears, Apple has switched iOS 17 beta updates to a weekly basis. That said, the company is now seeding the eighth test version of the upcoming operating system, and the Release Candidate version could be next.

With iOS 17 beta 6, Apple continued to tweak some of the new system features. The end call button is once again centered; it enables a shortcut to access photos when on an iMessage chat. In addition, Apple kept tweaking State of Mind and Settings.

iOS 17 beta 5, for example, also offered tweaks to the Mental Wellbeing tab. The same was worth for the previous beta, while it also made adjustments with the new iMessage menu and AirDrop settings.

iMessage tweak on iOS 17 beta 4
iOS 17 beta 4 vs. beta3 Image source: José Adorno for BGR

iOS 17 beta 3 brought credit in Apple Music songs, the ability to rearrange icons on the new iMessage menu, and manage iPhone storage usage by name, file sizer, or last used date. In addition, Apple tweaked a welcome banner in the Home menu while also adding bilingual queries to Siri.

In general, OS 17 beta introduces a revamped Phone app. It brings personalized Contact Posters, which provide a new way for users to express themselves by customizing how they appear, bringing a new look to incoming calls. They can choose treatments for photos or Memoji and eye-catching typography and font colors. With beta 2, Apple enabled NameDrop, which lets you share your contact by just approaching two iPhones.

For FaceTime, when users call someone unavailable, they can share a message in audio or video that can be enjoyed later. In addition, the app adds Reactions such as hearts, balloons, fireworks, and more.

With iOS 17 beta, Apple says Autocorrect received a comprehensive update with a transformer language model for word prediction. It also received a refreshed design to better support typing, and sentence-level autocorrections can fix more types of grammatical mistakes.

Users can receive predictive text recommendations inline as they type, so adding entire words or completing sentences is as easy as tapping the space bar, making text entry faster than ever. Dictation also has a new speech recognition model to make it even more accurate.

How to download iOS 17 Beta 8

  • On your iPhone, open the Settings app
  • Tap on General and Software Update
  • Tap on Beta Updates and enable iOS 17 Developer Beta once it’s available

Make sure your added Apple ID is registered as a developer. From there, you can download the iOS 17 beta, as it will prompt on your device’s screen.

The same is worth it for the Mac, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. Note that using a different Apple ID for the beta update won’t impact your iCloud settings. Apple explains: “You can sign in with a different Apple ID enrolled in the Apple Beta Software Program or Apple Developer Program.”

In addition, users running any iOS 16 developer beta can tap on Beta Updates and enable the new iOS 17 Developer Beta.

This update will be available later this fall on iPhone models, as long as they are an iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or newer. Apple dropped support for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X versions.

BGR will update this article with new features if we find any. A new public beta build should be available soon.

José Adorno Tech News Reporter

José is a Tech News Reporter at BGR. He has previously covered Apple and iPhone news for 9to5Mac, and was a producer and web editor for Latin America broadcaster TV Globo. He is based out of Brazil.

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