Apple today released the first public beta of iOS 11.1 to its public beta testing group, just a day after seeding the beta to developers and a little over a week after releasing the iOS 11 update to the public.
Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will receive the iOS 11 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on an iOS device.
Those who want to join the beta testing program can sign up on Apple's beta testing website, which gives users access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas. iOS betas are not always stable and should not be installed on a primary device.
While Apple has promised that some major features like peer-to-peer Apple Pay payments and iCloud support for Messages are coming in beta updates, those features are not present in the iOS 11.1 beta.
iOS 11.1 seems to feature only small changes like a tweak to add multiple emoji suggestions to the predictive text options on the built-in keyboard. There's also an updated camera icon under Restrictions, a new animation when tapping the status bar to scroll upwards, and a faster unlock animation.
iOS 11 is a major update to the iOS operating system, introducing significant design changes, a revamped Lock screen experience, a new Control Center, ARKit for developers, new app features, a new App Store, and an entirely reimagined interface for the iPad that includes a Dock, Drag and Drop support, and a new App Switcher for better than ever multitasking.
Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below.
Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
Friday October 31, 2025 1:40 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a small but helpful change for iPhones, and it could prevent you from running late to something important.
Specifically, when an alarm goes off in the Clock app, there is a new "slide to stop" control on the screen for turning off the alarm. On previous iOS 26 versions, there is simply a large "stop" button, which could be accidentally tapped.
The new ...
Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Friday October 31, 2025 7:32 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple has just given a strong indication that it will not be releasing any additional new Macs for the remainder of the year.
Apple's CFO Kevan Parekh dropped the hint during the company's earnings call on Thursday:On Mac, keep in mind, we expect to face a very difficult compare against the M4 MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac launches in the year-ago quarter.Parekh essentially gave a heads up ...
Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors.
...
Wednesday October 29, 2025 7:13 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out.
Processor and Performance
Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to...
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro models could be available in new rich and warm color option, according to a known leaker.
The Weibo user known as "Instant Digital" today suggested that next-year's iPhone 18 Pro models will be available in at least one of the following color options: Coffee, purple, and burgundy.
The iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Pro were all available in ...
Apple launched the Apple TV HD, the Siri Remote, tvOS, and their accompanying App Store a decade ago today, marking a major overhaul of the device.
The new vision for the Apple TV was unveiled on September 9, 2015 during Apple's "Hey Siri" event in San Francisco, where CEO Tim Cook introduced the device with the statement, "The future of TV is apps." The announcement represented a major...
Hey devs! How's this beta working compared to 11.0?
Some random bugs, fixed some previous ones though. One of the really nasty ones on Ipad's.. landscape mode within an app, turn back to portrait.. crash.. So that's not a fun one. Sometimes it won't crash right away, just lock up for 30 seconds then work. That's a combo of IOS bug and application, obviously depending on the app. On the phones.. haven't noticed any huge bugs, just more minor ones. You won't notice much of a change compared to 11.0 really.
My iPhone 6 has crawled to a glacial pace since I updated to iOS 11. Even 11.0.1 didn't help. My phone hard crashes 3-5 times a day. I hope 11.1 fixes that.
As for speed issues, its already been documented by Ars Technica that a 5s is slower under iOS 11 and lots of anecdotal experiences have been described by users as well. Unfortunately, every iOS release is slower than the last.
It may be frustrating, but I don’t think it’s unexpected. The 5S is a 4 year old device with an A7 & 1GB.The latest HW platform is an A11 with 2 or 3GB. Between the A7 and A11 the performance gains are relatively large, huge wrt graphics. Similarly, the iPhone 6 (A8/1GB) is relatively underpowered to run iOS 11.
But beginning with the 6S/iPhone SE/$329 iPad, the A9/2GB platform reaches that “fast enough” point, where the differences from the newest HW aren’t so large. (But who’s to know whether the 6S running iOS 13 will be any less painful than is a 5S trying to run iOS 11? However, with the 6S HW being so similar to the 7, I like the odds.)
There is reason for optimism, though, that the 5S’s performance under iOS 11 will improve. Historically, older devices are slowest with the initial releases of the latest OS. After the dust settles and OS bugs are fixed—and maybe more importantly, ill-behaved apps are updated—the situation will improve. Apple will optimize iOS performance for older models, and to a lesser extent, third party developers will tweak their apps as well.
This goes against the “forced upgrade” narrative some like to push, but it’s proven to be true. Sometimes I wish Apple were more aggressive in cutting off newer OS support for older devices. But I guess they figure more people would rather have access to the latest OS, even if their device runs slower, than be stuck on the old OS. (Which would cause an even louder outcry from pushers of the “forced obsolescence” canard.)
My iPhone 6 has crawled to a glacial pace since I updated to iOS 11. Even 11.0.1 didn't help. My phone hard crashes 3-5 times a day. I hope 11.1 fixes that.
Was ios11 supposed to offer a performance boost? If not, given how ios8 was the original for Iph6, I hear folks say that you should update no more than one major version of iOS, perhaps 2, in order to prevent... well, such performance hits.
