Apple Seeds New Betas of iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16.1 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of iOS 16.1 to developers for testing purposes, with the beta coming one week after the release of the fourth iOS 16.1 beta. The iOS 16.1 beta is also joined by the sixth beta of iPadOS 16.1, which is on a slightly different schedule as Apple started testing it prior to the launch of iOS 16.

iOS 16
Registered developers can download the iOS 16‌ and iPadOS 16 profiles from the Apple Developer Center, and once installed, the betas will be available over the air.

iOS 16.1 introduces support for Live Activities, the interactive notification feature that lets you keep an eye on things happening in real time right from the Lock Screen and, on the iPhone 14 Pro, the Dynamic Island.

Live Activities cannot be used at the current time as developers still need to update their apps to add support, but it will be available when iOS 16.1 launches. Developers have access to an ActivityKit API to begin getting their apps ready.

The update also introduces a new Clean Energy Charging feature in the United States that is designed to selectively charge when lower carbon emission electricity is available, plus it lays the groundwork for Matter, a new smart home standard that Apple plans to begin supporting this fall.

Matter will allow for interoperability between smart devices from different companies, and Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon, and others are working on support.

On the iPad, iPadOS 16 will expand the Stage Manager feature to the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pro models, and it is no longer limited to the M1 ‌iPad Pro‌ and ‌M1‌ iPad Air. The beta removes the external display function of ‌Stage Manager‌, and this feature will return in a later beta. External display support will remain limited to the ‌M1‌ ‌iPad‌ models even though older ‌iPad Pro‌ models are now able to use ‌Stage Manager‌.

During the beta, Apple tweaked the design of the battery status bar icon, adding a visual indication of charge level. It also changed the battery font, updated the Lock Screen charging indicator, and fixed a copy and paste bug.

Other new features in the update include a deletable Wallet app, changes to the Lock Screen customizing interface, and more, with details available in our iOS 16.1 feature guide.

Related Forum: iOS 16

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Top Rated Comments

BobSc Avatar
40 months ago

Please fix annoying display flickering in this update.
Please report this to Apple. They have a better chance to fix it than we do. Thanks.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
40 months ago
Nice! A step closer to the official final release to the public. Let's get it!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DeepIn2U Avatar
40 months ago

I'm not beta testing or anything, but iOS 16.0 through 16.0.3 have been huge battery guzzlers. I'll lose 10-15% while I sleep at night. My iPhone 13 Pro Max was a battery champ.

Granted, you can't really compare the latest release of iOS 15 to iOS 16... shrug.
Curious why you’re not charging whilst your sleep overnight? Unless travelling or doing something specific with relation to charge cycles?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ggab Avatar
40 months ago
Let's hope it fixes the intermittent animation stutter on the 14 Pro when swiping up on an app that has been there since iOS 16 was released.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Realityck Avatar
40 months ago

Hopefully, we'll get the Release candidate next week.
Depends on what you're discussing. If you look at the notes ('https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-seeds-new-betas-of-ios-16-1-and-ipados-16-1-to-developers-update-public-beta-available.2364908/post-31610647') I posted, you see that iPhone and iPads are not at the same level of testing. I hope Apple continues to not tether iOS/iPadOS so close together like in the past.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mthomas184 Avatar
40 months ago

Yes, the constant reloading is bad. I’m switching between an app and safari so I can look something up. I go back to the app and it refreshes. I might be shopping for something or reading a thread, leave app, come back and now its refreshed, and then now I have no idea how to get back to exactly what I was looking at. I just end up giving up.
Yeah its super frustrating.

I tried signing up for something and had to get my CC number from Capital One and every time I went back to Safari to paste it, it would reload the page. I had to start over, get the promo code and CC # etc so many times until I gave up.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)