Oliver Haslam on August 28, 2019, 8:08 am

What Happened To iOS 13 Beta 9?

With the arrival of iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1 in beta form, there are a lot of questions, not least, what happened to iOS 13 beta 9?

The last version we saw was beta 8, which arrived on developer devices last week. Since then, we’ve been waiting for the next beta to land. And it did, but it’s called 13.1. Confused? We don’t blame you.

As multiple people have suggested, it appears that Apple has now signed off on iOS 13 and iPadOS 13. The beta 8 release that we’ve been using looks set to be the same version that the 2019 iPhones will ship with when they arrive next month. And that’s a problem because that version simply isn’t ready.

We’ve been testing iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 since the betas started and the road has been particularly rough. Even with the latest betas, we’ve experienced Springboard crashes and graphical glitches. If this is what Apple will ship brand new iPhone 11 models with, iOS 13.1 will need to be very close to release at that time.

And that’s likely why beta 1 is now in the hands of developers. All ducks need to be in their respective rows ahead of that release, and giving developers time to test is the only way to do that. We don’t expect any further iOS 13 or iPadOS 13 betas to arrive, at least externally to Apple. It’s baked, and it’s ready to go.

Except it isn’t, but at this point, what does Apple do? It’s short on time and if it can get iOS 13.1 ready soon after the new iPhones ship, all will be forgiven.