For those willing to accept the risks associated with installing a beta OS on your device, Apple has rolled out its first public iOS 11 and tvOS 11 betas. The iOS 11 update provides a greatly expanded and customizable Control Center, the ability to record what’s happening on your screen, a Maps app that includes indoor maps for airports and malls, and new HomeKit functionality, among other improvements.
On iPad, iOS 11 provides a new dock and better support for the Apple Pencil. The tvOS 11 upgrade comes with some new bells and whistles as well, including an automatic setting for toggling between Light and Dark Mode, and the ability to store your Home screen layout in iCloud — along with your installed apps — so that this information can be synced across multiple Apple TVs or restored should you ever have to reset or replace your Apple TV.
For anyone not already enrolled in the public beta program, you can get started on Apple’s website.
Two very minor updates to the second developer betas for iOS 11 and tvOS 11 also appeared yesterday, with the iOS build bearing the number 15A304j — only one letter ahead of the previous 15A304i. Since there are often dozens, possibly even hundreds, of individual builds between actual developer beta releases, it’s possible Apple found a bug they thought needed immediate fixing or simply had to make some minor tweaks to line up the second developer betas with these first public betas.
