Apple ships second beta versions of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 to public beta testers

Apple today planted the second beta beta versions of upcoming iOS and iPadOS 14 updates to its public beta testing group, two weeks after delivering the first beta versions of iOS and iPadOS 14 to public beta testers. The second public beta version corresponds to the third developer beta version released yesterday.

Public beta testers who have enrolled in Apple’s beta testing program can download iOS / ‌iPadOS‌ 14 updates wirelessly after installing the appropriate certificate from the Public Beta website on an iOS device, with instructions available on how do what. Updates should not be installed on major devices as this is beta software and could have serious errors.

iOS 14 brings changes to the home screen, including widget support. Widgets can now be placed right next to your apps, and with the focus on widgets, Apple has introduced new ‌widgets‌ from the default apps and is allowing them to be customized in three sizes.

You can place “widgets” anywhere on any application page, with new “widgets” that can be found in the widget gallery. Along with the “widgets”, Apple has introduced an app library, which is an interface that displays all the apps on your iPhone, both in automatically created smart folders and in an alphabetical list.

With the app library that provides access to all your apps, there is now an option to hide entire pages of apps from your ‌iPhone‌, so you can avoid a crowded home screen.

Apple has worked to make the PiPhone‌’s interface more compact, and incoming phone calls and requests from Siri no longer fill the entire screen and are instead presented in a banner style, a feature also available in ‌iPadOS‌.

There is a Picture in Picture mode for watching videos or using FaceTime while doing something else at the same time on the ‌iPhone‌. The Messages app has new features focused on group conversations like pinned conversations, mentions, and online responses.

A new App Clips feature allows you to use small snippets of an app without the need to download the full app, useful for those times when you need an app to buy a coffee, rent a scooter, or make a restaurant reservation. App Clips will work through Apple-designed App Clip codes, NFC tags, or QR codes, and can also be shared in Messages or from Safari.

The Health app supports the sleep tracking feature added in watchOS 7, and the PiPhone‌ will support sleep and sleep mode features designed to help you sleep better at night. There’s also a new Health Checklist that makes it easy to manage health and safety features like emergency SOS, fall detection, and medical identification.

The Weather app now provides information on severe weather events and minute-by-minute rainfall readings (US only), and the Maps app supports cycling directions for the first time so cyclists can plan routes with information such as busy streets, elevation changes, stairs, and more. Maps now also allows electric vehicle owners to plan routes with EV charging points.

The Home app is smarter with automation hints and an adaptive lighting feature that allows HomeKit lights to adjust their color temperature throughout the day, plus there are new features for ‌HomeKit‌ safe cameras.

A new translation app designed by Apple provides text and voice translations to and from 11 languages, and with an on-device mode, translations can be done entirely on your phone.

Tons of new privacy features have been added in iOS and ‌iPadOS 14‌. Applications need permission before accessing devices on a local network, you are notified when an application accesses the clipboard, and there are small icons in the “Home Screen” status bar when an application is using the camera or microphone .

There are also new options to limit access to selected photos and provide apps with an approximate location instead of an exact location for better privacy protection. Safari has a Privacy Report that tells you which crawler sites they are using, and in the future, the App Store will include a summary of developer privacy practices in an easy-to-read format.

AirPods can now switch between devices transparently and automatically, and AirPods Pro gets a new spatial audio feature for full surround sound with dynamic head tracking.

As for ‌iPadOS 14‌, it includes most of the new deiOS 14‌ updates, minus the redesign of ‌Home Screen‌. The biggest change is the new Scribble feature that allows you to use Apple Pencil to write in any text field, with typed text converted to typed text.

Scribble works across the operating system, so you can use the PenApple Pencil‌ for searching in Safari, adding new items in Calendar and Reminders, sending messages, handwriting in the Notes app, and more.

The beta 3 developer update included a new red Music icon, changes to the Music Library layout in the Music app, a Clock widget, an updated Screen Time widget, and more, with details available in our article from tidbits beta 3.

For more information on everything new in iOS and ‌iPadOS 14‌, be sure to check out our summaries of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, which have a detailed look at all the new features.