iOS 12 Beta 4 for iPhone Released to Developers

As the official release of iOS 12 nears closer each day, Apple continues to update its betas. The company released the fourth beta of the upcoming software to developers Tuesday, July 17, exactly two weeks after the release of the third developer beta which came out just a few days before the second public beta.

The fourth iOS 12 developer beta, as all updates do, introduces minor bug fixes and security patches, but also includes major changes that users might immediately notice. Fortnite no longer crashes during gameplay, and Apple Watch contacts no longer fall out of sync, if users open the Watch app and head to General -> Reset -> Reset Sync Data. Curiously, toggles are now more prominent in iOS 12 beta 4, featuring a bolder outline for increased accessibility.

But the beta also comes with its own set of headaches. Apple warns iPhone X users could notice inaccurate cell signal bars while running the beta. If you choose to update to Beta 4 on your iPhone X, just keep in mind those bars could be misleading.

• Don't Miss: Fortnite Finally Fixed on the iOS 12 Beta for iPhones

If you want to update your iPhone to iOS 12 dev beta 4, you need to be a registered developer with a valid configuration profile. If you have iOS 12's new "Automatic Updates" enabled, you can let the software update overnight. To download the new beta right now, however, open the Settings app, tap "General," then "Software Update." Then, select "Download and Install," and follow the on-screen prompts to download and install iOS 12 beta 4.

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Resolved Issues

The following list includes problems fixed by Apple, according to Beta 4's release notes:

Third-Party Apps:

• Fortnite might unexpectedly quit during use. (41617672)
• Netflix might unexpectedly quit when downloading a video. (40653033)

Activity:

• The route map for a workout might be unavailable. (40008565)

ARKit:

• ARReferenceObject and ARWorldMap data generated using iOS 12 beta 2 or earlier isn't compatible with beta 3 or later. Please rescan your objects to generate new ARReferenceObject and ARWorldMap data. (41489820)

Calendar:

• While in Day view, an event might appear on an unexpected date. (40586853) — Workaround: Switch to Week or Month view then back to Day view. Alternatively, quit and relaunch Calendar.

CoreML:

• When layers are quantized <8-bits or with a lookup-table, users may encounter issues in deconvolution and recurrent layers. (40632252) — Workaround: Use only linear 8-bit quantization on these layers.

Phone and FaceTime:

• A "No SIM" notification might be displayed when restarting iPad if an Apple SIM is inserted with no active data plan. (41138762)
• Your device might not register for iMessage and FaceTime using your phone number. (41374914) —Workaround: Restart your device.

Safari & Webkit

• Viewing Wallet passes in SFSafariViewController might be unavailable. (40415649) — Workaround: View the pass in Safari.

Screen Time:

• Screen Time data might not synchronize across iOS devices. (41548198)
• Screen Time website usage for a child won't be displayed on the parent's device, but can be read on the child's device. (40218447)
• The default Always Allowed apps won't be allowed in Downtime until after tapping Settings > Screen Time > Always Allowed to refresh the list of apps. (40320173)
• Use only numbers when creating a Screen Time passcode or it might become impossible to enter the passcode. (40671666)

Siri:

• When handling an intent from Siri using the application:continueUserActivity:restorationHandler: method, the interaction object on userActivity won't have an intent response. (41383282)
• Adding shortcuts to Siri might fail for shortcuts with images in PDF format. (40395673) — Workaround: Use another image format.

Spotlight:

• When searching via Spotlight, internet results might unexpectedly be ranked higher than local results. (41562287)

Voice Memos:

• Voice Memos don't sync to iTunes. (40346169)

Known Issues

New issues are listed in bold below:

App Store:

• An error message might appear while attempting to install an app. (41858048) — Workaround: Try installing the app again.

CoreGraphics:

• Various CoreGraphics calls have been hardened against continuing with invalid parameters. In iOS 12 beta, these calls may now return NULL or return early. (38344690)

CoreML:

• Models with flexible input sizes may unexpectedly reject an input using the default size displayed in Xcode's type field. (40632323) — Workaround: Supply a non-default size input on first prediction call.

HomeKit:

• Inviting iOS 11 users who have multiple email addresses associated with their Apple ID to a home might not succeed. (41033550) — Workaround: Send the invitation to a different email address or phone number associated with the Apple ID of the iOS 11 user.

Localization:

• Certain languages may exhibit clipped or misaligned layout. (40420329)
• Certain languages may display unlocalized text. (40420422)

MediaPlayer Framework:

• When a queue Transaction is performed on applicationQueuePlayer to modify the position of a song, the queue returns unchanged. (39401344)
• A song cannot be added to a playlist using the addItemWithProductID API. (40508800)

Phone and FaceTime

• The cellular signal status bar indicator on iPhone X might be inaccurate while on the Lock Screen or the Home Screen. (41909622)
• The Cellular Data section in Settings > Cellular might refresh continuously. (41587310)
• Group FaceTime calls cannot be initiated between iOS 12 beta 3 and the first iOS 12 beta release. (39873802) — Workaround: Users should update to iOS 12 beta 3.
• iPod touch (6th generation), iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad mini 2, iPad mini 3,

and iPad Air support only audio (no video) during Group FaceTime calls in iOS 12 beta.

• In iOS 12 beta, Camera Effects in Messages is available only on iPhone SE and iPhone 6s or later and is unavailable on iPad. Camera Effects in FaceTime is available only on iPhone 7 or later and is unavailable on iPad.
• Wi-Fi calls might end unexpectedly when transitioning from Wi-Fi to cellular while on the T-Mobile network. (39251828)

Screen Time:

• Usage data and settings might not sync between devices. (41259736) — Workaround: Restart the affected devices.
• "Picked Up Phone" statistics might be inflated due to data syncing from other devices signed into the same iCloud account. (39917173)

Siri:

• Siri Shortcuts might not work while using CarPlay. (39882673, 41652481)
• Siri Shortcuts on HomePod might result in an error message. (40834728)
• Siri Shortcuts might not be restored from iCloud backup. (40899084)
• Siri Shortcuts might not work if a device is locked. (41307405)
• SiriKit queries might be delayed or result in an error message. (41759318) — Workaround: Restart the affected device.
• In Swift, the shortcut property of INVoiceShortcut must be accessed as _shortcut. (40418400)
• Siri Suggestions for Shortcuts are enabled on iPhone 6s or later, iPad Pro, iPad (5th generation or later), iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 4. (40669231)

Wallet:

• Wallet might unexpectedly quit on launch. (41603255) — Workaround: Use the application switcher to quit Wallet then try launching it again.

This latest beta not just available for developers: Public testers received this update on Wednesday, July 18, as iOS 12 public beta 3. It's the exact same update as the developer beta 4, so the notes in this article applies to public beta testers as well.

• More Info: iOS 12 Public Beta 3 Released for iPhone Software Testers

Although iOS 12's main achievement is in overall performance and stability, the software comes packed with plenty of new features for beta testers and all iPhone users alike to look forward to. Big changes like Siri Shortcuts, notification grouping, and USB accessory lockouts are no-brainers for upgrading, but small features such as favicons on Safari tabs, the lock screen weather widget, and Quick-Reply notification Tapbacks — among many others — are more than enough to get anyone excited about iOS 12.

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Cover image and screenshots by Jake Peterson/Gadget Hacks