Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming iOS 12 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the fifth beta and over two months after introducing the new software at the Worldwide Developers Conference. Registered developers can download the new iOS 12 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air after installing the proper certificate. play iOS 12 introduces major updates to iOS, with Apple revamping the operating system from top to bottom to make iPhones and iPads, especially the older models, faster and more responsive. On the iPhone X, there are new Animoji characters along with "Memoji," which are customizable, personalized, humanoid Animoji that can be used both in Messages and in FaceTime. Messages and FaceTime have also gained fun new camera effects, and Group FaceTime support allows for video chats with up to 32 people. Siri is smarter in iOS 12 with a new Shortcuts feature that lets you create multi-step customized automations using first and third-party apps that can be activated with Siri voice commands. Shortcuts can be created through the Shortcuts app, available as a beta from Apple's Developer Center. Apple built comprehensive time management and monitoring tools into iOS 12 with Screen Time, allowing you to keep track of how much time you're spending in apps on your iPhone and iPad. App limits can help you cut back on iOS device usage, and robust parental controls are included for families. Updated Do Not Disturb options make activating Do Not Disturb more intuitive and simple, and a new Do Not Disturb at Bedtime feature cuts down on nighttime distractions and sleep interruptions. Group Notifications make incoming notifications easier to view and manage, while a new Instant Tuning feature lets you tweak your notification settings right on the Lock screen on a notification-by-notification basis. play Apple News has a new Browse feature, the Stocks app has been redesigned and brought to the iPad, iBooks has been overhauled with a new look and a new name -- Apple Books -- and Voice Memos has been revamped with iCloud support and an iPad app. ARKit 2.0 introduces new capabilities like shared experiences that let two people see the same AR environment on separate devices, and persistence, which allows AR experiences to be saved across multiple sessions. There's also a new Apple-built Measure app for measuring objects using AR capabilities. iOS 12 includes a revamped and rebuilt Maps app that uses a new Apple-designed Maps engine that will display foliage, pools, buildings, pedestrian pathways, and other map elements more accurately. The new Maps also includes significant improvements to traffic, real-time road conditions, construction, and more, plus it will enable Apple to push out changes and fixes more quickly. The updated Maps app is available in the Northern California area during beta testing. After iOS 12 launches, Apple will continue rolling out the new maps to additional U.S. locations across late 2018 and 2019. Tons of other small tweaks and features have been added to iOS 12, so make sure to check out our dedicated roundup for additional detail on what's new in iOS 12. Early betas of new operating system updates always introduce tweaked features and new functionality, and we'll be outlining what's new in the fourth beta below. We also rounded up all of the changes that were introduced in the previous betas, beta 2 and beta 3, beta 4, and beta 5. iOS 12 is available for developers and public beta testers, with a public launch planned for the fall alongside new iPhones. What's new in iOS 12 beta 6: According to Apple, today's beta introduces new bugs and issues while solving some previous problems. The third-generation Apple TV might not function as a HomeKit hub in beta 6, and the Apple TV 4K might not appear as a HomeKit hub unless setup was completed using an iOS device. This can be fixed by adding the Apple TV to the home via Settings > AirPlay > Room. Settings might unexpectedly quit when viewing or selecting a voice in the Speech Accessibility options. Settings might unexpectedly quit when attempting to open Siri & Search settings if FaceTime, Mail, Maps, or Voice Memos have been uninstalled. If this is happening, Apple suggests installing the missing apps. When using certain shortcuts, Siri might not automatically open the app and will instead display an Open button. Multiple bugs from the prior beta have been fixed, including an issue with Bluetooth accessories not functioning correctly, a bug that could cause Apple Pay Cash to crash when used with Siri, a problem with Shortcuts not working, a bug that prevented Siri from opening apps by name in CarPlay, and more. The Home app also introduces new solid-colored background options while removing previously available Home wallpapers. Update: Apple has also made a new version of iOS 12 available for its public beta testing group.<doc-sep>Have you been plagued by popups in iOS 12 beta telling you that there are updates to the operating system when in fact there aren't any? Well, Apple's released an update to fix that. Must read: Apple products you should not buy (August 2018 edition) If you are running the beta, go to Settings > General > Software Update to grab this update and restore some sanity to your system. According to developer Guilherme Rambo, the bug came down down to a date bug: It looks like this method in Springboard does some date/time calculations to determine if the current build is about to expire, every time the cover sheet gets dismissed. For some reason, the latest builds of iOS 12 think they're about to expire. ZDNet is able to confirm that this update does indeed fix the problem. And ahead of the Labor Day weekend. Fortunately, the update is pretty small, coming in at under 100MB, so it shouldn't take too long to download and install. See also:<doc-sep>
“A new iOS update is now available. Please update from the iOS 12 beta.” You’re probably tired of seeing this message if you’re running iOS 12. It now pops up every time you unlock your iPhone or iPad. Yet there is no update available, and there is no practical way to prevent the popup from appearing over and over again. The good news is your device isn’t broken. Everyone running the iOS 12 beta is experiencing the same thing. But what’s causing it? The popup is easily dismissed, and it won’t prevent you from using your iOS device normally. When you see it every time you unlock, though, it gets pretty annoying. Here’s what’s going on. What causes false iOS 12 update notifications? Every beta Apple rolls out has an expiration date. You need to update your device before that date, or it will eventually stop working properly. There seems to be a problem with that date in the latest iOS 12 beta. Your device is convinced, then, that the software you’re running will soon expire. But if you attempt to update, you’ll find a new release isn’t available yet. The only fix is an impractical one, and we don’t recommend you use it. You can change the date on your iOS device — move it back a week or so — to prevent the update popup from constantly appearing. But this can cause other problems, particularly inside apps that rely on the date to be accurate. It’s best that you simply suffer the popups until Apple rolls out a new iOS 12 beta. Here come the memes So many people are experiencing this problem that memes poking fun at it are already popping up on social media. Here are some of our favorites. The greatest profile pic that we have ever done. #OneMoreThing pic.twitter.com/3LUqvziSwu — ᶰᵒᵗ Jony Ive (@JonyIveParody) August 31, 2018 Here’s to hoping Apple fixes this quickly because it is frustrating. Some might say that it’s our fault for installing beta software ahead of its official release, but let’s face it, most of the software we use today is in beta — it just doesn’t have the beta tag. Look at iOS 11; even after it went public, it had more bugs than the earliest preview releases of iOS 12, and it took Apple months to address them all.