Next iOS 9 beta will support Apple Music; coming today?
BeforeThere is a new beta on the horizon for iOS 9 that will provide support for Apple Music. Remember, Cupertino’s subscription-based streaming music service launches on June 30, and Apple has already confirmed that iOS 8.4 will release to the general public at 8 a.m. PDT ahead of the 9 a.m. PDT Beats 1 first broadcast. In a series of tweets, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, confirmed that there is a new iOS 9 seed coming, but he didn’t say when.
@lokithorrrrr a new iOS 9 seed will support Apple Music
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 27, 2015
There are three distinct possibilities for when iOS 9 beta 3 will release to developers. It could come today, which seems pretty likely. Apple could also choose to release it at the same time it ships iOS 8.4 to the general public. Third, Cupertino could release the new seed sometime after the initial launch of Apple Music. Let’s look at those possibilities.
Early Release
If Apple releases iOS 9 beta 3 sometime today, it will beat the rush of getting two simultaneous operating system updates out on the same day. Trying to ship both iOS 8.4 and the third beta of version 9 is certainly within Cupertino’s capabilities, but why risk saturating their network?
Simultaneous Release
This is feasible, but I don’t think it’s likely. Apple has never released both an update and a new beta release before. While I’m sure their servers could handle it, such a huge amount of downloads might saturate their network and lead to slower than usual download times.
Later Release
It’s also possible that Apple will wait until sometime after Apple Music launches to release iOS 9 beta 3. All Cue has said is that a “new iOS 9 seed will support Apple Music,” but he hasn’t said when that release will come out. It is unlikely, but still within the realm of possibilities, for the next seed to come out in the days following Apple Music’s launch.
All of this is quite perplexing, and it’s difficult to say exactly what Cupertino will do. They’ve been playing Apple Music very close to the vest since the service doesn’t have anything to do with developers. At the same time, though, they can’t leave iOS 9 testers out of the loop when it comes to Apple Music, can they? For that reason, and the possible network saturation issue, I think we will see the next beta released sometime today. We’ll continue to follow the story.
