iOS 5 beta 1 was released to developers on June 6th, 2011. Since then, a lot of people apart from developers have tried out iOS 5 beta 1 and it really has appealed to all. While there is no word as yet on an iOS 5 beta 2 release, we feel its our duty to inform you that the first beta of iOS 5 will expire on August 4, 2011.
Among the 200+ new features of iOS 5, the brand new notification center has appealed to all iOS users. The previous notification system on iOS was criticized a lot because of the fact that it was essentially flawed. Apple has greatly revamped the notification system on iOS with the notification center. Android fan boys will definitely point fingers at Apple for copying an almost Android styled notification system which is accessed by swiping down from the top.
Apart from that, iMessage has also made a debut in iOS 5, which is Apple’s all new messaging client that works on all supported iPhones, iPads and iPod touches running iOS 5, over both WiFi and 3G. Meaning that one who has an iPod touch or a WiFi iPad, can easily send messages, pictures and video to someone who has an iPhone or a 3G iPad.
Anyway, so yes, iOS 5 beta 1 is expiring on August 4, 2011. So those who have installed iOS 5 beta 1 on their iOS devices don’t need to panic as expiration of beta 1 poses no threat to your device. Basically, what will happen is that iOS 5 beta 1 will lock up, meaning that you won’t be able to use it anymore on your iOS device on which you have installed it or jailbroken it.
However, iOS 5 beta 2 will definitely be released way sooner than August 4. An iOS 5 beta 2 release should be expected somewhere around the mid of July. Apple always releases a new beta version of iOS 5 a couple of weeks before the expiration date of the previous beta starts approaching.
If you want to, you can download iOS 5 beta 1 from here, for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, first and second generation iPad as well as the third and fourth generation iPod touch and try out Apple’s new firmware, which will publicly be released around Fall 2011, for yourself.
The fact is that if you’re running io5 on your device without having registered your UDID on a developer acount, after August 4 you won’t be able to use your device anymore. You’ll be forced to restore (and btw loose your data if you forgot to backup) to 4.3.3 (if you manage to…I read this was a bit tricky)
If you have a registered device you won’t be able to run ios 5b1 but you’ll access to ios 5b2…without any restrictions
If you want to be safe, you better buy a developer account or try to register your UDID on a website offering this service. I think that with beta2 coming and the time limit of b1, the remaining slots won’t be available in a short time :/ (for info, I registered my 2 devices on registermybeta.com and it’s ok)
Have a nice weekend and thanks again for the article !
No way Apple will wait that long to release Beta 2. Historically, a new beta is released every two weeks or so until the GM seed.