Apple already testing iOS 9 prototype builds

by iPhoneHeat on Jan 14, 2015

Many sites have seen a dramatic increase in traffic from the devices running Apple’s unreleased iOS 8.1.3 software update, now several publications have started to see visits from devices running iOS 9 in their web analytic.

If the iOS version number is not tempered, this indicated that Apple has already started testing the next major software update for its mobile OS i.e. iOS 9. These are most probably the first prototype builds, ahead of the developers preview, which is expected to be released in the coming Summer during annual developers conference.

Our understanding is that Apple developers normally only test pre-release OS builds internally, so this external testing process seems to be a new strategy, writer Davir Price noted.

The report of iOS 9 early prototype builds appearing in web analytics was sent to MacWorld by letemsvetemapplem.eu owner, which is a Czech-language technology website called letemsvetemapplem.eu. According to the analytics data sent by that site to MacWorld, three visits were made in January from devices running iOS 9.0, as shown below.

MacWorld’s own web analytics data contains traces of iOS 9.0. The publication, in fact, has recorded ten page views from the devices running variants of iOs 9.x over a span of past few months. Six pageviews recorded as iOS 9.0, three were from iOS 9.2, while one device was recorded as running iOS 9.0.9, the publication reads. The logs show that the work on iOS 9 has been underway for a long time, as one of the pageview was recorded on October 23, 2014.

It is worth mentioning here that web analytical data can easily be spoofed using a jailbroken device. On a jailbreak device, one can easily fake the iOS version of the device.

It’s too early to talk about what Apple is going to feature in its next major software update. The previous two major iOS updates: the iOS 7 and iOS 8 have been about the design overhaul (iOS 7) and extensibility (iOS 8).

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