Apple briefly paused work on upcoming iOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11, and tvOS 18 updates last week in order to make a serious effort to address bugs in the future iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Mac releases, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.
Employees were told about a development pause last week, with engineers asked to focus on fixing flaws and boosting software performance.
Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi has been making an effort in recent years to ensure that software bugs are addressed, sometimes resulting in features that need to be delayed. Sources that spoke to Gurman said that with the upcoming software updates, the software engineering management team working under Federighi found too many bugs that were missed in internal testing, leading to a week-long sprint to address the issues.
During that week period, all development on future features was stopped to allow engineers to work solely on improving the existing software. Apple is lifting the pause this week so that work on new capabilities for iOS 18 and its sister updates can continue.
Apple last month finished the first “M1” versions of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15. Work on further development was paused, with Apple also taking a brief break from working on iOS 17.4, expected to be released next March. Given that work on future software was only paused for a week, no release delays are expected next year.
Popular Stories
iOS 17.2 Coming Later This Year With These 10 New Features for iPhone
Apple made the first beta of iOS 17.2 available to developers and public beta testers last week, and the software update includes many new features and changes for iPhones. Below, we have highlighted 10 of these new features and changes. iOS 17.2 is expected to be released to the public in December. Once available, the update can be installed in the Settings app under General → Software…
M3 Pro Chip Barely Faster Than M2 Pro in Unverified Benchmark Result
Apple’s new M3 Pro chip with a 12-core CPU offers only marginally faster CPU performance compared to the M2 Pro chip with a 12-core CPU, according to a Geekbench 6 result spotted today by Vadim Yuryev, co-host of the YouTube channel Max Tech. This is only a single benchmark result, so further results are needed to ensure accuracy. Apple announced new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models…
Apple Argued Safari Is Three Different Browsers to Avoid Regulation
Apple recently claimed that Safari is three different browsers in effort to avoid regulation in the European Union (via The Register). The claim came as part of a response to the European Union in August, just before the European Commission designated many of Apple’s iOS, App Store, and Safari as gatekeeper platforms. This classification means that Apple now has to ensure that these…
Apple Expected to Update Entire iPad Lineup Next Year
Apple plans to update its entire iPad lineup throughout 2024, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. This means new models of the iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad mini, and entry-level iPad can be expected to launch next year. Gurman touched on the lack of new iPads and AirPods heading into the holiday shopping season in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter:Apple could have tried to rush out …
Apple Preparing to Release iOS 17.1.1 Update for iPhone
Apple appears to be internally testing an iOS 17.1.1 update for the iPhone, based on evidence of the software in our website’s analytics logs this week. iOS 17.1.1 will almost certainly be focused on bug fixes, but it’s unclear exactly which issues the update will address. The update could include the same fix for Wi-Fi connectivity issues that Apple rolled out in the first iOS 17.2 beta,…
watchOS Update Coming Soon With Fix for Apple Watch Battery Drain
Apple is preparing a fix for an issue causing some Apple Watches to experience excessive battery drain after being updated to watchOS 10.1, the company said today in an internal memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers. In the memo, which MacRumors obtained from multiple sources, Apple said the issue will be fixed in a watchOS update that is “coming soon.” Apple did not provide…