Apple has now released the first iOS 17 beta to developers, and in a first for the company, it is also giving non-developers the opportunity to download the beta on their iPhones for free. Keep reading to learn how it's done. In years past when Apple has announced a major new operating system update, the first wave of betas has officially only been available to download if you are a paying subscriber to Apple's Developer Program, which costs $99 a year. Public betas then become available to users enrolled in Apple's Public Beta Software Program after a delay of a few days or weeks after the developer beta has been released. However, this year you don't have to wait for…

In iOS 17, Apple has made a small but notable change to the App Store app so that it now tells users how long an app download will take once it's started. When the "Get" app button is tapped in an app listing and the circular download symbol appears, the time remaining for the download to complete is displayed beside it in minutes and seconds. If the installation is likely to take only a brief moment, the time remaining is not shown. Obviously the time it takes for a given app to download will depend on the user's internet speed and the app's file size, which is why users might only see how long it will take once the download…

Mira’s Prism headset from 2017. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Apple has acquired Mira, a Los Angeles-based AR startup that makes headsets for other companies and the US military, according to a post from the CEO’s private Instagram account yesterday seen by The Verge and a person familiar with the matter. Apple confirmed the acquisition. The news comes just one day after Apple unveiled the Vision Pro, a $3,499 mixed reality headset that the company has billed as a new “spatial” computing platform. It’s unclear how much Apple paid for Mira, which raised about $17 million in funding to date. Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, was an advisor to the startup at one point, according to…

With iOS 17, adult users will have access to expanded nudity protection features that are currently provided to children using iMessage. | Illustration: The Verge Apple’s Communication Safety feature for iPhone — designed to protect children from viewing nude images over iMessage — is being expanded to cover adult users in addition to video content and other communication methods. Announced during the WWDC event on Monday, the protections will arrive with iOS 17 later this year with all image and video processing happening right on the device itself to ensure everything is kept private, even from Apple. The Communication Safety in Messages feature uses on-device machine learning to automatically blur nude images in iMessages before a child can view them.…

Apple in iOS 17 is introducing StandBy mode, which is a new display experience designed for a charging iPhone that's placed in a horizontal orientation. An ‌iPhone‌ in this position is able to display an array of full-screen widgets, turning it into a useful home hub. StandBy mode activates automatically on an ‌iPhone‌ running ‌iOS 17‌ that's placed horizontally on a charger. You can see information such as the time, weather, a calendar, music controls, your photos, and more. You can swipe left or right through the available StandBy options, and long press or swipe up/down to customize. With the time, for example, you can choose from an analog view, a digital view, a bubbly font, and a solar view…

Following today's keynote event, Apple has released the first betas of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 to developers for testing purposes. The betas are only available for those with a developer account, and Apple is restricting downloads with the elimination of the previous profile system. Registered developers are able to opt into the betas by opening up the Settings app, going to the Software Update section, tapping on the "Beta Updates" option, and toggling on the iOS 16 Developer Beta. Note that an Apple ID associated with a developer account is required to download and install the beta. ‌iOS 17‌ is a major update that introduces a customized look for each person that calls, with the person who places the…