A day after being released to the Apple Developer Program, the first beta of iOS 16.1 is now available to those registered in the Apple Beta Program. Those with enrolled devices can download the new profile from the program site to install it. The build number is 20B5045d, the same that was provided to Developers yesterday.
16.1 is to bring the normal smattering of bug fixes that is on par with other “dot” releases. However, there are a multitude of features that Apple has not released as part of iOS 16 that are expected in the coming months. These include:
- Battery Percentage Indicator on iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 11, and iPhone XR
- Clean Energy Charging
- iCloud Shared Photo Library
- Live Activities and the Live Activities API
- Matter Support for Smart Home connectivity
You can get a rundown of some of the new features coming in iOS 16.1 here.
As a reminder, iPhone users are encouraged not to download beta builds of iOS to their primary iPhone as there could be bugs or issues that slow down or make productivity difficult. So far, no major bugs have been found in early testing but be cautious.
Finally, while the Live Activities API is in this build, don’t expect to see it in these early betas. Developers are just now able to program against the API. Apple has told developers that they won’t be able to submit app updates that support the API until the Release Candidate is available. That is expected to be in October.