Upgrade personal iPhone to iOS beta 5.0? [closed]
I currently have an iPhone 4 (GSM) and I'm signed up to the iOS development program, meaning I can install iOS 5.0 on it. The problem is that I use this same phone as a personal phone, I'm wondering if it's a good idea to install a beta OS on it or not. I'd really like to be able to take advantage of some of the newer features that iOS 5.0 introduces right now rather than having to wait until the fall.
The main things I'm concerned about are:
- Major limitations (e.g. if an entire app or one of its major features doesn't work on the beta, I'd want to know about it).
- Data loss
- Being able to sync with Google Accounts (I currently use Google Sync to synchronize as much data as possible, ideally I want to keep using it in addition to Apple's new sync/backup service. Is there any way to do this or are they mutually exclusive?)
- Any other issues you can think of which should cause me to be wary.
Solution 1:
Apple actively states that you should in no way install development releases on any hardware you rely on. More specifically they state that "you should install this on dedicated development hardware" meaning a second phone.
- If you are even the slightest bit concerned about stability, don't install it.
- If you are not going to use it to develop/test against, don't install it.
And, my personal favorite:
- If you have to ask this question, don't install it!
Solution 2:
It's important to understand that when Apple uses the term "beta" they only mean "somewhat functional, most major features in place". It could fail repeatedly, and definitely, definitely has a ton of bugs, many of which could be data-destroying or could lock up the device.
In the last 4-5 years a lot of web apps -- and Google does this a ton -- use the term "beta" to mean "not quite feature-complete but otherwise good-to-go". This alternate meaning seems to have unintentionally led people to believe that it's what "beta" always means.
When Apple changes iOS 5 to "golden master" status they'll mean that it probably still has bugs that need to be fixed before it goes live but should be pretty close to the final version, barring any late-breaking discoveries, and should be pretty safe to use. That won't be until right before it's released, however.