Apple reportedly modified its iOS development process to avoid another buggy launch
0Reported today on TechSpot
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Apple reportedly modified its iOS development process to avoid another buggy launch
iOS 13 was a hot mess, but iOS 14 should be better if Craig Federighi's plan works
In context: Apple's iOS 13 was not just a new upgrade to its mobile operating system. It was intended to be the base system for the iPhone 11. However, it was not ready when the flagship phone launched. So instead of holding off, Cupertino rushed to push it out.
While iOS 13 did bring a lot of cool new features to all iPhones, some aspects designed explicitly for iPhone 11 were missing at launch. Worse yet, the operating system was full of bugs and security holes that Apple is still scrambling to fix.
To avoid a similar fiasco in future releases, Bloomberg reports that the company is changing the way it develops its mobile platform. At a "kickoff" meeting with Apple's software developers, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi outlined a new approach to designing the system, starting with iOS 14.
From now on, development teams will ensure that unpolished and buggy features are turned off by default in "daily builds." A new section, dubbed Flags, will be added to the Settings menu that will allow testers to enable the unfinished features selectively. Flags will allow QA and developers to narrow down what is causing the problems more efficiently.
"Daily builds were like a recipe with lots of cooks adding ingredients. Testers would go days without a livable build, so they wouldn't really have a handle on what's working and not working."
A source with knowledge of the changes said the prior development process was a bit chaotic and unorganized, particularly with iOS 13.
"Daily builds were like a recipe with lots of