Beta versions of iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan have been available to developers for a month now. Starting today, Apple is inviting the brave among us to give its new operating systems a shot via public beta program.
Apple unveiled iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan during its annual developer conference in June.
Much like what Google is doing with Android M, Apple is focusing on core improvements in iOS 9 designed to extend battery life, shore up security and improve overall performance. In addition to those, Siri is getting a major UI overhaul with new capabilities, the Notes app will have additional features and Maps is getting transit directions, just to name a few.
OS X El Capitan, meanwhile, is getting similar treatment to boost overall performance via a slew of minor tweaks. Apps are said to launch 1.4 times faster than before and users can switch between apps twice as fast. PDF previews are now four times faster and Apple's Metal architecture will enable 50 percent faster rendering while being 40 percent more efficient.
Mail includes a more versatile full screen mode with gestures to flag or delete messages with a simple swipe. Safari now shows which tab is playing audio (just like Chrome) with an option to mute it. Mission Control, Spotlight search and Photos are just a few of the other features that Apple has improved with El Capitan.
Anyone interested in trying out the new operating systems must first sign up for Apple's beta program (it's free). It's worth reiterating that these are betas meaning bugs are bound to come up during use. As always, it'd be wise to back everything up before updating just in case.
Final versions of iOS and OS X El Capitan are expected to launch this fall.