Apple pushed out beta 2 of iOS 6.0 to developers today as well as Xcode 4.5 developer preview 2 and Apple TV beta 2.
So far the highlight of installing the update seems to be the animated Settings icon. The gears rotate while the file is downloading — a nice touch many are taking notice of, but doesn’t actually have anything to do with the newest beta per se.
Most if not all of what’s in beta 2 is bug fixes rather than new features. Apple posted the full release notes for developers online, which are supposed to be confidential, but 9to5Mac posted the entire list anyway so if you’re interested in seeing what’s been fixed, head over there. In short, the OS has been stabilized quite a bit to feel more polished. It’s also naturally closer than before to reaching the status of “ready for consumers,” even if only a little bit closer.
I loaded up iOS 6 beta 2 on my iPad 2 and have a few observations of my own just from a few minutes of use. I no longer have a problem with the brightness level resetting itself when I lock the device, Guided Access actually works in this release, the Share button across the OS has been updated with the new Twitter logo, and the strange visual effect I noticed in beta 1 when splitting the keyboard while searching in Safari has been fixed.
The iOS software update can be downloaded and installed via Software Update in the Settings or via Apple’s developer website, the old-fashioned way. The file size is around 300MB — give or take — depending on which device you have. If you aren’t a developer and can’t get access to iOS 6 just yet, be sure to read our comprehensive first look at Apple’s latest mobile operating system.