iOS 5 Beta, Not For Amateurs

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/16/psa-this-is-why-non-developers-shouldnt-run-ios-betas/' target='_blank'>http://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/16/psa-...-run-ios-betas/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Answer these two questions really quickly:&nbsp;Are you a developer? Are you running the iOS 5 beta?</em></p><p><em>If you answered no to the first question and yes to the second, then this post is meant for you. You are doing it wrong, and on behalf of everyone everywhere, please stop."</em></p><p><img height="252" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1313518154.usr105634.jpg" style="margin-left: 180px; margin-right: 180px;" width="240" /></p><p>I'm not brave enough to mess around with true beta releases, I'd rather wait until all the bugs are worked out (or mostly worked out) before I install something like this on my machine. But apparently that isn't the case for everyone, so if you are contemplating doing so, make sure you read this article. If you are a developer and that is your bread and butter, then by all means have at it, but I certainly don't think this guy was a true developer since he fell victim to something that apparently was common knowledge, namely that the beta expires after a certain time. How about you, do you ever install beta versions to experiment?&nbsp;</p>

[Sven Johannsen]

Yea, got Mango Beta on my WP7 right now...but NOT my primary phone. No, not really a developer, but paid the price of admission, which includes being careful to save my pre-beta backup, because that needs to be installed to get the actual Mango update. So yea, if you can afford to void your warranty, brick your phone, put up with spurious bugs, and jump through hoops, I say have at it, install a Beta. Better yet get one of those back alley kitchen cooked scammed builds from a peer to peer site. They come with support, right?

Not trying to discourage anyone, just don't want to listen to you whine when it goes south on you.

[Brad Adrian]

Not trying to discourage anyone, just don't want to listen to you whine when it goes south on you.




I'm with you, Sven. There's nothing wrong with experimenting and exploring, but I've NEVER done it on a primary device or where irreplaceable information is concerned. Unless you can walk calmly away from turning your favorite toy into a paperweight or from losing all onboard data, simply do NOT:

Unlock your SIM
Install beta applications or UIs
Try out that enticing home-cooked or beta OS
Give jailbreaking a shot
Continue past the words "Warning, this will void your warranty..."