What you need to know
- iOS 15 has a great new feature for beta users who are restoring from an iCloud backup.
- iOS 15 can detect if an iCloud backup was made on a beta version of iOS, and can then automatically update your iPhone before the phone is restored.
A new iOS 15 feature will make it much easier to install beta software on an iPhone if you're restoring it from a backup, doing away with all the manual tomfoolery that comes from trying to restore an iPhone whilst using a beta.
Spotted by 9to5Mac, the new feature works to automatically update your iPhone to a beta if you're restoring from an iCloud backup that was made on that beta:
As found by 9to5Mac in the iOS 15 beta code, the system will now detect if the backup chosen by the user is from a beta version of iOS. In this case, the user can choose to update iOS to the beta release right in the setup process, which will make it easier to restore all data from a backup made in a newer version of iOS.
Beforehand, if you backed up your iPhone whilst running beta software, then tried to restore that backup to another device that had an older version of iOS, the whole thing borked, and you had to set up your iPhone as new, install the beta software, then reset your iPhone so you could finally have your beta iCloud backup. Now, when users try to restore a device from an iCloud backup made whilst running beta software, your iPhone will detect this and automatically install the software for a seamless restore process.
Apple's iOS 15 developer beta 2 was seeded to developers last night, and you can find out how to download it here.
