Starting relatively recently, the public has been clamoring for exact dates on upcoming iOS versions. While releases were previously rolled out quietly to a select group of developers and testers, there’s now a good amount of fanfare regarding the testing and release of upcoming updates. A recent announcement from Apple has announced a direct release of iOS 11.2.5, bizarrely skipping over the several numbered updates succeeding the current iOS 11.2.1.
iOS 11.2.5 Beta 3 Release Date
There’s no telling what exactly happened to the releases that should have followed iOS 11.2.1, but an impending iOS 11.2.5 beta 3 clearly indicates that Apple is moving forward with a later release, and we’re not complaining.
Yesterday, Apple engineers released a second pre-release seed of iOS 11.2.5 to testers and developers that has left us wondering when exactly we’ll see an iOS 11.2.5 beta 3.
The news of such a large jump comes as a bit of surprise, seeing as Apple’s development teams generally shut down around the holiday season to give employees time to spend with their families. However, it seems that in the last few days before a shutdown, we’re seeing a series of releases in quick succession, with a possible iOS 11.2.5 beta 3 coming sooner rather than later.
The next software version may actually be the final release rather than a third beta, and if the pace of the first two versions is any indication, it’s possible that we’ll see a launch shortly after Christmas — perhaps around December 28.
If the development doesn’t charge ahead as quickly as we expect, it’s definitely possible that the testing could be extended by a week or more, putting the iOS 11.2.5 beta 3 at around January 3rd — a date solidly after the holiday season when the Apple development team is back in the office and ready to get to work.
A release at the beginning of the year would start 2018 out on the right foot and would show Apple’s continued commitment to providing timely updates for iOS 11.
Looking Forward Towards iOS 12
We’ll likely have to wait for iOS 12 for a major overhaul that adds a number of new convenient features, but we’ll likely continue to see bug fixes and security patches in the year leading up to the launch of a new iOS operating system. With iOS 12 rumored to launch around September of 2018, there’s certainly plenty of time for a few more improvements to the popular iOS 11 update. However, with an impending iOS 11.2.5 beta 3 release, there aren’t too many numbers to go through til we find ourselves at an even “iOS 12.” The fact that iOS 11.2.2 – 11.2.4 were completely bypassed seems to indicate that we’ll see just a couple more updates before the major release late next year.
We don’t have an exact date for the iOS 11.2.5 beta 3, but Apple’s recent history with software updates makes us expect that we’ll see it sooner rather than later.
