Ever since the dawn of day, Apple has been releasing developer beta builds intended for registered Apple Developers. These builds come with a hefty price-tag of $100 a year, and as a result of this eager Apple fans have been sharing the profiles to third-party websites so they can be enjoyed by everyone. Now it seems, Apple has finally taken legal action against what they see as privacy, targeting Twitter, BetaProfiles.com, IPSW.dev among others.
Apple shutting down third-party beta websites
One of the most popular “Developer Beta Piracy” websites was BetaProfiles.com. August 10th the creator of the website tweeted the website would be permanently shut down as the creator has been increasingly afraid of Apple’s incentive to shut down these websites. One can only assume, but I suggest several of these creators might have received “somewhat threatening” emails by Apple’s lawyers.
This has also been a fact with Twitter, according to MacRumors, as Apple’s lawyers have allegedly issues DMCA takedown notices on tweets pertaining information on how to get beta profiles without paying the fee Apple requires.
How is this piracy?
iOS, iPadOS and macOS are all proprietary pieces of software, and in contrast to Android, is not open-source. Therefore Apple has all right to limit access and accessibility to these early versions of software. I’d like to remind you that Apple does have a free Public Beta Program that you can utilize if you’re not an Apple Developer.
Before iOS 9, you’d need to access your Apple Developer account page in order to register your device’s UDID with you account in order to download the files required to download pre-release software. Luckily these days are over and you only need to install a configuration profile on your device which enables pre-release OTA updates. I suggest that Apple cracking down on this is due to an increase in users who install Developer Betas without having the proper knowledge of how you risk your device.
As always we never recommend you installing iOS or macOS betas on your primary device, but what do you think of Apple cracking down on this? Did you expect this, or not? Share your thoughts @Appleosophy on Twitter!
Author: Thomas Jensen
19 years old writer for Appleosophy. Also a freelance frontend developer.
