Disappointment with Apple’s iOS 10 Beta 1 release in June…

Some of us were hesitant in downloading the first release of iOS 10 coming out a couple hours after Apple announced the new update at WWDC in June. For those of us interested in downloading the developer version iOS 10 Beta 1 and those of us who didn’t have a Developer Account with Apple, were forced to use a download link from a 3rd party site to get their hands on this update. I was one of those interested folk.

I truly wanted to wait and download iOS 10 when the Public Beta came out for two main reasons, I wasn’t going to pay $99 for a developer account to download the beta update and more importantly because I was weary of the issues I’d encounter after downloading iOS 10 from a random site.

Anyways, against my better judgement and inability to be patient when it comes to new tech, I downloaded the iOS 10 Beta 1 from a website I saw shared on my Twitter feed. Just like hundreds of other people did, I went on the 3rd party site and was guided through some simple and easy steps to download the update. It was a quick process, involving updating your Profile in the Settings of your iOS device, in my case my iOS device was my sisters iPad.

I want to touch on that for a second. I was installing a new and buggy software onto my sister’s iPad not knowing if it would get bricked the next day. Besides that major issue in my mind, the download went smooth. Once it downloaded, I tried following the set up steps shown, it was indeed laggy. Somehow though, I managed to get through to the Home screen.

My main desire in downloading this unstable first beta of iOS 10 was because I was really intrigued by Swift Playgrounds. After Apple announced Swift Playgrounds during their keynote, I was so ecstatic that an app was out to introduce kids and myself the basics of coding in Swift. And that it would be available FOR FREE. It’s incredible that Apple is showing concern in educating kids and adults by making this app accessible within one of their new software updates.

I was disappointed though, maybe I had skipped over this part of the keynote or maybe Tim or Jony or some of the other Apple guys didn’t mention it, but the content for Swift playgrounds was not available in this first beta of iOS 10. For me, at least. I mean, the Swift Playgrounds app icon was there, so I assumed of course that I would be able to open it and use it right away. Oh but I was wrong, so very wrong.

After tapping the icon and opening the Swift Playgrounds app, right there front and center was a piece of text I did not want to see…COMING SOON…it read. Coming soon?!? Okay, I get it most likely there will be kids who aren’t as excited as I am about this app and probably aren’t on their way to downloading the iOS 10 Beta 1. But in this advanced day and age, there had to many many other people who were as excited as I to download 10.1 and at least get a feel for how Swift Playgrounds would work.

Just as I was and possibly many others, we were all disappointed by lack of available Swift educational content in iOS 10 Beta 1. So I waited till the Public Beta for iOS 10.1 would make it’s way out to us. And as I write this, I am updating and installing the public beta version on the iPad. And in a bit when I hit publish for this article I will close my eyes while tapping the Swift Playgrounds app icon and be presented with what I hope is at least usable beta content for the app or maybe I won’t…..

Thanks for reading or skimming!