You may not have noticed that Apple forgot to release beta 6 of iOS 18.1 last week, when the company released new betas of watchOS 11.1, tvOS 18.1 and visionOS 2.1. Never mind, these latest updates still provided a clue about the expected developments in iOS 18.1. Apple seems to be focusing on the control center and in particular the satellite connection on your iPhone 14 or later.
A natural evolution for the control center
Until now, you could only enable satellite connectivity inside the “network” module of the control center, but according to Aaron Perris with iOS 18.1 beta 6 you should be able to enable it manually. If you recall, Beta 5 added unique buttons for Wi-Fi and VPN connectivity, making them easier to access. According to the code seen by the leaker, the “satellite” button should join the group in the beta 6 version coming this evening or tomorrow.
With iOS 18, Apple has redesigned its control system, allowing customization of buttons, but also by adding several pages. For the satellite connection, there is only the third page which allows you to change its status. With the next update, it will be possible to access it in one click. This is good, but these changes make the new interface obsolete. Why have several pages if everything can be available on the first?
An excess of caution from Apple
We don’t yet know why Apple postponed the beta 6 version of iOS 18.1, but it’s a safe bet that a last minute bug is the cause.
In recent weeks, Apple has released updates that have caused devices to freeze or crash three times. WatchOS 11.1 blocked some Apple Watches, just like iPadOS 18 made M4 iPad Pros unusable.
iOS 18.1 will likely be released to the general public by the end of the month, with Mark Gurman saying yesterday that he had heard of the October 28 date.
