Following up on the recent iOS 9.1 launch, Apple quickly rolled out an iOS 9.2 beta to developers, which means that this is the fifth release since iOS 9 debuted. There doesn't seem to be significant changes, as it's just another update dedicated to bug fixes, hence it should have been iOS 9.0.4, not iOS 9.2.
Apple's numbering system for its iOS versions were simple and straightforward before iOS 9.1 was introduced. Let's break down Apple's iOS history.
In the past, Apple would name updates as iOS X.x to indicate that it contains significant features and name updates as iOS X.x.x to mean bug fixes here and there as well as performance improvements. What Apple did for the iOS 9 line strayed off a bit, when all the updates for this version were all meant to just fix bugs. Therefore, it should have been iOS 9.0.4, that is, if Apple intends to continue its naming convention.
iOS 9.1 did come with a new set of emojis, but 11 out of 12 changes were focused on major bug fixes, not to mention it didn't really resolve all the issues. At best, this should have been iOS 9.0.3.
Moving forward, Apple does it again with iOS 9.2, only adding improvements for Safari. Federico Viticci, founder and editor-in-chief of MacStories, posted the changes on Twitter.
From the look of things, this new update didn't even address the issues that remained and that iOS 9.1 was supposed to fix, particularly the push notifications problem. On top of that, it didn't even do anything about the issues iOS 9.1 came with.
But Safari did get considerable changes, as it now supports third-party Action Extensions, which means apps such as 1Password can now autofill passwords on it. Also, a long tap on the Reload button will let users reload a page or open it without installed content blockers.
Could this be Apple's new way of numbering iOS versions? We might as well believe so. For the next update, it's safe to assume that we'll be getting an iOS 9.3 with bug fixes minus eye-grabbing features instead of an iOS 9.0.5.
Photo: Håkan Dahlström | Flickr
