Shortly after the release of iOS 6.0.1 to the public comes the first beta of iOS 6.1. The beta is available for all devices that are currently compatible with iOS 6.0/6.0.1. If you’re interested in the build number, it’s 10B5095f. You’ll find the changelog and the “What’s New in iOS 6.1″ information below.

Changelog

iOS SDK Release Notes for iOS 6.1 beta 1

Introduction

iOS SDK 6.1 provides support for developing iOS apps, and it includes the complete set of Xcode tools, compilers, and frameworks for creating apps for iOS and OS X. These tools include the Xcode IDE and the Instruments analysis tool, among many others.

With this software you can develop apps for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 6.1. You can also test your apps using the included iOS Simulator, which supports iOS 6.1. iOS SDK 6.1 requires a Mac computer running OS X 10.7.4 (Lion) or higher.

This version of iOS is intended for installation only on devices registered with Apple’s Developer Program. Attempting to install this version of iOS in an unauthorized manner could put your device in an unusable state.

For more information and additional support resources, visit http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/.

Bug Reporting

To report any bugs not mentioned in the “Notes and Known Issues” section, please use the Apple Bug Reporter on the Apple Developer website (http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter/). Additionally, you may discuss these issues and iOS SDK 6.1 in the Apple Developer Forums: http://devforums.apple.com. You can get more information about iCloud for Developers at http://developer.apple.com/icloud.

Notes and Known Issues

The following issues relate to using iOS SDK 6.1 beta 1 to develop code.

Core Image

Notes

None.

Known Issues

• In iOS 6.0 and later, Core Image introduced new filters to the set provided in iOS 5. The complete set of filters can be found in Core Image Filter Reference.
• Also in iOS 6.0 and later, Core Image allows for the creation of CIImage objects that reference OpenGL texture objects via the imageWithTexture:size:flipped:colorSpace: method.

Game Center

Notes

None.

Known Issues

FIXED: Landscape-only apps that invoke a portrait-only view controller (such as the Game Center login screen) will cause the app to crash.

Workaround:

1. Apps should provide the delegate method application:supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow: and ensure that portrait is one of the returned mask values.
2. When a UINavigationController is involved, subclass the UINavigationController and override supportedInterfaceOrientations.

iCloud

Notes

None.

Known Issues

In iOS 6.1 beta 1, you will not be able to upgrade or downgrade your iCloud storage (5 GB is free). As a workaround, please use either the latest OS X or a device running iOS 6.0.

Maps

Notes

In iOS 6.1, the Map Kit framework introduces the MKLocalSearch, MKLocalSearchRequest, and MKLocalSearchResponse classes. Apps can use these classes to perform map-based searches for addresses and points of interest. The results are then delivered to the app as an array of map item objects. For information about these new classes, see Map Kit Framework Reference.

Known Issues

None.

Passbook

Notes

As of iOS 6.1, the relevance behavior has changed for boarding passes that include both a relevant date and a relevant location. The date must match for these passes to be relevant. If both the date and location match, they are relevant for a longer window of time. You are encouraged to provide both pieces of information when they make sense for your passes.

Known Issues

FIXED: Images in passes that use RGB need to include an alpha channel.

Settings

Notes

In iOS 6.1, a new Reset Advertising Identifier button has been added to Advertising Settings. This button resets the Advertising Identifier so that future requests will return a different value.

Known Issues

None.

Simulator

Notes

This release does not support testing In-App Purchase in iOS Simulator. For apps that use this feature, please test on a device.

Known Issues

None.

Social

Notes

• Weibo shows up in the Settings app only if a Chinese keyboard is enabled.

• When using the iOS 6.1 SDK on OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), if you use the iOS 5.0 or iOS 5.1 “Legacy SDK” in iOS Simulator, you will not be able to sign in to Twitter via the Settings pane and Twitter.framework will not work correctly. If you need to test Twitter features, you will need to choose either the iOS 6.1 or iOS 6.0 Simulator run destination or test with iOS 5.x on a device. These problems do not occur when running Simulator on OS X 10.7 (Lion).

Known Issues

None.

UIKit

Notes

None.

Known Issues

FIXED: Landscape-only apps that invoke a portrait-only view controller (such as the Game Center login screen) will cause the app to crash.

Workaround:

1. Apps should provide the delegate method application:supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow: and ensure that portrait is one of the returned mask values.
2. When a UINavigationController is involved, subclass the UINavigationController and override supportedInterfaceOrientations.

WebKit and Safari

Notes

• WebKit no longer always creates hardware-accelerated layers for elements with the -webkit-transform: preserve-3d option. Authors should stop using this option as a way to get hardware acceleration.
• WebKit on iOS now supports the requestAnimationFrame and cancelAnimationFrame methods in JavaScript, as described here: http://www.w3.org/TR/animation-timing/.Because the specification is still at the Working Draft state, these methods have the webkit prefix: window.webkitRequestAnimationFrame and window.webkitCancelAnimationFrame.

Known Issues

None.

Here’s the “What’s New in iOS 6.1″ document:

iOS 6.1

This article summarizes the key developer-related features introduced in iOS 6.1. This version of the operating system runs on current iOS-based devices. In addition to describing the key new features, this article lists the documents that describe those features in more detail.

For late-breaking news and information about known issues, see iOS 6.1 Release Notes. For the complete list of new APIs added in iOS 6.1, see iOS 6.1 API Diffs.

 

Map Kit Searches

The Map Kit framework now lets you programmatically search for map-based addresses and points of interest. The MKLocalSearch class initiates a search for map-based content using a natural language string. In other words, you can enter placename information or portions of an address and have Map Kit return search results that match the information you provide. For example, searching for the string “coffee” would return the location of local coffee bars along with information about each one.

For more information about the classes of the Map Kit framework, including the new search-related classes, see Map Kit Framework Reference.

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