Apple is working quickly to release iOS 5.0.1 to the general public, with the second beta version available to developers in just two days. The update aims to resolve some of the complaints about iOS 5 battery life and bring several other fixes and features to the latest release, including a security fix for iPad 2 and bringing multitasking gestures to iPad 1.

The build comes as 9A404 and is available for iPad, iPad 2, iPod touch 3rd and 4th gen, and iPhone 3GS, 4, and 4S.

If you are not a developer but are encountering issues with inconsistent battery life, try some of these general battery tips or these focused specifically on the iPhone 4S.

Apple is planning on having iOS 5 GM provided to it’s overseas suppliers sometime during the week of September 23 to September 30, which is in line with the only publicly announced “fall” release date specified by Apple. The GM build, which stands for Golden Master, will be then be preinstalled on all iPads, iPod touch, and iPhone models, including whatever the next-gen iOS devices happen to be.

This information comes from a reputable analyst who supplied a research note to AppleInsider, which also reemphasizes that next month will be the public release of the next iPhone:

A release of iOS 5 to assemblers the week of Sept. 23 means its likely finalized hardware units for the new iPhone and iPod touch will begin to ship at the end of September. With an estimated 10 to 12 days for shipping, the two new devices are likely to be available by mid-October

Releasing the GM at the end of this month would also give app developers plenty of time to ensure compatibility with the finalized version of iOS 5. The current iOS 5 dev release is beta 7, which is considerably more stable and speedy than prior versions.

iOS 5 adds over 200 new features to the platform and has significant ties to Apple’s upcoming iCloud service, which is expected to launch alongside the new mobile operating system.

Pushing ever closer to a GM and the final release date in the near future, iOS 5 beta 7 has just been seeded to developers. The newest iOS 5 beta can be downloaded as IPSW from the iOS Dev Center, or more easily, as an Over-the-Air (OTA) update, which can be accessed from iOS 5 beta 6 to download via tapping onto Settings > General > Software Update.

Just as prior updates, Apple recommends you use the “Erase all Contents and Settings” under Settings > General > Reset in order to install the latest beta.

The brief note attached to the OTA update says simply “This beta version of iOS 5 contains bug fixes and improvements.” and refers to the release notes on the iOS Developer Center.

Update: In addition to a new iOS 5 beta, iTunes 10.5 beta 7 and Xcode 4.2 beta 7 were also released.

Heads up to iOS devs out there, if you installed iOS 5 beta 6, you might find it useful to know that sixth beta is set to expire on September 29. At that point you’ll either need to have installed a newer beta, which will surely have been released by then, or downgrade iOS 5 back to 4.

For the rest of us this is worth noting because each time an iOS 5 beta expires, there’s a flurry of speculation from some individuals that Apple is causing iOS 5 beta devices to not work, but that is not the case, the beta is simply expiring.

On the other hand, some have taken this date to indicate some sort of iOS 5 release day, since the date is within the “Fall 2011″ timeline set by Apple, but it’s pretty unlikely that Apple would leave any meaningful dates openly available in their releases. Popular opinion at this point seems to be that iOS 5 will be released alongside iPhone 5 in October, with the possibility of pre-orders coming in late September.

The expiration date was found last week by ih8snow on Twitter

Apple has released iOS 5 beta 6 for developers to access through either OTA updates on the iOS device itself, or through the iOS Dev Center. Supported hardware continues to be all versions of iPad and iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and the last two generations of iPod touch.

OTA updates are by the easiest method to get beta 6, accessed from tapping to Settings > General > Software Update, but you can also download iOS 5b6 IPSW files directly on the iOS dev Center. Alongside the 6th beta of iOS 5 comes iTunes 10.5 beta 6, which is necessary to install the latest iOS beta from IPSW, Xcode 4.2 preview 6, and a new iOS beta for Apple TV2.

The final version of iOS 5 will be released in the Fall, likely alongside the iPhone 5 in October, or possibly slightly earlier if the pre-order rumors are accurate.

The iPhone Dev Team has released Redsn0w 0.9.8b5 to jailbreak iOS 5 beta 5, the jailbreak is intended only for developers who want to assure their Cydia apps work fine in the newest iOS beta, and neither iOS 5 beta or this version of redsn0w are intended for widespread consumption. Supported hardware includes iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 3rd and 4th gen, and iPad 1.

Download Redsn0w 0.9.8b5

These are direct download links:

• Download redsn0w 0.98b5 (Mac OS X)
• Download redsn0w 0.98b5 (Windows)

Point redsn0w directly at the beta 5 IPSW file and proceed with everything else as usual.

Understand the difference between a tethered vs untethered jailbreak, but in short you will need to connect your iOS hardware to a computer upon every reboot of the device. There are also various reports of quirkiness when attempting to SSH into the iOS device, iBooks and other apps may crash, some Cydia apps cause Springboard to refresh, and there is other behavior that is characteristic of an unfinished beta release, further emphasizing this is not yet ready for widespread adoption.

Apple has released iOS 5 beta 5, the latest build is 9A5288d and the same hardware is supported as prior iOS 5 betas, including iPad 2, iPad, iPhone 4 GSM & CDMA, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch 3rd and 4th gen.

You can download iOS 5 beta 5 in one of two ways:

• OTA delta update directly on your iOS device – this is the easiest way to get the update and also has the smallest bandwidth footprint. You can access Over-the-Air updates from iOS 5 beta 4 devices by tapping on Settings > General > Software Update
• Download the device specific IPSW files from Apple’s iOS Dev Center

The OTA updates are by far the easiest, plus they allow you use one of the new and exciting features of iOS 5 in the process. If you’re not a developer, you’ll have to wait until the official iOS 5 release this fall.

In addition to iOS5 beta 5, a new version of Xcode 4.2 has been released for devs, as well as iTunes 10.5 beta 5 and a new version of iOS for Apple TV2.

Apple has begun to crack down on registered iOS developers who are selling UDID activation slots for iOS 5 betas to other users, in some cases sending email warnings to devs, but also deactivating other developer accounts completely. Apple is even flagging some individual UDID’s and making the devices unusable, forcing users to downgrade from iOS 5, in an effort to prevent non-developers from using the beta software.

This information comes from AppleInsider who cites a third party Kathrikk who apparently has second hand experience:

Many of my developer friends have reported that Apple has sent an email warning which said that they have identified the developer to be selling his slots for some users to get early preview of iOS.

And Apple has started closing the developer accounts for selling the slots and also, have flagged the UDIDs associated with that dev account, thus making the iOS 5 device unusable.

A little background information may be helpful to understand what is going on here. In order to run iOS 5 beta, you must have a devices UDID registered with Apple through their developer network. An iPhone or iPad UDID is a unique identification number that functions like a devices serial number, this number is then put onto a whitelist of sorts that allows a specified UDID to download and run the iOS beta software. Some developers have been selling these UDID activations to non-developers so that others could run iOS 5 betas, which is likely a violation of their iOS Developer Agreement.

The reason for all of this? Economics. In terms of costs, a UDID activation obtained through these grey-market methods may cost $10, whereas an officially sanctioned iOS Developer license costs $99 per year directly through Apple. Some developers may have been selling these slots to help recoup the costs of an iOS membership, whereas others were clearly just profiteering on the access to iOS 5 betas. AppleInsider notes a large market in UDID resellers, with one operation allegedly activating over 15,000 UDID’s, which at $10 a pop is a whole lot of cash. We here at OSXDaily actually had to set “UDID” as an automatic spam flag in our comments due to a massive influx of spammers trying to redirect anyone to these grey market sales sites.

Remember, the primary purpose of these transactions are for non-developers to run iOS 5 beta software, which, by the very nature of a beta, is not intended for usage outside of the registered iOS developer network. This is why Apple is cracking down, until iOS 5 is ready for release this fall, they don’t want unauthorized users muddying bug reports, clogging the Genius Bar and Apple Support, or leaving nonsensical complaints on the App Store from clearly illegitimate iOS 5 beta users who aren’t developers.

Editor Update: Some of the discussion on this is directly related to the iOS 5 beta 1 and 2 expiration occurring yesterday, August 4, which has nothing to do with any ‘crackdown’ from Apple.

Update 2: Both TUAW and 9to5mac are raising suspicions about the claim that individual non-developers are being targeted, although 9to5mac does report that one individual who was selling UDID slots confirmed his account was removed. As we and some of our commenters have pointed out, it’s more likely that the other non-developers are simply misinterpreting the scheduled expiration of iOS 5 betas.

Apple has released iOS 5 beta 4 and is available for developers to download through the iOS Dev Center. The build comes in as 9A5274d and like the iOS 5 betas supports iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, and iPod touch 3rd and 4th gen.

Developers can grab the release on Dev Center, alongside iTunes 10.5 beta 4, and XCode 4.2 beta 4. As usual, the new iTunes beta is required to update to iOS 5 beta 4.

iOS 5 includes a ton of new and exciting features for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users, but won’t be released for public usage until Fall of this year.

Update: iOS 5 beta 4 can be received as an OTA (Over The Air) update from devices that are currently running iOS 5 beta 3. To access the OTA update, tap on Settings > General > Software Update

Apple has released iOS 5 beta 3 for developers to download, the build comes as 9A5259f and supports iPad 2, iPad, iPhone 4 GSM & CDMA, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch 3rd & 4th generations. Apple TV2 has received a separate update, however it is still not considered iOS 5.

Alongside the latest iOS 5 beta comes a new version of iTunes 10.5 at beta 3, which seems to be required to sync iTunes with your iOS 5 beta 3 devices.

You can download the latest beta directly from iOS Dev Center, as usual you will need an active developer ID to access the files.