MacOS Monterey Beta 7, iOS 15.1 Beta 1, iPadOS 15.1 Beta 1 Released for Testing

Fresh off the heels of releasing the final version of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple has released new beta versions of the operating systems as iOS & iPadOS 15.1 beta 1, along with macOS Monterey beta 7.

MacOS Monterey beta 7 continues to improve upon the Monterey beta builds. MacOS Monterey will bring a variety of new features and changes to the Mac, including changes to Safari tabs and the Safari interface (many are visible in Safari 15, which is available now for Big Sur and Catalina), Live Text for selecting text in images, Facetime screen sharing, FaceTime group chat grid layout, Universal Control for controlling multiple Macs or iPads with a single mouse and keyboard, Quick Notes, Low Power Mode for Mac laptops, Shortcuts app on Mac, and more.

Mac users in the beta testing program can find macOS Monterey beta 7 available now from  Apple menu > System Preferences > Software Update.

iOS 15.1 beta 1 and iPadOS 15.1 beta 1 include the re-enabling of SharePlay, which is the FaceTime screen sharing feature, and support for a “vaccination card” in the Health app which allows you to digitally store proof of Covid-19 vaccinations. Presumably iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1 will also end up including bug fixes for issues found in the freshly released iOS 15/ipadOS 15 updates as well.

Users enrolled in the iPhone and iPad beta testing programs can find the iPadOS/iOS 15.1 beta 1 update available now from the Settings app > General > Software Update.

If you beta tested iOS 15/iPadOS 15 and do not want to receive the beta builds of 15.1 and further anymore, you can remove the beta profile from your device by going to Settings > General > VPN & Device Management > and removing the beta profile from there.

Apple usually goes through several beta builds before issuing a final version to the general public. Since iOS/ipadOS 15.1 is just being tested now, it’s probably at least a month or two before that will become available. MacOS Monterey is much further into the beta program, but since current betas lack support for Universal Control, it remains to be seen when that version will be finalized for Mac users. Apple has previously said that macOS Monterey will be released in the fall.