With the initial public release of iOS 7 slated for this Wednesday, September 18, signs of future iOS 7.0.1, iOS 7.0.2, and iOS 7.1 releases are all showing up in web logs. Their presence was noted by 9to5Mac and is also being seen in our own logs, showing visitors running those operating system versions coming from IPs associated with Apple. Our records are also showing a handful of visits via Apple's networks from devices reporting themselves as running iOS 8 starting at the very end of August.
While iOS 7.0.1 and 7.0.2 are expected to be minor bug fixes to the upcoming mobile operating system, iOS 7.1 could potentially bring a host of new features, similar to iOS 6.1 which brought LTE support for more carriers and Fandango Siri integration at the time.
iOS 7.0.1 visits from Apple's network began showing up in our logs as long ago as early August and began increasing significantly in late August, presumably as work on the version increased as Apple began locking down the golden master version of iOS 7.0.
iOS 7.0.2 is a much more recent appearance, with the first sign of it showing up in our logs coming last week just after Apple's media event. And iOS 7.1 has been the least frequently seen version among the three upcoming iOS 7.x versions seen by MacRumors, with a small handful of visits coming in early August before appearing with increasing frequency in late August.
The prevalence of all of the future operating system versions among visits from Apple's networks remains very low, so it appears that they have not yet entered widespread testing within Apple.
iOS 7 features a brand new design along with a number of new features, including a vast overhaul of multitasking with a new cards look, a new universal settings window known as Control Center, and a revamp of Notification Center that offers new daily overviews. The software will also come pre-installed on Apple’s new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c devices, with owners of the iPhone 5s receiving device-specific features such as 64-bit support, Touch ID fingerprint sensing, and a several new camera features.
The golden master (GM) version of iOS 7 was seeded to developers last Tuesday following Apple’s special iPhone media event. The software update will be available for free upon its release this Wednesday, and will be compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, fifth-generation iPod touch, iPad 2, iPad with Retina Display (third- and fourth-generation), and the iPad mini, along with Apple’s new iPhones.
