iOS 7 Beta 4 Release Could Be Weeks Off

While Apple is not publicly offering any timeline for the Developer Center re-launch and the IOS 7 beta 4 release, top iOS developers speculate that we could be in for a long wait.

The recent Apple hack took the iOS developer center offline delaying the iOS 7 beta program while Apple re-launches a more secure developer center.

Apple already launched a status page andoutlined what parts of the Developer Center they plan to work on first. While the iOS 7 beta is important, Apple’s first goal is to bring the functions developers need to make and sell apps to iPhone and iPad users running iOS 6.

Developers speculate the iOS 7 beta 4 release could be weeks off.

Over a week after the hack, the Developer Center remains offline to developers and iOS 7 beta testers, and Apple’s status page shows no new services online since it launched earlier this week.

Many expected an iOS 7 beta 4 release on Monday, timing up with the two-week release cycle the first iOS 7 betas arrived on, but without the Developer Center online to deliver the needed applications and files developers are still waiting for a new iOS 7 beta.

Two popular iOS 7 developers speculate that the iOS 7 beta 4 release could be weeks away, sharing their assessment of the situation on Twitter. These are not Apple employees or leaks from Apple, but commentary from experienced Apple developers.

Paul Haddad of Tapbots is behind the wildly successful TweetBot iPhone and iPad application which delivers a better Twitter experience on the iPhone and iPad. Haddad tweeted his thoughts on when we may see a new iOS 7 beta.

Marco Arment, best known as the man behind iOS app InstaPaper, shares his thoughts on the Developer Center outage, hoping for a speedy recovery.

The iOS 7 beta 3 expiration date is August 29th, nearly a month away. This should in theory give Apple plenty of time to bring the iOS Developer Center online.

To be clear, neither individual claims insider knowledge, but the opinions of longtime, well-known developers could hint at Apple’s situation.

Apple released an OS X Mavericks Developer Preview during the outage, which is good news, but users will likely need to wait for the Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles part of the system to come online before Apple starts to share the new iOS 7 beta.

While there is no iOS 7 beta 4 to bring bug fixes and new features to developers now, it is possible and likely that Apple is still working on new versions of the iOS 7 beta inside the company. Previous leaks suggest Apple employees are testing a different build, one that supports offline dictation.

Apple publicly stated it plans an iOS 7 release this fall, but no specific date was given.