One day after the official release of iOS 12 and watchOS 5, Apple has released new developer software beta versions for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Both iOS 12.1 developer beta 1 and watchOS 5.1 developer beta 1 are now available for testing. tvOS 12.1 developer beta 1 is also available.

The new developer software betas are available on Apple’s web portal for registered developers. The updates should appear as an over-the-air update shortly. Note that the iOS 12.1 beta does not include restore images for the new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max — something upgraders may want to consider before switching iPhones on Friday over an iCloud or iTunes backup.

Apple has a number of new features coming soon to iOS and watchOS including dual SIM support, Group FaceTime, the new ECG app on Apple Watch Series 4, and more.

iOS 12.1 build: 16B5059d (up from 16A366)

watchOS 5.1 build: 16R5559d (up from 16R364)

tvOS 12.1 build: 16J5575c (up from 16J364)

Over-the-air updates are now available. The update should appear with the existing developer beta profiles installed. Release notes still coming.

From the release notes:

Overview

The iOS 12.1 beta SDK provides support for developing iOS apps for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch devices running iOS 12.1. The SDK comes bundled with Xcode 10.1 available from the Apple Developer Program download page. For information on the compatibility requirements for Xcode 10.1, see Xcode Release Notes. General There are no notes or known issues for this software update.

New in iOS 12.1:

Group FaceTime is back in beta

UPDATE: Steven Troughton-Smith has shared more details on Twitter about what iOS 12.1 code changes are present including landscape Face ID support:

Face ID has support for landscape orientation (presumably for iPad only), and iOS 12.1 seems to care a lot more about whether an external display is connected (perhaps due to iPad USB-C rumors; it won't have the Lighting HDMI adapter as an intermediary for video-out) — Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) September 18, 2018

From what I gather, landscape Face ID would require a realignment of the front-facing sensors, so you won't see it on existing hardware https://t.co/gVyB4Hz3pW — Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) September 18, 2018

For a recap of all the latest software updates Apple released yesterday, catch up on our coverage:

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