Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of iOS 11.1 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming iOS 11.1 update to developers, just four days after releasing the third iOS 11.1 beta and a month after releasing the iOS 11 update to the public.

Registered developers can download the fourth iOS 11.1 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

ios 11
iOS 11.1 introduces a range of new Unicode 10 emoji like crazy face, pie, pretzel, t-rex, vampire, exploding head, face vomiting, shushing face, love you gesture, brain, scarf, zebra, giraffe, fortune cookie, pie, hedgehog, and more.

ios11emoji1
Several emoji also feature some small design changes in iOS 11.1, including the dolphin, octopus, bee, snail, and whale characters, among others. The new designs are more detailed and realistic than existing designs.

The update also introduces a fix for a Reachability bug that's been present since the release of iOS 11 and it brings back the 3D Touch App Switcher gesture that has been missing from iOS 11 since its release. With the return of the gesture, iPhone users can once again 3D Touch at the left edge of the display to bring up the multitasking App Switcher interface.

A few other small features are included in the iOS 11.1 beta. The built-in keyboard in iOS 11.1 now offers up multiple emoji symbols when using an emoji-related word, there's an updated camera icon under Restrictions, a new animation when tapping the status bar to scroll upwards, and a faster unlock animation.

As for security fixes, iOS 11.1 addresses a serious vulnerability in the WPA2 Wi-Fi standard that protects many modern Wi-Fi networks. Using a key reinstallation attack or "KRACK," attackers can exploit weaknesses in the WPA2 protocol to decrypt network traffic to sniff out sensitive information.

Though not in the developer/public beta right now, the iOS 11.1 update could introduce the Apple Pay Cash feature, which Apple employees are currently testing in a special version of the beta.

iOS 11 marks a major update to the operating system with systemwide design tweaks, a new Lock screen experience, a revamped Control Center, ARKit, new app features, and an entirely new interface for the iPad that includes a Dock, Drag and Drop support, and a redesigned App Switcher for better than ever multitasking.

Update: There is also a new beta of iOS 11.1 available for public beta testers.

Related Forum: iOS 11

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
macOS Tahoe 26 Thumb

Apple Releases macOS Tahoe 26.2 With Edge Light

Friday December 12, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.2, the second major update to the macOS Tahoe operating system that came out in September. macOS Tahoe 26.2 comes five weeks after Apple released macOS Tahoe 26.1. Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of System Settings. macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...

Top Rated Comments

Precursor Avatar
106 months ago
Don't understand the point of these incremental updates where they put 5-10 new emojis every time. They coulda easily put an "emoji package" into Appstore free to download and left it to user's choice.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigJohno Avatar
106 months ago
I really hope they fix the stability of ios 11. By far the buggiest and slowest release to date and i'm running it on iphone 8+...
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Small White Car Avatar
106 months ago
Don't understand the point of these incremental updates where they put 5-10 new emojis every time. They coulda easily put an "emoji package" into Appstore free to download and left it to user's choice.
Yeah sure, that would be a great headline.

“Apple breaks up Unicode - makes users download it in portions”
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
106 months ago
Don't understand the point of these incremental updates where they put 5-10 new emojis every time. They coulda easily put an "emoji package" into Appstore free to download and left it to user's choice.
No, they can't. Emojis are not random stickers. They are officially recognized characters in the Unicode Character Set (which is the One True Character Set supported by every modern electronic device - suggestions to use any older character set instead will be met with squeals of maniacal laughter from the entire tech community), and the Unicode Character Set is controlled by a standards group called The Unicode Consortium ('http://unicode.org/'). To comply with the standard, you can't pick and choose characters ("I think maybe we'll leave out the letter 'Q', because I don't like it."), you need to support the whole character set. Some Unicode Consortium committee that is responsible for Emoji, keeps approving people's requests for new Emoji. Apple is just adding images (as required) to go along with the newly assigned characters.

Now, I'm no fan of all these new Emoji. I wish they'd stop adding new ones (I wish they had stopped a couple years ago). But I'm not in charge of this. And neither is Apple. If you want to get them stopped, go find the committee in charge of Emoji, at the Unicode Consortium, and complain to them.

Now, note that this article is about a new beta release of the OS. Said release fixes a bunch of things (along with adding a few new Emoji). MacRumors chooses to illustrate the article with two pictures: one of a phone with "iOS 11.1 Beta" written next to it, and the other with a picture of the new Emoji (instead of some picture relating to any of the other fixes). Which gets people riled up. And reading. And commenting. And loading lots of pages. Does that suggest anything to you?

Blame the Unicode Consortium for there being new Emoji. And blame MacRumors for waving the red flag of new Emoji in front of your face. But neither of those is Apple's fault.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
maramok Avatar
106 months ago
Don't understand the point of these incremental updates where they put 5-10 new emojis every time. They coulda easily put an "emoji package" into Appstore free to download and left it to user's choice.
Emoji's are as important to the OS as all 26 letters. If someone sends you an emoji you don't have on your OS it has to handle it in some way. User choice is still there, you can choose to use them or not.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SamGabbay Avatar
106 months ago
Anyone want to guess that iPhone X ships with 11.1?

Sam
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)