Xcode 12.2 Beta Suggests iOS 14.2 Beta Update Coming Soon

Alongside macOS Big Sur beta 7, which was seeded out to developers this morning, Apple shared the Xcode 12.2 beta. The release notes for the new Xcode beta mention SDKs for iOS 14.2, iPadOS 14.2, tvOS 14.2, and watchOS 7.1, suggesting these are updates we’ll be seeing in the near future.

Xcode 12.2 beta includes SDKs for iOS 14.2, iPadOS 14.2, tvOS 14.2, watchOS 7.1, and macOS Big Sur 11. The Xcode 12.2 beta release supports on-device debugging for iOS 9 and later, tvOS 9 and later, and watchOS 2 and later. Xcode 12.2 beta requires a Mac with Apple silicon running macOS Big Sur 11 or later, or an Intel-based Mac running macOS Catalina 10.15.4 or later.

There are, of course, always new iOS 14 betas provided shortly after the software sees a public release, but that the numbering is iOS 14.2 instead of iOS 14.1 is unusual.

Apple does sometimes skip numbers with iOS releases, especially as of late when SDK changes are required, but it’s possible that the iOS 14.1 update will be reserved for the new iPhone 12 models that are not yet out, while iOS 14.2 will be a wider device release. Of course, iOS 14.2 and iPadOS 14.2 could also be for the new iPhones and the new iPad Air.

Either way, we’re likely going to get new iOS 14 developer betas as soon as next week with new features, bug fixes, and changes that were not able to be included in the release version of iOS 14, which came out yesterday.