Exactly two weeks after the initial version of iOS 7 was announced, Apple has finally released iOS 7 Beta 2 to developers bringing with it numerous fixes and enhancements, but of most importance is the support for iPad. In addition, a secret undocumented feature has been discovered in iOS 7 which allows screenshots to be taken in selected Apps.
iOS 7 Beta 2
iOS 7 Beta 2 brings about a few changes, as well as making the firmware just seem more responsive and stable. Some of the changes include:
- iPad Support
- Voice Memos App readded
- New Male and Female Siri Voices
- The “Send” button in Messages is bigger
- Minor UI changes
- The Messages App now shows contacts photos
- Music controls on the lockscreen are always visible when music is playing
Of course only registered developers have access to iOS 7 Beta 2 so they are undoubtedly more changes that this version brings, but I imagine they are busy updating their Apps and are bound by the NDA.
However, of those features that have been added that we know about, it seems the update introduced a relatively new ‘feature’, either by accident or by design.
In iOS 7, screenshot behavior has been altered, and as the release notes state, Active touches are no longer canceled when the user takes a screenshot. This minor change has a number of implications for several apps that rely on screenshots to notify users of unwanted behavior, such as Snapchat and Facebook Poke.
It seems that taking a screenshot in iOS 7 no longer sends a notification to the sender when a screenshot is taken, and consequently allows the action to take place. This is huge in the privacy protection for Apps like SnapChat that rely on the detection of a screenshot being taken to protect its users.
Whether this is by design or is simply a bug, SnapChat and other affected Apps may be required to find another method of detecting if a screenshot is taken until Apple release a fix.