Apple Releases iOS 7 Beta 5 to Developers, New Settings Icon, Smoother Scrolling, More [Update]

Apple has pushed iOS 7 beta 5 to developers. The new developer seed is available as an over-the-air update for devices already running iOS 7. Paid developer accounts can also download an installer from Apple's Developer site.

The company has seeded most of its developer betas on Monday every other week, but that schedule got thrown off when the company pulled its developer site in the wake of a security breach. iOS 7 beta 4 was released last Monday, three weeks after beta 3.

Apple uses these developer betas to test incremental improvements to the interface and services in iOS. I've received initial reports that Apple has dramatically changed the control icons in the Settings app. The previous icons for the main settings were all blue and white. As shown in the screenshot below, Apple has introduced icons with multiple colors.

Other users have reported smoother scrolling and smoother app switching.

Update: Apple is color coordinating the update and startup screens according to the color of your iPhone or iPad. In this beta, according to reddit posts, white devices have a white startup screen and black Apple logo, while black devices have a black screen with the white logo that has been a part of iOS since it was called iPhone OS.

Also, headphone controls for pause and play work again. This has been absent in the earlier betas.

2nd Update: We received several notes this evening. One reader said that pulling down the Spotlight search panel is much more responsive, which is in keeping with the improved scrolling we've seen elsewhere in this release. Spotlight search also now comes with a bit of screen animation.

In iMessage, user names have reverted to being shown as first name only. At some point in the previous betas, it was first name, plus last initial. The improved system-wide scrolling is also showing in iMessage.

Joshua told us that the slide-to-turn-off slider is shorter, as is the cancel button.

iOS 7 Beta 5 Settings

iOS 7 Beta 5 Screenshot of the Settings App with New Icons

If you notice something new, drop me a note and we'll add it to this story.