Apple has seeded beta 1 of iOS 9.1 for compatible devices. This is a pre-release build and is available to registered Apple devs only.

Apple officially announced that iOS 9 will be hitting our devices on the 16th of September, with today seeing the Golden Master release of Cupertino's latest and greatest mobile firmware for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch hitting developer channels. While iOS 9 is still a few days away from public release, Apple has seeded the fist ever iOS 9.1 beta build to developers, further cementing the fact that Cupertino is rapidly working to enhance its mobile OS.

At this point in time, it's unclear what iOS 9.1 beta brings with it, but a wild guess suggests that the release is mainly tailored for the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and apart from that, brings small changes to other devices as well. Given the release date of iOS 9 set for just a few days away from now, it's likely that iOS 9.1 will stick to thebeta tagfor quite a while before it makes it to the public domain.

If you're a developer and want to give iOS 9.1 beta 1 a shot on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, then you can do so by heading over to the Apple Developer Program website and grabbing the pre-release bits for your device from there. And in case you're wondering, yes, the Apple Developer Program requires a userto stump out an annual fee of $99 in order to gain access to beta software. But for a one off fee of just a hundred bucks, you get to play with pre-release software before anyone else. Besides, if you're an Apple fan, an Apple Developer Program membership makes sense to boost your fanboy credentials, doesn't it?

While we don't know much about iOS 9.1, iOS 9 however, is a big upgrade in terms of the features it brings to the table. For instance, for iPad users, there's split screen, slide-in and picture-in-picture multitasking, something that makes sure that your productivity remains at the highest level necessary. Apart from that Apple has tossed in a proactive assistant, which throws suggestions and initiates actions based on the time of day. And of course, there are a ton of bug fixes and performance enhancements thrown into the mix as well, which make up for a very, very hefty upgrade over iOS 8.

We'll keep a close eye on what iOS 9.1 brings to the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Till then, sit back, relax, and go on a never ending wait for iOS 9's release date.