Apple has released iOS 10.2 Beta 3 to developers and public testers for the iPhone and iPad. This is now available to download via an over-the-air update for those who are members of the public beta program. Seen as a pacifier, this latest update, along with Beta 2, sees Apple hoping that the bugs users had been complaining about will now be gone. However, it is more likely that iOS 10 beta testers will instead discover new technical issues.
iOS 10 Beta 3 vs Beta 2: what’s changed?
While most firmware updates are designed to solve problems faced by users, iOS 10.2 Beta 2 and Beta 3 aim to lock in certain fixes before the public downloads the newest version. However, this third beta brings with it some additional changes that have not been seen before. So far iOS 10.2 has introduced several new features for beta testers and developers to play around with, such as new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus wallpapers, a new TV app, camera features, Unicode emoji, and more.
iOS 10.2 will soon be released so that every iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch user can use it. However, before that happens, you may want to know what Beta 2 and Beta 3 have brought with them. Here’s everything we know so far.
iOS 10.2 Beta 2
Here are the changes discovered so far in Beta 2.
- There’s a new headphone icon in the status bar for Bluetooth devices
- There are three new wallpapers in iOS 10.2 Beta 2 for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
- The Video app has a redesigned widget.
- New Preserve camera app setting included.
- Under the Home button’s accessibility settings, there is a new “Press and Hold to Speak” menu.
- Underneath the Music settings, there’s a new “Show Start Ratings” option.
- In the Message screen effects, there’s a new “Celebration” effect.
- New emojis have been added.
- As an addition to the Videos app, there is now a TV app.
- Music now points towards relocated shuffle and repeat controls.
- Clicking the Power button five times now activates the SOS feature. This is similar to the Apple Watch‘s SOS feature.
iOS 10.2 Beta 3
Here are the changes discovered so far in Beta 3. We will continue to add more when they are discovered, so please check back.
- The TV app has now completely replaced the Videos app.
- SOS feature introduced in iOS 10.2 Beta 2 has now become available only in India, where it will soon be law to have such a feature.
- New settings for the TV app have been included.
- The Feedback app returns.
- The “Love” effect joins the “Celebration” effect added to iMessage in Beta 2.
So how do the two iOS 10 Betas compare? Apart from the removal of the Videos app and the SOS feature for non-Indian users, it will mainly be a positive update, one that we think was just a tweak of Beta 2. However, while Beta 3 is still hot off the drawing board, there’s still time for us to find more additions/retractions. There’s also a good chance that the odd bug will raise its ugly head. So whatever happens, we’ll let you know in our regular updates.
