Apple Seeds Fifth Beta of iOS 10.3 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Now Available]

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Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming iOS 10.3 update to developers, just over one week after seeding the fourth beta of iOS 10.3 and almost three months after the release of iOS 10.2, the last major update to the iOS 10 operating system.

Registered developers can download the fifth iOS 10.3 beta from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air with the proper configuration profile installed.

ios-10-3-beta
iOS 10.3 is a major update, introducing several new features and changes to the iOS 10 operating system. The biggest new consumer-facing feature is "Find My AirPods," which is designed to help AirPods owners locate a lost earphone. Find My AirPods records the last known location of when an AirPod was connected to an iOS device via Bluetooth and can play a sound on a lost AirPod.

Apple's latest update also introduces a new Apple File System (APFS), installed when an iOS device is updated to iOS 10.3. APFS is optimized for flash/SSD storage and includes features like strong encryption.

Apple plans to introduce some App Store changes in iOS 10.3, allowing developers to respond to customer reviews for the first time. iOS users are also able to label reviews in the App Store as "Helpful" or "Not Helpful," which should help surface the most relevant review content.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

Apple also plans to limit the number of times developers can ask for a review, allow customers to leave app reviews without exiting an app, and provide a "master switch" that will let users turn off all app review request prompts.

Also new in iOS 10.3 is a redesigned app open/close animation, an Apple ID profile in Settings, a better breakdown of iCloud storage usage, warnings about outdated apps that won't work with future versions of iOS, HomeKit support for programmable light switches, improvements to SiriKit (bill paying, bill status, and scheduling future rides), CarPlay interface improvements, iCloud analytics options, and more.

Update: iOS 10.3 beta 5 is also available for public beta testers.

Related Forum: iOS 10

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Top Rated Comments

AppleFan91 Avatar
AppleFan91
115 months ago
For those that will ask:

• We don't know about battery life
• No Dark mode
• Safari isn't snappier

(Hopefully, this is the last one before a public release, I love the speed improvements of this release so far)
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Floris Avatar
Floris
115 months ago
• We don't know about battery life
• Don't believe anyone that says Dark mode
• Safari isn't snappier


There I think that takes care of those posts.

(Hopefully this is the last one before a public release, I love the speed improvements of this release so far)
Sorry, but saying "oh here we go with those msgs", is on the same level as "what about dark mode" comments..
they're obvious and filling the thread with useless offtopic content.
this reply i just made, probably adds to that :D
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleFan91 Avatar
AppleFan91
115 months ago
Five betas is kinda scary for a point upgrade.
Don't turn on the news.


Also, this is not uncommon lately. Most of them are going 5-7. I much prefer this method in comparison to no betas or 1 or 2 and a flawed release personally.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C DM Avatar
C DM
115 months ago
Five betas is kinda scary for a point upgrade.
Not really unusual, and certainly pretty far from anything like scary.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
imnotthewalrus Avatar
imnotthewalrus
115 months ago
Five betas is kinda scary for a point upgrade.
How so? Before the beta program, there was always a "risk" of jumping on a new iOS release. I personally am glad to see Apple giving developers and PB users an opportunity to have a sneak peek and offer feedback while others can just keep an eye on it to see whether they want to upgrade or not when the GM is released. Multiple betas should be good news (that bugs are being discovered and fixed prior to official release), not "kinda scary". Just my two cents.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C DM Avatar
C DM
115 months ago
so for the 99.999% of owners who don't have airbuds this update will mean nothing.
If the rest of the things that are changed are also not counted.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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