OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 Public Beta With Photos App Now Available

Apple today made a pre-release version of OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 available to those who are signed up for the company's OS X public beta program, giving them early access to the new update and the new Photos for OS X app.

The public beta carries a build number of 14D87p, a slightly later build number than the 14D87h from the second developer beta of the software, released last week.

All registered public beta test members should be able to download OS X Yosemite through the Mac App Store.

OS X 10.10.3 includes access to the new Photos app, which is designed to serve as a replacement for Aperture and iPhoto. Early reviews have suggested the new software improves upon iPhoto, but leaves out many power features Aperture users have become accustomed to.

Along with the Photos app, OS X 10.10.3 also includes a redesigned single-page emoji picker that's organized into categories, and it introduces new diversified emoji and emoji skin tone modifiers. There are also new flag emoji for many countries, and some updates to existing emoji to better reflect Apple products -- the watch emoji is now an Apple Watch, the cell phone resembles an iPhone 6, and the computer is an iMac.

Smaller additions in OS X 10.10.3 include support for Google 2-step verification when setting up accounts in System Preferences.