Apple Seeds Sixth Beta of iOS 9.3 to Developers and Public Beta Testers - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Seeds Sixth Beta of iOS 9.3 to Developers and Public Beta Testers

by

ios93Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming iOS 9.3 update to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, less than a week after seeding the fifth iOS 9.3 beta and three months after the public release of iOS 9.2, the last major update to iOS 9. iOS 9.3 has been in testing since January 11.

The sixth iOS 9.3 beta, build 13E5231a, is available as an over-the-air update and through the iOS section of the Apple Developer Center.

As a major update to the iOS 9 operating system, iOS 9.3 introduces several new features. There's a Night Shift mode to reduce the amount of blue light iOS users are exposed to in the evening by shifting the iPad or iPhone display to a warmer (yellower) color spectrum, and there are several features designed to improve the iPad for Education program, such as multi-user login. Multi-user login, while an appealing feature, is limited to MDM customers and is not available to the general public.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

Multiple apps and features are also seeing updates in iOS 9.3. Apple News includes more personalized recommendations, faster updates, a landscape view on the iPhone, and support for in-line video, while Health includes an Apple Watch-style "Activity" view, Notes has an option to password protect individual entries, and third-party apps can add songs to Apple Music.

Apple Music for CarPlay offers "New" and "For You" sections for better music discovery in iOS 9.3, and a Nearby Feature in CarPlay Maps offers more information about points of interest that are close by. Paired with watchOS 2.2, an iPhone running iOS 9.3 is able to support multiple Apple Watches, and for iPhone 6s users, there are new Quick Actions for Weather, Settings, Compass, Health, App Store, and iTunes Store.

This is likely to be one of the last betas of iOS 9.3 we'll see before it is released to the public. Apple is planning to launch iOS 9.3 in the spring, perhaps following an event that is scheduled to take place on March 21.

Tag: iOS 9.3
Related Forum: iOS 9

Popular Stories

Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

11 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 18 Pro

Monday May 11, 2026 9:01 am PDT by
We're only four months out from the launch of Apple's premium next-generation smartphone lineup, and while we're not expecting a sea change in terms of functionality, there are still several enhancements rumored to be coming to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth noting is that Apple is reportedly planning a major change to its iPhone release cycle this year, adopting a...
Read Full Article • 35 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.5 Features: Everything New in iOS 26.5

Monday May 11, 2026 5:09 pm PDT by
Apple released iOS 26.5 after a few months of beta testing, and while it doesn't have the Siri features we were hoping for since those are being held until iOS 27, there are a handful of useful changes worth knowing about. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. End-to-End Encryption for RCS Support for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages between iPhone and...
Read Full Article • 63 comments
General Apps Reddit Feature

Reddit Starts Blocking Mobile Website, Pushing Users to App Instead

Monday May 11, 2026 6:10 am PDT by
Social network Reddit recently began blocking mobile visitors to its website while pushing them to download the official Reddit app, and it's fair to say that the move is not going down well with users. If you visit reddit.com on your iPhone today, you may see a new popup that can't be dismissed, asking you to "get the app to keep using Reddit." A Reddit spokesperson told Ars Technica...
Read Full Article • 125 comments

Top Rated Comments

Mlrollin91 Avatar
Mlrollin91
133 months ago
Why can't they just go with a black background instead of making a workaround to the brightness of the overpowering white? It just seems like they're making more work for themselves.
I'm assuming you are talking about NightShift. The entire point of NightShift is to reduce blue point. Has nothing to do with darkening the screen. A 'dark mode' would still have a blue point.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nathan.l.larsen Avatar
nathan.l.larsen
133 months ago
Anyone else brought to the setup screen to sign in to iCloud after doing this update? It's the only time it's happened to me on this beta series. Once I verified credentials, I was brought to the home screen.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Corrode Avatar
Corrode
133 months ago
Anyone notice that they fixed the 3D Touch keyboard cursor? It's way more accurate when removing your finger.

Also there's a cool animation when deep-pressing on apps in the home screen.

(not sure which beta these were released on)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fenderbass146 Avatar
fenderbass146
133 months ago
Did they fix the damn problem with Nightmode during low power mode? The exact time I want to use nightmode, at the end of the day when I ussually have low battery I can't use nightmode...makes no damn sense.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mlrollin91 Avatar
Mlrollin91
133 months ago
The harm is when you can't choose to enable a setting without disabling another: users shouldn't have to dive into Settings to figure why a control isn't available.
I'm sorry but there are flaws in your argument. If someone wants to enable Night Shift, they are probably in bed reading on the device, or using the device for whatever reason they want. Most people plug their devices in to charge when they are laying in bed. Therefore, low power mode would not need to be enabled, and Night Shift can be enabled.

Or, similar scenario. People are in bed reading, playing a game or what not, battery is down to 20% and they have Night Shift enabled. Considering they are going to plug their device in when they go to bed, they don't need to have low power mode enabled because that 20% will still give them 1-2 hours of battery life.

There is really no need to have both Night Shift and low power mode enabled at the same time. Give me one reason why you would need both.

I swear, people find the most obscure things to complain about.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sbailey4 Avatar
sbailey4
133 months ago
Then they could disable Low Power Mode which they themselves manually enabled to begin with and enable Night Shift if that's what they want. Same thing applies (and has applied since the beginning of Low Power Mode) to push/fetch for email, or background refresh, or "Hey Siri", or other features that Low Power Mode disables/modifies: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205234
"some visual effects " - apparently including night shift too since its a visual effect. Case closed.
[doublepost=1457399989][/doublepost]
I think the first bug with the clock is beyond picky too. It only occurs if you tap the camera icon, which you're not suppose to do because thats not intended behavior.
But what about the bug where if you are standing on your head and want to watch YouTube videos in landscape mode it keeps flipping around so its upside down. I dont think they will ever fix that one either.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments