Apple Releases Second iOS 10.2 Beta for Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 10.2 update to public beta testers for testing purposes, just one over one week after releasing the first iOS 10.2 public beta, and one day after providing the second iOS 10.2 beta to developers.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will receive the iOS 10.2 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on their iOS device.

Those who want to be a part of Apple's beta testing program can sign up to participate through the beta testing website, which gives users access to both iOS and macOS Sierra betas. Betas are not stable and include many bugs, so they should be installed on a secondary device.


iOS 10.2, as a major 10.x update, includes several new features to enhance the iOS 10 operating system. New emoji are included, introducing Unicode 9 characters like clown face, drooling face, selfie, face palm, fox face, owl, shark, butterfly, avocado, pancakes, croissant, and more, plus many profession emoji available in both male and female genders.

Apple has also updated the artwork on most existing emoji, adding detail to make them look less cartoonish and more realistic.

In addition to new emoji, the iOS 10.2 update includes new wallpaper, new Music sorting options, a new "Celebrate" Screen Effect," an option for preserving camera settings, a Videos widget, Single Sign-On support, an SOS feature for quickly calling emergency services, a new TV app to help users discover television content to watch, and more.

Related Forum: iOS 10

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Colors

Apple Announces iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max With New Design, Larger Battery, and More

Tuesday September 9, 2025 10:59 am PDT by
Apple today introduced the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Both devices feature a new aluminum unibody design, with the Ceramic Shield now protecting both the front and back sides. Apple says the front side is now Ceramic Shield 2, which offers 3x better scratch resistance, while the rear Ceramic Shield is advertised as 4x more resistant to cracks compared to the back glass on previous...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Models Are eSIM-Only in These Countries

Tuesday September 9, 2025 12:23 pm PDT by
Apple continues to phase out the physical SIM card tray on iPhones, with the latest models relying solely on eSIM technology in more countries. The new iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max support eSIMs only in these countries and regions, according to Apple: Bahrain Canada Guam Japan Kuwait Mexico Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Un...
airpods translate

AirPods Live Translation Blocked for EU Users With EU Apple Accounts

Thursday September 11, 2025 4:01 am PDT by
Apple's new Live Translation feature for AirPods will be off-limits to millions of European users when it arrives next week, with strict EU regulations likely holding back its rollout. Apple says on its feature availability webpage that "Apple Intelligence: Live Translation with AirPods" won't be available if both the user is physically in the EU and their Apple Account region is in the EU....
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro: Release Date and Pre-Orders

Wednesday September 10, 2025 12:30 am PDT by
Apple held its annual iPhone event on Tuesday, September 9, to unveil the iPhone 17, ultra-thin iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. All of the new iPhone models will be available to pre-order starting Friday, September 12 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time / 8 a.m. Eastern Time in the U.S. and dozens of other countries, according to Apple. The release date for the devices is one week...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

Skipping the iPhone 17 Pro? Here's What's Rumored for iPhone 18 Pro

Wednesday September 10, 2025 8:33 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still a year away, there are already a few rumors about the devices that offer an early look ahead. If you are skipping the iPhone 17 Pro and want to know about what to expect from the iPhone 18 Pro models, we have recapped a few of the key rumors below. Under-Screen Face ID In April 2023, display industry analyst Ross Young shared a...
better iphone 17 lineup

Apple Lists iPhone 17, iPhone Air, and iPhone 17 Pro Battery Capacities

Tuesday September 9, 2025 1:25 pm PDT by
Apple has confirmed the battery capacities for the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max models that were announced earlier today. Apple is required to publish energy labels on its iPhone product pages in the EU, and they reveal the official mAh battery capacities for the devices. Here are the battery capacities for each model, according to Apple: iPhone 17:...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

Didn't Pre-Order a New iPhone Yet? Here's How Long the Wait is Now

Friday September 12, 2025 6:11 am PDT by
iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air pre-orders began at 5 a.m. Pacific Time in the U.S. and many other countries today. If you have yet to place a pre-order, you might face a longer wait now, depending on your desired configuration. As of shortly after 6 a.m. Pacific Time today, nearly all iPhone 17 Pro Max configurations on Apple's online store in the U.S. are facing ...

Top Rated Comments

SMIDG3T Avatar
116 months ago
PLEASE READ - EMOJIS

We all like to rant, that's fine, but all this business about Apple adding new Emojis and not focusing on anything else (which is false anyway) is just stupid. I'd just like to put it out there as a lot of people don't understand.

Unicode are behind Emoji, not Apple. Apple are simply updating the Emoji to keep up with what's out there. Apple do the artwork and they obviously have a very high standard.

Stop complaining about Apple and their addiction to Emoji. There's no addiction, they're simply keeping up with the standard.
[doublepost=1478635481][/doublepost]
One annoying tidbit in 10.2, Apple is pushing Live Photos way too hard and it's getting obnoxious that it's turned on by default every time you launch the camera app. Once this update is pushed out to everyone I know there's going to be a lot of complaints about this.

Luckily you can turn that off in the camera settings (Photos & Camera > Preserve Settings > Live Photo). Nobody I know with an iPhone ever uses or takes live photos. o_O
The reason it's on by default is because they've doubled the frame rate and they're obviously really happy with it. I hate to state the obvious but it's a photo and the fact that it's really smooth now (and looks like a mini video) is impressive.

But the setting is there for those who don't want it enabled by default.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C DM Avatar
116 months ago
Just an emoji update for us in the UK then...
Along with all the other things that are in iOS 10.2:

https://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/31/whats-new-in-ios-10-2-beta-1/

https://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/07/whats-new-in-ios-10-2-beta-2/
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bacillus Avatar
116 months ago
Hail Emoji
The 1 feature that works across all iDevices. Unrestricted, transparently, across all dongles.
Our Apple VP's LOVE it !!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DrumApple Avatar
116 months ago
They focus on making emoji's prettier when their Mail app completely blows and is unusable. This is a device for children.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BSben Avatar
116 months ago
Just an emoji update for us in the UK then...
Just get a life, emojis have been updated, but more importantly the operating system is getting better. The UK version of iOS should have 25% of features removed to reflect the massive drop of the pound.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C DM Avatar
116 months ago
oh good. More emojis.... Innovation where it counts. :rolleyes:
And let's ignore everything else as usual and weirdly focus on one of the smaller things that was updated. Quite the logic there.
[doublepost=1478630914][/doublepost]
They focus on making emoji's prettier when their Mail app completely blows and is unusable. This is a device for children.
Is that why plenty of people use it just fine?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)