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 models

No iPhone 18 Launch This Year, Reports Suggest

Thursday January 1, 2026 8:43 am PST by
Apple is not expected to release a standard iPhone 18 model this year, according to a growing number of reports that suggest the company is planning a significant change to its long-standing annual iPhone launch cycle. Despite the immense success of the iPhone 17 in 2025, the iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027, leaving the iPhone 17 in the lineup as the latest...
Clicks Communicator Feature

'Clicks Communicator' Unveiled — Will You Carry This With Your iPhone?

Friday January 2, 2026 6:35 am PST by
The company behind the BlackBerry-like Clicks Keyboard accessory for the iPhone today unveiled a new Android 16 smartphone called the Clicks Communicator. The purpose-built device is designed to be used as a second phone alongside your iPhone, with the intended focus being communication over content consumption. It runs a custom Android launcher that offers a curated selection of messaging...
duolingo ad live activity

Duolingo Used iPhone's Dynamic Island to Display Ads, Violating Apple Design Guidelines

Friday January 2, 2026 1:36 pm PST by
Language learning app Duolingo has apparently been using the iPhone's Live Activity feature to display ads on the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island, which violates Apple's design guidelines. According to multiple reports on Reddit, the Duolingo app has been displaying an ad for a "Super offer," which is Duolingo's paid subscription option. Apple's guidelines for Live Activity state that...
apple intelligence black

Report: Apple's AI Strategy Could Finally Pay Off in 2026

Tuesday December 30, 2025 9:01 am PST by
Apple's restrained artificial intelligence strategy may pay off in 2026 amid the arrival of a revamped Siri and concerns around the AI market "bubble" bursting, The Information argues. The speculative report notes that Apple has taken a restrained approach with AI innovations compared with peers such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta, which are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in data...
apple fitness 2026 1

Apple Teases 'Something Big' Coming Soon to Apple Fitness+

Tuesday December 30, 2025 2:11 pm PST by
The Apple Fitness+ Instagram account today teased that the service has "big plans" for 2026. In a video, several Apple Fitness+ trainers are shown holding up newspapers with headlines related to Apple Fitness+. What's Apple Fitness+ Planning for the New Year? Something Big is Coming to Apple Fitness+ The Countdown Begins. Apple Fitness+ 2026 is Almost Here 2026 Plans Still Under ...
Mac Pro Feature Blue

What's Happening With the Mac Pro?

Wednesday December 31, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple hasn't updated the Mac Pro since 2023, and according to recent rumors, there's no update coming in the near future. In fact, Apple might be finished with the Mac Pro. Bloomberg recently said that the Mac Pro is "on the back burner" and has been "largely written off" by Apple. Apple apparently views the more compact Mac Studio as the ideal high-end pro-level desktop, and it has almost...
macbook air march 2020

Apple Says Final Intel MacBook Air and Apple Watch Series 5 Now 'Vintage'

Wednesday December 31, 2025 8:39 am PST by
Apple today added the final 13-inch MacBook Air powered by Intel processors, the Apple Watch Series 5, and additional products to its vintage products list. The iPhone 11 Pro was also added to the list after the iPhone 11 Pro Max was added back in September. The full list of products added to Apple's vintage and obsolete list today: MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020) iPhone 8 Plus 128GB ...
Apple Fitness Plus hero

Apple Announces New Fitness+ Workout Programs, Strava Challenge, and More

Friday January 2, 2026 6:43 am PST by
Apple today announced a number of updates to Apple Fitness+ and activity with the Apple Watch. The key announcements include: New Year limited-edition award: Users can win the award by closing all three Activity Rings for seven days in a row in January. "Quit Quitting" Strava challenge: Available in Strava throughout January, users who log 12 workouts anytime in the month will win an ...

Top Rated Comments

SMIDG3T Avatar
120 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
120 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
120 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
120 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
119 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
120 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)