Apple Seeds Third Beta of iOS 10.3 to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 10.3 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the second beta of iOS 10.3 and more than a two months after the release of iOS 10.2, the last major update to the iOS 10 operating system.

Registered developers can download the third 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.


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 (said to be included in beta 2).

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, improvements to SiriKit, and more. For a full rundown of the changes introduced in the first beta, make sure to check out our dedicated "What's New" post.

What's new in iOS 10.3 beta 3:

App Compatibility - In the Settings app, there's a new "App Compatibility" section that lists apps that may not work with a future version of iOS. Tapping on one of the apps opens it up in the App Store so you can see when it was last updated. As has been discovered in previous betas, opening one of these apps on your iOS device pops up a warning with a similar non-compatible statement. App Compatibility can be accessed by opening the Settings app and choosing General --> About. From there, scroll down to "Applications" and tap it.

appcompatibilityios103

Related Forum: iOS 10

Top Rated Comments

Vashetti Avatar
92 months ago
haha yeah right, nothing has changed i bet
"I have no idea what I'm talking about."
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Macrule36 Avatar
92 months ago
6s Plus was having major battery drain on first two betas. Hoping they got the kinks worked out.

Edit: Day 2 Update - Battery life isn't horrific today. Simply below par. Not sure what everyone else is seeing.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zirel Avatar
92 months ago
I can't find anything in detail when I do a Google search looking for all of the benefits of APFS. Someone with some expertise on the matter care to enlighten me? I see strong encryption in the article, but are there any other big benefits? Is this comparable to FAT32 migrating to NTFS?
Yes.

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MR-LIZARD Avatar
92 months ago


There is ZERO technical reason that Apple has to cut off 32-bit app support. Even Windows still supports 32-bit software! This is nothing more than a ploy by Apple to get people to upgrade their hardware.

I want Apple to cut the nonsense and let their customers continue to use "old" applications.
Zero technical reasons isn't strictly true. If they're having to maintain 32bit and 64bit APIs you're giving your development team additional coding work. You then need to test both 32/64 bit API's, plug security holes, etc. If you're supporting both you're doubling your workload.

Seeing as Apple released 64-bit processors on the 5S back in 2013 and has been asking developers to update their Apps ever since it's not a new idea. Perhaps the proportion of 32-bit Apps in the App Store that are being used is so low that it's disproportionate to the resources Apple needs to plough into 32-bit it to keep it running along.

Windows goes out of their way to support old or poorly programmed software to maintain the status quo. If you check out Raymond Chen's "The Old New Thing" blog you can see where MS bend over backwards to keep things ticking over.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vashetti Avatar
92 months ago
Any news on native dark mode??
Please be excited for iOS 11.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KALLT Avatar
92 months ago
I can't find anything in detail when I do a Google search looking for all of the benefits of APFS. Someone with some expertise on the matter care to enlighten me? I see strong encryption in the article, but are there any other big benefits?
On iOS, you will see more efficient space usage and quicker disk operations. Apple keeps the system and user data on separate partitions. APFS volumes can share disk space between them dynamically, allowing Apple to give back some of the reserved space on the system partition (by how much and whether Apple will do this is not entirely clear though). APFS also makes file copying more efficient by not actually duplicating the whole data directly (and using twice the space), but by duplicating pointers to the same blocks instead and by writing only the changes to disk when changes are made. Copies therefore won’t use more space unless they are changed, and copy actions happen instantly, because no data is copied at the time a copy is made. APFS also handles meta data a bit differently and can give much quicker and current insight into space usage.

APFS is just better adapted to the actual usage of the file system and refactors some of the technologies that Apple inelegantly added to HFS+ over the years. On iOS itself, you probably won’t see any other direct benefits.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 16 Camera Lozenge 2 Perspective Gray

Five Key Upgrades Coming to iPhone 16

Friday March 15, 2024 1:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone is Apple's top-selling product, and it gets an update every year. In 2024, we're expecting the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineup, with an arguably more interesting feature set than we got with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Capture Button All four iPhone 16 models are set to get a whole new button, which will be...
When To Expect New iPads Feature 1

Apple to Announce New iPads on March 26, Rumors Claim

Monday March 18, 2024 4:02 am PDT by
Apple is widely expected to release new iPad Air and OLED iPad Pro models in the next few weeks. According to new rumors coming out of Asia, the company will announce its new iPads on Tuesday, March 26. Chinese leaker Instant Digital on Weibo this morning 日发布%23">claimed that the date will see some sort of announcement from Apple related to new iPads, but stopped short of calling it an...
airpods 3 orange

Two New AirPods 4 Models Expected to Launch in September or October

Sunday March 17, 2024 7:56 am PDT by
Apple suppliers will begin production of two new fourth-generation AirPods models in May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Based on this production timeframe, he expects the headphones to be released in September or October. Gurman expects both fourth-generation AirPods models to feature a new design with better fit, improved sound quality, and an updated charging case with a USB-C...
iphone se 4 modified flag edges

iPhone SE 4 Expected to Depreciate Heavily

Tuesday March 12, 2024 9:04 am PDT by
Resale value trends suggest the iPhone SE 4 may not hold its value as well as Apple's flagship models, according to SellCell. According to the report, Apple's iPhone SE models have historically depreciated much more rapidly than the company's more premium offerings. The third-generation iPhone SE, which launched in March 2022, experienced a significant drop in resale value, losing 42.6%...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

iOS 17.4.1 Update for iPhone is Imminent

Monday March 18, 2024 5:27 am PDT by
iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 should be released within the next few days, with a build number of 21E235, according to a source with a proven track record. MacRumors previously reported that Apple was internally testing iOS 17.4.1. As a minor update for the iPhone, it will likely address software bugs and/or security vulnerabilities. It is unclear if the update will include any other changes. ...
iOS 17 Passkey With Apple ACCOUNT Feature

'Apple ID' Expected to Change to 'Apple Account' Starting With iOS 18

Sunday March 17, 2024 7:13 am PDT by
MacRumors was first to report that Apple was planning to rebrand "Apple ID" to "Apple Account" across its software platforms and websites like iCloud.com as early as this year, and now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has corroborated this change. A mockup of the new Apple Account branding In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new "Apple Account" branding will start to be used later this...
M3 iPad Feature 3

New iPads Likely to Begin Shipping in April

Monday March 18, 2024 9:52 am PDT by
Apple's new iPad Pro models with OLED displays will likely begin shipping to customers in April, according to information shared today by Ross Young, CEO of display industry research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also said the new iPad Pro models might not ship until "deeper" into April in his Power On newsletter on Sunday:I've repeatedly said that new...