Apple Seeds Sixth Beta of iOS 10.3 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Now Available]

by

Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming iOS 10.3 update to developers, just under one week after seeding the fifth beta of iOS 10.3 and three months after the release of iOS 10.2, the last major update to the iOS 10 operating system.

Registered developers can download the sixth 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 significant new features and changes to the iOS 10 operating system. The biggest consumer-facing feature in iOS 10.3 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.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

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.

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app open/close animation, an Apple ID profile in Settings, a better breakdown of iCloud storage usage, warnings about outdated apps that won't work with future versions of iOS, HomeKit support for programmable light switches, improvements to SiriKit (bill paying, bill status, and scheduling future rides), CarPlay interface improvements, iCloud analytics options, and more.

Update: iOS 10.3 beta 6 is also available for public beta testers.

Top Rated Comments

Amazing Iceman Avatar
Amazing Iceman
57 months ago
It seems that Apple just releases a new beta every week to fix as many found bugs as possible until release day.
Not a bad thing IMO.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Avieshek Avatar
Avieshek
57 months ago
Excited for the Apple-File-System.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tubamajuba Avatar
Tubamajuba
57 months ago
Ah common already :)
Actually, iOS 10.3 is rare right now. It will indeed become common once it leaves the beta stage and is released to the general public.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ILikeAllOS Avatar
ILikeAllOS
57 months ago
There's that good old beta 1 video again...
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleFan91 Avatar
AppleFan91
57 months ago
This may be the final one since it came out so close to the 5th one
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Paradoxally Avatar
Paradoxally
57 months ago
Somebody woke up early today.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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