Apple Seeds Third Beta of iOS 12.1 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available] - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Seeds Third Beta of iOS 12.1 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 12.1 update to developers, one week after seeding the second beta and three weeks after releasing iOS 12, a major new version of the iOS software.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 12.1 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

groupfacetime
iOS 12.1 includes several new features that Apple promised would come to the new iPhone XS and XS Max devices. The beta introduces support for the eSIM, which is a digital SIM that lets you activate a cellular plan from a carrier without the need to use a physical SIM card.

Carriers will need to implement support for eSIM, which is likely to happen after iOS 12.1 launches. In the U.S., AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile will support eSIM.

appleesim
The iOS 12.1 update brings a new real-time Depth Control feature, which lets you adjust the depth of field of your Portrait Mode photos before you capture them. Right now, in iOS 12, Depth Control is only available for post-capture editing.

If you tap on the "F" icon at the top of the screen while capturing a photo you use Depth Control to adjust the amount of background blur in an image.

iphonexsdepthcontrol
In addition to these iPhone XS and XS Max features, iOS 12.1 reintroduces the Group FaceTime feature that was removed from iOS 12 during the beta testing period. Group FaceTime was present in many early betas but was ultimately removed because Apple needed more time to test it.

Group FaceTime is designed to let iPhone and Mac users conduct video and audio chats with up to 32 participants at one time, with new camera effects features included.

The update adds more than 70 new emoji to iPhones and iPads, with options that include red hair, gray hair, curly hair, cold face, party face, face with hearts, mango, kangaroo, peacock, lobster, cupcake, and tons more.

As for bug fixes, iOS 12.1 addresses a charging problem that could cause iPhone and iPad models running iOS 12 to fail to charge when connected to a Lightning cable while the screen is off and it fixes a bug that caused iPhone XS and XS Max models to prefer 2.4GHz WiFi networks to 5GHz networks, resulting in perceived slower WiFi speeds. Both of these bugs have also been addressed in the iOS 12.0.1 update, released yesterday.

If any additional new features are found in the third iOS 12.1 beta, we'll update this post with details.

Update: Apple has also seeded a new beta of iOS 12.1 to its public beta testing group.

Related Forum: iOS 12

Popular Stories

Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro: Pre-Orders and Release Date

Sunday August 16, 2026 8:24 pm PDT by
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern. As usual, the event is expected to take place in the first half of September. Labor Day falls on September 7 this year. The last time the holiday was on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the...
apple camera airpods

Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods Confirmed: See Them in Action

Monday August 17, 2026 6:21 pm PDT by
Apple is working on camera-equipped AirPods that appear to be nearly ready to launch, based on a video MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate. In a short demo, a man holds a book up so the camera in the AirPods can see the title. "With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later," says the voiceover text. Here ...
iPhone 18 Pro Dark Cherry Feature

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra: New Details Leak as Apple Event Nears

Monday August 17, 2026 11:09 am PDT by
"iPhone Ultra" supply will be very limited when the foldable device is first released later this year, according to Fixed Focus Digital, a known leaker on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. The account also claimed that the iPhone 18 Pro's A20 Pro chip will be up to 18% faster and up to 30% more power efficient compared to the iPhone 17 Pro's A19 Pro chip. The A20 Pro chip will be the...

Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
103 months ago
The update adds more than 70 new emoji ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/02/ios-12-1-new-emoji-characters-coming/') to iPhones and iPads, with options that include red hair, gray hair, curly hair, cold face, party face, face with hearts, mango, kangaroo, peacock, lobster, cupcake, and tons more.
Before anybody says that Apple needs to focus on hardware instead of emoji, let's take a second and think about what it'd look like if the emoji team started building Macs…



Attachment Image
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
103 months ago
Hoping for LTE fix
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
103 months ago
What is the LTE issue?
Many people, myself included, have been having horrible cellular LTE reception issues with the XS/XS Max.

I bought my XS Max on launch day and have AT&T in NYC. Cellular/LTE reception is horrendous. Averaging ~1-3mbps and regular dropped calls and signal loss. There have been people reporting this across carriers in all regions. Even those with the same carrier and in the same region are having different experiences.

Myself and others have been in touch with Apple support engineers who have asked us to send them sysdiagnose files and logs. I have been working with someone for almost 2 weeks and unfortunately have received no updates on if they have determined a root cause.

Some have returned/replaced their phones and even that seems to be a mixed bag. Some have said their replacement units are working as expected while others have gone through more than 2 phones and claim they all have had the LTE issues.

Frustrating to say the least.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lvmyiphone Avatar
103 months ago
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 12.1 update to developers, one week after seeding the second beta ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/02/apple-seeds-ios-12-1-beta-2-to-developers/') and three weeks after releasing iOS 12 ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/09/17/apple-releases-ios-12/'), a major new version of the iOS software.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 12.1 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.



iOS 12.1 includes several new features that Apple promised would come to the new iPhone XS and XS Max devices. The beta introduces support ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/09/26/esim-feature-available-in-ios-12-1/') for the eSIM, which is a digital SIM that lets you activate a cellular plan from a carrier without the need to use a physical SIM card.

Carriers will need to implement support for eSIM, which is likely to happen after iOS 12.1 launches. In the U.S., AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile will support eSIM.



The iOS 12.1 update brings a new real-time Depth Control feature, which lets you adjust the depth of field of your Portrait Mode photos before you capture them. Right now, in iOS 12, Depth Control is only available for post-capture editing.

If you tap on the "F" icon at the top of the screen while capturing a photo you use Depth Control to adjust the amount of background blur in an image.



In addition to these iPhone XS and XS Max features, iOS 12.1 reintroduces the Group FaceTime feature that was removed from iOS 12 during the beta testing period. Group FaceTime was present in many early betas but was ultimately removed because Apple needed more time to test it.

Group FaceTime is designed to let iPhone and Mac users conduct video and audio chats with up to 32 participants at one time, with new camera effects features included.

The update adds more than 70 new emoji ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/02/ios-12-1-new-emoji-characters-coming/') to iPhones and iPads, with options that include red hair, gray hair, curly hair, cold face, party face, face with hearts, mango, kangaroo, peacock, lobster, cupcake, and tons more.

As for bug fixes, iOS 12.1 addresses a charging problem ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/02/ios-12-1-charging-bug-fix/') that could cause iPhone and iPad models running iOS 12 to fail to charge when connected to a Lightning cable while the screen is off and it fixes a bug that caused iPhone XS and XS Max models to prefer 2.4GHz WiFi networks to 5GHz networks, resulting in perceived slower WiFi speeds. Both of these bugs have also been addressed in the iOS 12.0.1 update ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/08/apple-releases-ios-12-0-1-update/'), released yesterday.

If any additional new features are found in the third iOS 12.1 beta, we'll update this post with details.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Third Beta of iOS 12.1 to Developers ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/09/apple-seeds-ios-12-1-beta-3-to-developers/')
Uhhhh does it fix the LTE issues??????
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
103 months ago
Could somebody explain to me why they not fixing to LTE issues?????
Perhaps they are still investigating/working on it?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lvmyiphone Avatar
103 months ago
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 12.1 update to developers, one week after seeding the second beta ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/02/apple-seeds-ios-12-1-beta-2-to-developers/') and three weeks after releasing iOS 12 ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/09/17/apple-releases-ios-12/'), a major new version of the iOS software.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 12.1 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.



iOS 12.1 includes several new features that Apple promised would come to the new iPhone XS and XS Max devices. The beta introduces support ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/09/26/esim-feature-available-in-ios-12-1/') for the eSIM, which is a digital SIM that lets you activate a cellular plan from a carrier without the need to use a physical SIM card.

Carriers will need to implement support for eSIM, which is likely to happen after iOS 12.1 launches. In the U.S., AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile will support eSIM.



The iOS 12.1 update brings a new real-time Depth Control feature, which lets you adjust the depth of field of your Portrait Mode photos before you capture them. Right now, in iOS 12, Depth Control is only available for post-capture editing.

If you tap on the "F" icon at the top of the screen while capturing a photo you use Depth Control to adjust the amount of background blur in an image.



In addition to these iPhone XS and XS Max features, iOS 12.1 reintroduces the Group FaceTime feature that was removed from iOS 12 during the beta testing period. Group FaceTime was present in many early betas but was ultimately removed because Apple needed more time to test it.

Group FaceTime is designed to let iPhone and Mac users conduct video and audio chats with up to 32 participants at one time, with new camera effects features included.

The update adds more than 70 new emoji ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/02/ios-12-1-new-emoji-characters-coming/') to iPhones and iPads, with options that include red hair, gray hair, curly hair, cold face, party face, face with hearts, mango, kangaroo, peacock, lobster, cupcake, and tons more.

As for bug fixes, iOS 12.1 addresses a charging problem ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/02/ios-12-1-charging-bug-fix/') that could cause iPhone and iPad models running iOS 12 to fail to charge when connected to a Lightning cable while the screen is off and it fixes a bug that caused iPhone XS and XS Max models to prefer 2.4GHz WiFi networks to 5GHz networks, resulting in perceived slower WiFi speeds. Both of these bugs have also been addressed in the iOS 12.0.1 update ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/08/apple-releases-ios-12-0-1-update/'), released yesterday.

If any additional new features are found in the third iOS 12.1 beta, we'll update this post with details.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Third Beta of iOS 12.1 to Developers ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/09/apple-seeds-ios-12-1-beta-3-to-developers/')
Could somebody explain to me why they not fixing to LTE issues?????
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)