Apple Seeds Fourth Betas of iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6 to Developers

Tuesday June 27, 2023 10:05 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today seeded the fourth betas of upcoming iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming over two weeks after the release of the third betas.

iOS 16
Registered developers can opt in to the betas by opening up the Settings app, going to Software Update, tapping on the “Beta Updates” option and toggling on the iOS 16 Developer Beta. Note that an Apple ID associated with a developer account is required to download and install the beta.

iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6 lay the groundwork for iMessage Contact Key Verification. It is meant to let Apple device owners verify that they are messaging with the people they intend to message rather than a malicious entity that has intercepted a message or is eavesdropping on a conversation.

The feature is designed for Apple users who are facing “extraordinary digital threats.” Apple intends for iMessage Contact Key Verification to be used by journalists, human rights activists, government officials, and others who are in danger of malicious digital attacks from state-sponsored attackers or other malicious actors.

Apple said that iMessage Contact Key Verification would be available on the iPhone and other Apple devices at some point in 2023, and it is one of the last features we are expecting to see in ‌iOS 16‌. In the first beta, hints of iMessage Contact Key were available, but the option was not fully enabled.

Related Roundups: iOS 16, iPadOS 16

Related Forum: iOS 16

Top Rated Comments

Populus

13 weeks ago

Still on 15.7, hoping 16.6.1 won't take forever to arrive.

Same. Still on 15.7 on my iPhone 8, waiting to see how 16.6 turns out to be. I was going to update to 16.5.1 but that SMS bug has me doubting.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

ThomasJL

I wish I had stayed on iOS 15. I'm using an iPhone SE (2nd generation) which has an A13 processor. Although iOS 16.5 is still buggy, even if the upcoming iOS 16.6 was somehow miraculously free of bugs, if I were on iOS 15.7, I would probably stay on iOS 15.7 for the faster speed. Every iOS 16 version I've used has been slow and laggy.

sbailey4

What modem firmwares and carrier profiles are in this build?

Here is the best place to find your answer. First post. All models listed.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-16-6-beta-4-bug-fixes-changes-and-improvements.2394346/

Stromos

Public Beta is available.

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

dfwiddoc

Thank you for posting something more productive than the usual tedious whining about how inept the firmware release is. The modem firmware is 1.80.01. I believe the carrier profile depends on which cellular service is installed on the phone—mine, for AT&T, is 54.0.1.

MrRom92

iOS 16.5 is one of the worst updates they’ve ever made, and broke so many things I don’t even know where to begin. I am eager to upgrade away from it and yet also hesitant to update and ruin something else in the process

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