Apple has released the first round of developer betas for the newest software coming to the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. The company released the public versions of its major updates earlier this week, rolling out iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2.
With this week's developer releases, you can now download the first developer betas of iOS 16.3, iPadOS 16.3, macOS 13.2, watchOS 9.3, and tvOS 16.3.
As usual, release notes are scarce, but some new features are already out in the open.
iOS 16.3 beta
Apple just rolled out iOS 16.2 to the general public, bringing with it a few major upgrades (including 5G support for an additional 1.4 billion people!). That includes the new Freeform app, Apple Music Sing, Advanced Data Protection, and more.
Officially, there are no new release notes for Apple's iOS 16.3 beta. The major change is support for physical security keys, which comes to all of the aforementioned betas in this release. Announced by Apple last week, the new feature will let you use third-party hardware security keys to protect your iCloud account and Apple ID, strengthening two-factor authentication. This feature is expected to be available early next year.
Like the other betas here, we'd expect iOS 16.3 to be released to the general public sometime in early 2023.
New in 16.3 pic.twitter.com/ahBeOnawT3December 14, 2022
Apple has also added a new guidance screen for transferring music from your iPhone to your HomePod. Users on iOS 16 can hand off music to a HomePod mini by moving their iPhone near the device. This new screen tells users in more detail how to do this. Handoff was introduced in 2021, but this new screen may help more users take advantage of the feature, especially since the HomePod mini has become available in several more countries since the feature was first rolled out.
iPadOS 16.3 beta
iPadOS 16.2 brought all the aforementioned upgrades of iOS 16.2, namely Freeform, Apple Music Sing, Advanced Data Protection, and more. It also brings back External Display Support for Stage Manager on Apple's best iPads, the M1 and M2 iPad Pro and iPad Air models.
Again, there are no official notes, but Security Keys support also comes to the iPad with the first beta of iOS 16.3.
This will almost certainly be released at the same time as iOS 16.3 early next year.
macOS Ventura 13.2 beta
macOS 13.1 brought with it Freeform and ADP when it was released earlier this week.
Alongside Security Keys support, macOS 13.2 fixes a regression in Ventura 13.1 " that prevented daemons from being registered with SMAppService." Apple "also fixed, toggling items on or off in Login Items may cause items to be ungrouped or deleted."
Like iPadOS and iOS 16.3, expect macOS Ventura 13.2 to be released early next year.
watchOS 9.3 beta
watchOS 9.2 added a new Race Route feature, a kickboxing algorithm for workouts, and better Outdoor Run detection for when you arrive at a running track.
Apple watchOS 9.3 doesn't bring any major new features or changes at first glance, but that doesn't mean there aren't any hiding under the hood. watchOS 9.3 will likely be available early in 2023.
tvOS 16.3
tvOS 16.2 actually brought a few major updates this week. That includes a new Siri Recognize My Voice feature which supports up to six different voices for easier personal requests and profile switching. Siri and Watch Now have both been re-designed and the former got some new languages. Apple Music Sing arrived and the new HomeKit Architecture that will support Matter and generally better connectivity has arrived.
There aren't any new release notes for tvOS 16.3, and no sign of any new features yet.
We'd expect tvOS 16.2 to debut early next year.
Disclaimer
Apple occasionally offers updates to iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS as closed developer previews or public betas (opens in new tab). While the betas contain new features, they also contain pre-release bugs that can prevent the normal use of your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, or Mac, and are not intended for everyday use on a primary device. That's why we strongly recommend staying away from developer previews unless you need them for software development, and using the public betas with caution. If you depend on your devices, wait for the final release.
