Apple Seeds Third Beta of iOS 10.3 to Developers

by

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.

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 (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

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
Read Full Article • 91 comments
CarPlay Hero

Apple Releases Wireless CarPlay Fix

Wednesday April 16, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
If you have been experiencing issues with wireless CarPlay in your vehicle lately, it was likely due to a software bug that has now been fixed. Apple released iOS 18.4.1 today, and the update's release notes say it "addresses a rare issue that prevents wireless CarPlay connection in certain vehicles." If wireless CarPlay was acting up for you, updating your iPhone to iOS 18.4.1 should...
Read Full Article • 81 comments
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Read Full Article • 104 comments
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Triad

Apple's 20th Anniversary iPhone May Finally Go All Screen

Tuesday April 15, 2025 6:31 am PDT by
Apple is preparing a "bold" new iPhone Pro model for the iPhone's 20th anniversary in 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. As part of what's being described as a "major shake-up," Apple is said to be developing a design that makes more extensive use of glass – and this could point directly to the display itself. Here's the case for Apple releasing a truly all-screen iPhone with no...
Read Full Article • 88 comments
maxresdefault

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...
Read Full Article • 142 comments
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday April 15, 2025 7:37 am PDT by
The first iOS 19 beta is less than two months away, and there are already a handful of new features that are expected with the update. Apple should release the first iOS 19 beta to developers immediately following the WWDC 2025 keynote, which is scheduled for Monday, June 9. Following beta testing, the update should be released to the general public in September. Below, we recap the key...
Read Full Article • 35 comments
top stories 2025 04 19

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Pro Rumors, CarPlay Bug Fix, and More

Saturday April 19, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
This week saw rumor updates on the iPhone 17 Pro and next-generation Vision Pro, while a minor iOS 18.4.1 update delivered not just security fixes but also a fix for some CarPlay issues. We also looked ahead at what else is in Apple's pipeline for the rest of 2025 and even the 20th-anniversary iPhone coming in 2027, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more! iPhone 17 ...
Read Full Article • 32 comments
Apple TV Plus Feature 2 Magenta and Blue

Apple TV+ Available at Significantly Lower Price Until Next Week

Friday April 18, 2025 11:42 am PDT by
Apple TV+ is currently available at a much lower price than usual, but time is running out if you want to take advantage of the offer. In the U.S., new and qualified returning customers can subscribe to Apple TV+ for just $2.99 per month, for three months. Afterwards, regular pricing of $9.99 per month applies. The offer is available in the Apple TV app, and at tv.apple.com, through April...
Read Full Article • 103 comments

Top Rated Comments

Vashetti Avatar
Vashetti
107 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
Macrule36
107 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
Zirel
107 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
MR-LIZARD
107 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
Vashetti
107 months ago
Any news on native dark mode??
Please be excited for iOS 11.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KALLT Avatar
KALLT
107 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)
Read All Comments