Apple Seeds New iOS 12.1.3 Beta to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

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Apple today seeded a new beta of an upcoming iOS 12.1.3 update to developers, just a few days releasing iOS 12.1.2, an update that focused on bug fixes for the eSIM feature and changed certain iPhone features in China after a Chinese court found that some iPhones infringe on Qualcomm patents.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 12.1.3 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

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The iOS 12.1.3 beta actually includes the same content that was destined for the iOS 12.1.2 beta, and it appears to be labeled as a second beta rather than a first beta. When Apple released iOS 12.1.2, it featured a build number of 16C101, while the first iOS 12.1.2 beta released for developers had a later 16D build number.

Apple appears to have tweaked iOS 12.1.2 to include some emergency bug fixes and the aforementioned software changes in China, rushing the update out and pushing content originally planned for iOS 12.1.2 to iOS 12.1.3 instead.

Apple was forced to push iOS 12.1.2 out earlier than expected after a Chinese court decided on December 10 that Apple's iPhone 6s through iPhone X infringed on two Qualcomm patents related to resizing and reformatting photos for wallpaper and the app switcher.

The court enacted a preliminary sales ban on the iPhone, leading Apple to make tweaks to the iOS software in China. Apple changed the way apps close when you swipe up on an open app from the app switcher, and it tweaked the share sheet interaction for setting contact and wallpaper images.

Apple has not stopped selling its iPhones in China, despite protests from Qualcomm, and it has said that it is in compliance with the court's preliminary order.

iOS 12.1.3 will mark the fourth update to iOS 12. We don't yet know what features are included, and no major changes were found in the original iOS 12.1.2 beta that was the precursor to iOS 12.1.3. As a 12.x.x update, iOS 12.1.3 likely focuses on minor changes, bug fixes, and operating system tweaks.

If we find anything new in the iOS 12.1.3 beta, we'll update this post.

Update: Apple has made the new beta of iOS 12.1.3 available to public beta testers.

Related Forum: iOS 12

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Top Rated Comments

C DM Avatar
C DM
82 months ago
iOS 13 must be good cos iOS 12 is such a boring release
At the same time "boring" usually means more stable and better overall.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
cmaier
82 months ago
why they call it “Beta 2”
It’s the second beta of what was 12.1.2 before 12.1.2 got renumbered to 12.1.3 due to the emergency 12.1.2 release yesterday
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
smulji Avatar
smulji
82 months ago
With iOS 12 being a "Snow Leopard"-ish iOS release, with some tentpole features but focused mostly on improving performance and stability, I wonder if we will get any major new features on 12.2 or 12.3 releases.
I doubt it. All the more reason to expect iOS 13 to be a very big release
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dan9700 Avatar
dan9700
82 months ago
I doubt it. All the more reason to expect iOS 13 to be a very big release
iOS 13 must be good cos iOS 12 is such a boring release
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nutmac Avatar
nutmac
82 months ago
With iOS 12 being a "Snow Leopard"-ish iOS release, with some tentpole features but focused mostly on improving performance and stability, I wonder if we will get any major new features on 12.2 or 12.3 releases.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
I7guy
82 months ago
Don't bet your boots! Consider that the iPhone 6, and ESPECIALLY the 6 Plus are constrained more by RAM than CPU performance, and both have the SAME amount of RAM as the 5s (1GB)—and that the ONLY difference between the 5s/6 and the 5 lineage that came before was 64-bit and 32-bit CPU—when goes the 5s the 6 and 6 Plus will undoubtedly follow. (Definitely the 6 Plus; the extra pixels on the 6 Plus with 1GB of RAM was a performance design flaw from Day 1. The 5s is more performant on iOS 12 than a 6 Plus at most tasks.) The 6s and later--including the SE--all have 2GB of RAM, which isn't just "double", because of OS baseline, it comes out to be more like 3x more available memory.
5 years of support unless Apple makes some exceptions. Next year the 5s turns 6, which means unless Apple changes it's policies, the 5s has seen its last update.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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