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Apple releases iOS 9.3 beta 4 with Night Shift, Touch ID Notes, & Verizon Wi-Fi Calling

iPhone lineup

Apple has released the fourth iOS 9.3 beta for developers to test on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The first iOS 9.3 beta appeared in early January. Apple is expected to release the iOS 9.3 software update to all users around next month’s iPhone 5se/iPad Air 3 event. We’ll check out the latest beta version of the upcoming release and highlight any changes below.

iOS 9.3 will introduce loads of new features and enhancements to the iPhone and iPad.

Night Shift, a new mode that changes the display color temperature, enables easier evening and night use while reducing blue light and its effect.

The Notes app is gaining the ability to hide individual notes behind a secure password, and iPhones and iPads with Touch ID can unlock these notes with the fingerprint reader.

3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus is getting more capable, too, with new Quick Action shortcuts on additional Apple apps like Settings which offers direct access to battery, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi options.

iBooks on iOS can now sync PDFs and other items through iCloud for iBooks, and CarPlay for iPhone is gaining Apple Music and Maps features previously not offered.

For Verizon customers, iPhones will be able to use Wi-Fi Calling, which is already available on AT&T and T-Mobile for U.S. customers.

When using watchOS 2.2, iPhones running iOS 9.3 will be able to pair multiple Apple Watches and automatically switch between which is active. Apple’s also pushing a major new education initiative lead by shared iPads in iOS 9.3

For more on iOS 9.3 beta, check out our hands-on video:

Let us know in the comments, via email at tips at 9to5mac dot com, or on Twitter @9to5Mac if you spot any changes in the new beta, and we’ll update with changes we find as well.

Here’s what new:

  • Second icon change for Control Center’s Night Shift toggle

iOS 9.3 beta 4 Night Shift icon

  • New star icons next to track numbers in Music (appears to be next to singles/popular tracks but unclear)

Apple Music star icon iOS 9.3 beta 4

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Comments

  1. Mario A Giambanco - 8 years ago

    Can’t wait until Touch ID is built into the screen and not just specific features of an app can be protected, but entire apps.

    • just-a-random-dude - 8 years ago

      I’m confused, can you explain why the entire app has to be encrypted? As long as the data is encrypted, it’s fine. Apps like 1Password already do this.

      iOS also does full disk encryption, so all apps already do benefit from encryption on the device. That’s why remote wipe works, it deletes the encryption key and the device cannot be decrypted. In fact, this is the very reason FBI cannot decrypt the content on the disk without Apple’s help to brute force the passcode.

      Encrypting the entire app provides no benefits, it will in fact slow it down. Encrypting the data behind the app is fine and is already capable of doing this for a long time and iOS 8/9 even lets app use data protections to prevent backing up to the iCloud and to local PCs. Again, full disk encryption means the data is already encrypted on the device.

      • Zach Gonser - 8 years ago

        One thing reason i can think of is that notes are synced to iCloud, and iCloud holds info that can be provided to authorities etc etc.

      • Mario A Giambanco - 8 years ago

        I was thinking more along the lines of preventing an app from opening. Not necessarily encryption. I may tell my wife my passcode so she can use it in a pinch to take a photo, but I may not want her to be able to access my email (for example). Or you may give your phone to your kid to play a game on but may not want them accessing Amazon or something. Think along the lines of letting a user restrict access to an app, regardless if the app developer decided to implement Touch ID.

    • Their are apps that are already doing this just differently. When i open several bank apps, it immediately asks for Touch ID for verification. I cannot go past the front splash screen without it.

    • Jake Becker - 8 years ago

      Removal of physical buttons is only happening when those with disabilities can still manage easy operation of the phone. I’m curious how this will be handled if the headphone jack removal is true.

  2. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    They need to use the do not disturb icon for Night Shift instead of constantly changing Night Shift’s logo. 3 icon’s since the first beta is a little much.

    • Mario Gaucher - 8 years ago

      this is called a beta for a reason… Apple is doing it to test design and functionality.
      If you don’t like it, you should go to the stable release.

    • Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 8 years ago

      annnd then they need to design a new icon for do not disturb. The basically solved it with this new icon. It’s a mix of brightness setting’s icon and do not disturb. It works perfectly.

    • alaskajaxx - 8 years ago

      So trivial compared to the ability to now control temperature. iOS leans blue >6500° kelvin (considered ‘neutral’. With NightShift – & an addition of massive significance allows for already very accurate displays calibrated coming out of the ‘line’
      But the last month I’ve used NightShift for its intended usage – as I read a 1/2 hour-2 hours before sacking out IMexrremelyHO, this is one of the small print snippets of additions BUT it’s such a phenomenal addition. Other mobile OS companies offer ‘fixed value’ settings with goofy titles like ‘standard’ ‘movies’ adaptive or photo. They definitely change the display and its color reproduction as they say but the values are fixed and few are close to 6500°K in ANY of their predetermined settings
      Apple isn’t just allowing our eyes rest – but a temperature control of the display — specifically to the look – pardon the pun – of the display while in the dark, like sepia has done somewhat in the past ala iBooks
      We’ve now got a linear scale (not five stops as in cursor travel or sticky keys) that you’re able to slide carefully and on newer devices we’ve been testing our new apps, …cut the temp, warm it up and enjoy almost an endless combination of brightness and the ‘temp’ of preference. While 6500° is supposed neutral perfection – there’s few phones they’ve nailed it , I think you can count on a single finger. iPhone 6s. @ 6502. 6s+ is still a bit blue at 6720°, still extremely accurate but the ability to shift in post (photo, video as folks watch at home and dynamics), for me the ability to fall asleep reading has become a more enjoyable experience for sure
      I’m using an iPad Pro as one of the betas and curious if others are too. Since 9.2, and seeming with each update the Pencil loses another ability
      iOS 9.2 allowed scrolling in pages as well, pinpoint accuracy for correction of text errors the latter ‘added’ to ‘4’ the former I noticed on the third beta. Both are annoying as the Pencil is SUCH a killer tool it becomes your ‘power hand’ swiping and typing with the other, fortunately you’re still able to type w/Pencil
      I had a IIe in 83 and 33 years later between HiDPI displays – larger and more accurate to print and constant connectivity with SSD technology hitting 2Gb/s R/W speeds and a TB of said storage, unrivaled granular control of the touchpad on a MBP, magic TP2 w/haptic feedback – a plethora of gesture driven, easy to remember manipulations, it really does feel magic lol – e/500GB SSD and 32GB RAM (on sale Christmas) for a 2011 iMac has literally changed the entire computer and iPad Pro – hands down the best fastest most fluent and gorgeous display Apple’s achieved or ‘mobile’ has matched even with the contrast weighing in favor of OLED – Apple’s taken LC/ED visuals to the bleeding edge of …well, they’ll probably soon switch to OLED. As LCD ‘always on’ pixels won’t deliver the blacks but other than that, as a 45 year old with 20/20 through his mid – late thirties ‘retina’ and its hardware have definitely kept pace with my failing vision and reinvigorated my ‘hobby’ computing enjoyment. SSDs, specifically the PCIe solutions. The displays. The efficiency and power without 110v is truly a remarkable achievement.
      Hopefully with TB3 ready we’ll see more TBolt break out boxes for extra USB 3, DVI, HDMI and Ethernet as well as external sound cards and ¼” monitoring abilities — sure my rMBP still cooks it when transcoding or working in AE but those are jobs we use Mac Pros and top shelf Xeon Windows rigs with a rendering farm to die for —
      Didn’t mean to write a novel but the ability to affect temp of the display certainly helps in the evening …& often during the day

      Other side of the iOS coin, I’m impressed with the apps developing for watch and 3D Touch. What a very cool time.

      Thanks for the excellent write up and as far a DND logo — Really? Man some folks need a life 👅👙

      Many thanks from AK. Keep up the good work!!

  3. Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 8 years ago

    I really don’t like the concept of nightsift and flashlight being in the apps section of control center. the whole concept for why that section has rounded rect app icon shape is that they launch apps. The things in top with circles are toggles and mimic the rounded toggle buttons. Night shift and flashlight belong up there but they couldn’t fit it.

    It’s clear that control center wasn’t though out to be expanded this way. Sound UI concepts shouldn’t be broken to squeeze in features.

    • Ryan - 8 years ago

      They should put the nightshift toggle next to the brightness slider…maybe the flashlight too.

      • Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 8 years ago

        +1 (since i can’t like)

        Yea that’s a good idea. I’d like to mock it up maybe but it could work. The brightness toggle probably doesn’t need to be full width.

        Did you submit feedback about this to Apple yet?

  4. Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 8 years ago

    I like the new icon for nightshift. I think that works really well with the concept of brightness. The other icons weren’t great.

    • AeronPeryton - 8 years ago

      I liked the second icon because it indicated what it was used for, to protect your eyes from the burnings. But I like this icon even more because it’s just clever.

  5. DarkMx2000 - 8 years ago

    Im just waiting for Wi-Fi calling on Verizon :)

  6. Robert Wilson - 8 years ago

    Wonder if they will fix the one problem with the music app with home sharing. If you have no music on your device and no purchases with from iTunes. You can’t get to home sharing on your device becouse the menu where it is doesn’t show up unless you got at least one song on your device or some purchases with apple. It strange the video app no problem but music app nope. Got to have a song on device so can access the menu.

  7. Grgo (@G_Coric) - 8 years ago

    Uhm.. Will it make the iPhone 6 perform as fast as with iOS 8.4.1?

  8. Suad Cengic - 8 years ago

    This update killed all third party (such as Viber, outlook, facebook messenger) notifications to Apple Watch! tried restarting both iPhone and Apple Watch, but again, notifications are not coming to the watch!

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.