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

iOS 9.3 beta 2

Apple has released the fourth iOS 9.3 public beta to non-developer testers today. iOS 9.3 public beta 4 follows this week’s fourth developer iOS 9.3 beta release as well. The latest beta cleans up issues introduced in the last version while adding some new features as well.

iOS 9.3, which is expected to be released to everyone next month, adds loads of new features for iPhones and iPads including Night Shift mode to change the display temperature for evening reading, Touch ID/secure passwords to protect Notes, new 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, enhancements to the Health and Activity apps, iCloud for iBooks PDF syncing, and much more.

For CarPlay users, iOS 9.3 also adds the full Apple Music experience with For You and New sections as well as Nearby in Maps. iOS 9.3 also includes a major new education initiative with multi-user support and much more.

Changes in the latest beta include an updated Night Shift icon in Control Center as well as new star icons on popular tracks/singles in Apple Music.

Check out our coverage of iOS 9.3 beta 4 for developers for more details.

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Comments

  1. BuffyzDead (@BuffyzDead) - 8 years ago

    Public Beta 1 and 2, of v9.3, chewed through my battery life, on my iPad Air 2 AND on my iPhone 6s.
    Battery would not last ~4 hours, with the iPhone doing absolutely nothing. Just sitting idle overnight.

    Public Beta 3 fixed all that, and my battery life on both devices, had never, ever, been better!!
    Amazing battery life for sure.

    I just installed Public Beta 4, and I’m praying battery life remains as good as Public Beta 3, or better B)

    • Strange, I didn’t notice anything like this on my iPad Air 2

    • Jana Turzova - 8 years ago

      I have totally opposite experience. From last update 9.3 my battery life is horrible. Before (9.2) it lasts almost 2 days and now after 2 hours doing something with iPhone I am an 60%. How it is possible? And also I am not able to connect to some types of wifi :(

    • kensong59 - 8 years ago

      I was extremely happy with the battery life of beta 4. The best version so far on my iPhone 6 plus. However, since installing beta 4, battery life sucks and my iPhone feels warmer. Not sure if some app is at fault but definitely nowhere as good as beta 3.

      • kensong59 - 8 years ago

        Sorry, could not edit my reply. I meant extremely happy with the battery life of beta 3.

  2. Will this be the software that comes on the iPhone 5se?

  3. tacos1314 - 8 years ago

    My notifications no longer come through on my Apple Watch. My phone buzzes now…

    • Same!!!! I am getting really annoyed and between my apple watch and phone the bluetooth is sometimes failing out D:

      • Justin Price - 8 years ago

        Apple watch notifications are now broken after this beta.

      • stc67 - 8 years ago

        Keep in mind that you chose to help Apple by participating in the Public BETA of this Software. The whole point is for the participants to help Apple find and report the bugs through the Feedback Assistant App that came with the Beta OS. It’s already on your phone. Use it. I have already done it scads of times. It some cases Apple asks you to run further tests. They want you to report your experience.

    • RDale - 8 years ago

      Sometimes I get them only on my phone, sometimes on both at the same time, but always the phone buzzes or alerts when it shouldn’t. This sucks because I _really_ like Verizon wifi calling and the night shift.

    • wplynx - 8 years ago

      The same thing was happening to me after installing beta 4 on iPhone Apple Watch was not acting right. I put my phone back to 9.2.1…. Every thing back to Normal

  4. Night Shift settings are now cooler, a quarter from the left. Was in center before the update.

  5. 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!

  6. Justin Price - 8 years ago

    DO NOT UPGRADE TO THE 4TH BETA IF YOU HAVE THE WATCH!!!!!!

    • sandman (@sandman360) - 8 years ago

      damn …. wish I had seen this before installing it this morning … oh well, done now, whats the easiest way of going back ?.

      Notifications on both devices is something I looked at when first getting the apple watch and thought ‘wow cant believe you cant do that’ now I think why on earth would I want this ???

  7. Drew (@gettysburg11s) - 8 years ago

    I really like this beta, for a very specific reason. Two actually. It fixed the beta 3 issue with the time disappearing on the home screen, and it partially fixed a Bluetooth audio issue in my car. Before, when I took my phone into the car and started the car, the stereo would automatically connect to the iPhone via bluetooth, but then always autoplay the first track in my music library in Apple Music (doesn’t matter if that track is local or cloud). It was very annoying. With beta 4, it does still autoplay, but it simply plays what you were last playing when you shut off the car. A definite improvement. It would be nice though, if there was a bluetooth autoplay toggle in Music settings.

  8. leehardacre - 8 years ago

    Also suffering from aforementioned Apple Watch issues. Sigh.

  9. Alex Raposo - 8 years ago

    yep….apple watch notification issues here too…Make sure you guys put in a feedback issue so Apple is aware this is a widespread issue.

  10. RP - 8 years ago

    My 5s on Beta 4 has dramatically improved my battery life. I have never had the battery last all day, much less still have a charge the next morning.

  11. applewatch20152015 - 8 years ago

    Question…I’m running the 9.3 public beta now. When 9.3 officially launches, how do I get into the full public release? So I need to do the recovery mode option to restore my archived backup and THEN upgrade to 9.3 or is there an easier way?

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

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