News: Apple Releases iOS 13.3.1 Developer Beta 3 for iPhone

Beta testing on iOS is as Wild West as Apple gets. From feature-filled to featureless releases, there's a high level of unpredictability for what to expect. And not everything is found right away. For instance, last week's developer beta 2 added a new feature that was left undiscovered until three days later. So what has Apple hidden in today's iOS 13.3.1 dev beta 3 update?

Dev beta 3 hit developers' iPhones at 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST) today, Wednesday, Jan. 22. If you're not a developer, however, you won't see the update on your iPhone just yet. As the name implies, dev beta 3 is only for registered developers. Public beta 3 is on its way, and we expect to see it at 4 p.m. EST (1 p.m. PST) today or maybe even 1 p.m. EST tomorrow.

What dev beta 3 adds to 13.3.1 overall remains to be seen. While we'll dig into the software and report back any findings, we learned from dev beta 2 that not everything is discovered on day one of a beta update. While beta 2 seemed to lack any new features over dev beta 1, Brandon Butch discovered a new toggle to disable location services for the UWB chip in the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max — three days after dev beta 2 came out.

Butch claims this toggle didn't exist when he first updated his iPhone. If true, it means Apple added a new feature over the air. Normally, Apple packs new beta features into a dedicated update, so it will be interesting to see if the company repeats the unconfirmed strategy for new features and patches in the future.

We don't expect the release notes for dev beta 3 to tell us much, however. While Apple does include new release notes with each 13.3.1 beta update, the release notes have, essentially, no notes within them. Apple actually said "There are no release notes for this software update" for both dev beta 1 and dev beta 2, and we can only anticipate the same to be true for dev beta 3.

iOS & iPadOS 13.3.1 Beta 3 Release Notes

Overview

The iOS & iPadOS 13.3.1 SDK provides support for developing apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices running iOS & iPadOS 13.3.1. The SDK comes bundled with Xcode 11.3 available from the Mac App Store. For information on the compatibility requirements for Xcode 11.3, see Xcode 11.3 Release Notes.

General

UI tests using the XCTest framework are currently unable to interact with embedded web views (UIWebView, WKWebView, SFSafariViewController and ASWebAuthenticationSession) inside of apps. (58576627)

To update your iPhone to iOS 13.3.1 dev beta 3, you will need to be a registered developer. You can use the restore image for your iPhone available in the Developer portal (install with iTunes or Finder) or install the configuration profile, then update over the air. If you already have the profile installed on your iPhone, head over to Settings –> General –> Software Update to start installing the latest beta build, or you can wait until it installs automatically if "Automatic Updates" is enabled.