News: Apple Releases iOS 13.3 Beta 2 to iPhone Developers

We're finally back in the swing of things. For the first 26 days after the release of iOS 13.2, which introduced 22 new features and changes to the iOS 13 era, there wasn't a new beta. Then, Apple released iOS 13.3 developer beta 1, and now we seem to be back on schedule, as Apple just released 13.3 beta 2 to developers.

Apple seeded this second 13.3 beta update at 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m PST) on Tuesday, Nov. 12. Note that this release isn't for everyone, only registered developers (more on that below). If you're not a developer, you'll need to download 13.3 public beta 2, which Apple seeded at 4 p.m. EST.

• Update: Apple's iOS 13.3 Developer Beta 3 Now Available for iPhone

So, what's new with 13.3 beta 2? Unfortunately, not a whole lot. In fact, the most notable change involves something present in beta 1 — iOS 13.3 supports NFC, USB, and Lightning FIDO2-compliant security keys in Safari. Beta 2 simply confirms this update in the release notes. It's evident beyond this point that beta 2 is more of a stability update than anything else. Even though beta 1's biggest addition was a patch for iOS 13.2's poor RAM management, it still brought some fun to the table.

We saw a new Screen Time feature dubbed "Communication Limits," which makes it easy to block alerts from contacts during specified time. There was also a new toggle to disable Memoji stickers in Messages, and "View Album" is now "Show Album" in Apple Music, with a new icon replacing the original arrow. Finally, the Watch logo now has a grey crown instead of a black one, and AirPods Pro have an updated icon in Find My (before, they looked like original AirPods).

Apple's release notes typically add extra context for any changes and bugs present in the software. However, with dev beta 2, the company isn't giving away a whole lot of information, This time around, we see Apple commenting on new Networking and the aforementioned Safari features:

iOS & iPadOS 13.3 Beta 2 Release Notes

Update your apps to use new features, and test your apps against API changes.

Overview

The iOS & iPadOS 13.3 SDK provides support for developing apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices running iOS & iPadOS 13.3. The SDK comes bundled with Xcode 11.2 available from the Mac App Store. For information on the compatibility requirements for Xcode 11.2, see Xcode 11.2 Release Notes.

Networking - New Features

• Certain top-level domains (TLDs) such as .dev and .app are now in the Foundation URLSession and NSURLConnection HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) preload list. An app which uses URLSession to visit a matching URL will always navigate to the URL as https://, and never as cleartext http://. See the HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) Specification for more information about HSTS. (56247242)

Safari - New Features

• Now supports NFC, USB, and Lightning FIDO2-compliant security keys in Safari, SFSafariViewController, and ASWebAuthenticationSession using the WebAuthn standard, on devices with the necessary hardware capabilities.

To update your iPhone to iOS 13.3 dev beta 2, 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 wait until it installs automatically if "Automatic Updates" is enabled.