Apple released the third public beta for iOS 14.5 today, Wednesday, Mar. 3. The update introduces a new "Items" tab in the Find My app that hints at the company's long-rumored "AirTags," a new Apple Watch icon when unlocking your Face ID iPhone with your watch, as well as small UI updates.
This public update follows 21 hours after Apple seeded developer beta 3, which was an event in itself. Apple seeded the developer beta via restore image only, meaning developers could not update OTA (over-the-air). Then, the company pulled the update entirely, before quickly seeding it again, this time with OTA functioning normally.
Let's check out the "Items" tab in Find My. This new feature now lets you keep track of non-Apple devices that are compatible with Find My. You can choose to both add an item to your account, as well as identify an item someone may have lost. It's possible this feature will be used in conjunction with the rumored "AirTags," Apple's version of Tile.
In the release notes, we see that Apple talk about Music, Podcasts, and Audiobooks requests, and says updated dialogs for app selection are now available. This is the company's first reference to a Siri feature discovered in the first beta, that allows you to choose not only the app that plays your audio requests, but your default Siri audio player.
Apple slightly changed the Maps submenu interface. There's now no line separating the time information from the rest of the options, and the illustration in the "Report" button is now black instead of white. In addition, the wording in the description for the "Unlock with Apple Watch" feature is slightly changed, and there is a new Apple Watch icon when unlocking your iPhone with your watch.
Public beta 3 comes 15 days after the company seeded developers the second 14.5 beta, and two weeks after public beta 2.
Beta 2 added over 200 new emoji to iOS, in addition to Apple Music lyric sharing, new Apple Music swipe gestures, new shortcut options including a screenshot tool, among other changes. At this time, iOS 14.5 stands to introduce over 30 new features and changes for your iPhone.
iOS & iPadOS 14.5 Beta 3 Release Notes
Overview
- The iOS & iPadOS 14.5 SDK provides support to develop apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices running iOS & iPadOS 14.5 beta 3. The SDK comes bundled with Xcode 12.5 beta 3, available from Beta Software Downloads. For information on the compatibility requirements for Xcode 12.5, see Xcode 12.5 Beta 2 Release Notes.
Display: Resolved
- iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later) and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later) are now able to connect to external displays using the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter. (72618916)
Siri: New Features
- For Music, Podcasts, and Audiobooks requests, updated dialogs for app selection are now available. To ensure your app is set up to participate in Siri app selection, see Improving Siri Media Interactions and App Selection. (74555773)
SwiftUI: Resolved
- You can now apply multiple sheet(isPresented:onDismiss:content:) and fullScreenCover(item:onDismiss:content:) modifiers in the same view hierarchy. (74246633)
- Drop locations are now accurate when using onDrop(of:delegate:). (74030674)
The keyboardShortcut(_:) modifier now works in UIKit lifecycle apps. (73792634)
Changes to pages that you provide to a TabView with PageTabViewStyle are now correctly reflected in the view. (65701336)
Xcode: Resolved
- You can now collect GPU performance counters in Xcode and Metal System Trace. (74165162)
The View Debugger no longer quits unexpectedly when viewing an app that includes custom Shapes. (72300793)
How to Download & Install the Latest iOS 14.5 Beta
To update your iPhone to iOS 14.5 public beta 3, sign up through Apple's beta site, download and install the configuration profile, then update over the air. If you already have the profile, go to Settings –> General –> Software Update to begin the installation of the latest beta build, or you can wait until it installs automatically if "Automatic Updates" is enabled.
Just updated your iPhone to iOS 18? You'll find a ton of hot new features for some of your most-used Apple apps. Dive in and see for yourself:
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