Apple on Thursday released the first beta of macOS Monterey 12.2 to developers, which comes with a new Music app and other improvements. Although the company hadn’t released any new betas for its other operating systems back then, an iOS 15.3 beta build has leaked through the Apple Developer website.
Having Apple software leaked ahead of the official announcement is quite unusual, yet it has happened a few times before – like when the company mistakenly made public an internal HomePod firmware that led to the iPhone X leaks in 2017.
This time, for some unknown reason, the iOS 15.3 beta was hidden on the Apple Developer website, where developers can download IPSW files to manually restore and update Apple devices.
In addition to iOS 15.3, Apple is also working on watchOS 8.4 and tvOS 15.3. Hidden code on Apple’s website suggests that all betas were expected to be released along with macOS 12.2 beta on December 16, but it’s unclear why the company was holding off on the other betas.
These are the build numbers of all the new betas:
- iOS 15.3 beta 1: 19D5026g
- watchOS 8.4 beta 1: 19S5525f
- tvOS 15.3 beta 1: 19K5527e
- macOS Monterey 12.2 beta 1: 21D5025f
What’s new in these betas?
9to5Mac was able to download, analyze, and even install multiple builds of iOS 15.3 beta 1. However, there don’t seem to be many new things in these builds. More specifically, there are some internal changes related to Siri APIs and a few tweaks to Apple apps like News, but overall, iOS 15.3 beta 1 only comes with bug fixes and general improvements.
We were unable to analyze the watchOS 8.4 and tvOS 15.3 betas as these can only be downloaded via OTA.
When will these betas be released to the public?
The betas are now officially available to developers. As for the public release, the download URL for the hidden builds contains “Winter2022,” which suggests that Apple expects to release them sometime between January and March of next year.
This also corroborates that the long-awaited Universal Control feature will take even longer to be released, as Apple recently delayed it until spring 2022. The feature is likely to be enabled with iOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3.
If you spot any changes in the new betas from Apple, let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @9to5Mac.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
