If you’re a member of Apple’s public software testing program, you might be interested to know that the Cupertino firm has now made available to you the second beta of iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3.
Apple seeded the second developer betas of these operating-system variants on Wednesday, and the second public betas should be essentially the same as these. Those interested in acquiring the builds can do so via the web portal for the Apple Beta Software Program.
Neither iOS 15.3 nor iPadOS 15.3 incorporate any new features. Nonetheless, Apple has urged users not to install the betas onto main or “mission-critical” devices, given the remote chance of problems such as data loss.
If, then, you are determined to try out either or both betas, it’s a good idea to only install them onto secondary or non-essential devices, in addition to making sure any crucial data is backed up before you perform the update.
The news of these beta releases comes as it has also been reported that the adoption rate for iOS 15 seems to have been slower than was the case for previous iPhone software updates.
Apple recently published update adoption data on its website, stating that 72% of all devices introduced in the last four years use iOS 15. This compares to the situation in December 2020, when iOS 14 had been installed on 81% of compatible devices released in the four years immediately beforehand. At the same stage after its own release, iOS 13 had managed a 77% adoption rate.
Still, there doesn’t seem to be much reason for Apple to worry about such apparent update sluggishness. After all, Apple has modified its stance on updates lately, no longer requiring iPhone users to install the latest version of its operating system in order to access important security updates.
In any case, the adoption rate is still impressive when you consider that last year, Google revealed the majority of users of Android phones were still running outdated variants of its popular mobile platform.