Apple drops iOS 15 public beta 3 with improvements made to Focus, Safari and more

The iOS 15 public beta is singing its siren song again with the release today of iOS 15 public beta 3. Ah, you can taste the chocolatey goodness of features like Focus which this writer is really looking forward to using. With Focus, the notifications you see and the apps on the screen only appear whenever either are relevant to your Focus status.

For example, if you select Work mode, apps like ESPN, Twitter and other social media apps will vanish from your home screen. Notifications that make it through will be limited to those related to your Work. It sounds great in theory and could make a huge difference in how users perceive the dissemination of notifications on iOS vis-à-vis the more refined system on Android 12.

In iOS 15 public beta 3, Apple made some changes to Focus mode including the addition of an option that allows anyone to contact you in a specific Focus mode. Previously, users would have to manually select all the callers to be whitelisted.

SharePlay is a new feature for FaceTime that allows users to share streaming video with others over the app, or even share tunes streaming over Apple Music with others. Live Text turns text found in photos snapped by the user, including handwritten notes, into emails and messages.

While you can taste iOS 15, the fact is that the beta version is not stable which means that certain features that you might rely on everyday might not work  correctly. And that goes for battery life which takes it on the chin in beta variants. So even if your taste buds have you drooling, it is still best if you wait for the final version of iOS 15 to be made available before you chow down.

In iOS 15 beta 3, other changes include a new splash screen for the App Store, new options for spoken directions in Maps, and the music widget has been redesigned to become the color of the currently playing album. In the beta, Apple returned the physical reload button to Safari and also made a change to the universal search bar. In the first two betas, this bar started on the bottom of the page but moved to the top when text was being entered. Now, in the third beta, it sits above the QWERTY keyboard.

If you already are a member of the Apple Beta Software Program, you can install iOS 15 public beta 3 by going to Settings > General > Software Update. The final version of iOS 15 should be released sometime in September.