Apple on Wednesday seeded the third public beta of its upcoming iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 updates to public beta testers for testing. The new public betas come one week after Apple released the second public beta seed.
Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple’s beta testing program can download the iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 updates by opening the Settings app, going to “General,” tapping on the “Software Update” section and turning on the iOS 17 Public Beta option.
The developer beta builds of iOS 17.2 and iPadOS 17.2 are available to developers who opt into the betas by going to “Settings” -> “Software Update,” then tapping on the “Beta Updates” option and turning on the iOS 17 Developer Beta. An Apple ID associated with a developer account is required to download and install the beta.
iOS 17.4 will add app sideloading support in the European Union to allow Apple to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and. Sideloading will allow Apple users in Europe to download apps outside of the App Store. The change will be limited to the European Union and won’t impact customers in other parts of the globe.
The beta brings new emoji characters, including lime, an edible brown mushroom, a phoenix, a broken chain, shaking head yes, and shaking head no.
There are also new options for users in the EU, including choosing a default browser, NFC has been opened up to banks and other financial institutions, and browsers aren’t mandated to use WebKit.
As usual, MacTrast and Apple both warn users not to install any betas on their daily driver iPhone or iPad. Instead, only install betas on a device set aside for testing purposes.