iOS 8.3 released as Beta for testing

Well Apple must have been happy with the results of the Yosemite Beta program, they have just today (where I am) released a Beta version of iOS 8.3 for testing.
Being a little behind the times I have just purchased an iPhone 5s and upgraded to iOS 8.2 so I'm just getting used to the changes and extra features. I do like the Family Sharing option at least in principal, only just scratched the surface so far.
Is iOS 8.3 such a departure from 8.2 that they need to put it out there for public testing or does this indicate a new direction in Apple's thinking? Obviously there are lots of volunteers out there, me being one of them but I think i would want an extra phone for testing purposes. Unfortunately my old iPhone 4 isn't up to the task.:Blushing:

And the good thing here is that the Public won't be getting a Beta that is really buggy (as in the Beta 1) they will be getting a Beta that has been tested by developers, and is a fairly stable, OS.
The article here, makes it sound as if they will be getting what the Developer Program Dev's get, but in reality, they won't be, just like the Yosemite Program, they where getting releases, weeks after the Beta is in the Dev's hands.

Actually in this case (as with the Yosemite program) the "public" beta is very close to the developer version. With Yosemite, the different is less than two weeks, with the iOS beta program there is no difference -- the public version is the current developer build.

chas_m said:

Actually in this case (as with the Yosemite program) the "public" beta is very close to the developer version. With Yosemite, the different is less than two weeks, with the iOS beta program there is no difference -- the public version is the current developer build.

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This first public beta for 10.10.3 was released on the 2nd March, and is stamped as the second developer beta (14D87), which was released a week ago. The first 10.10.3 Developer release was on the 5th of February, so thats a 4 week difference.

As to the iOS, we got the iOS 8.3 Beta release on February the 9th, and it is only now that iOS 8.3 Beta 3 is released, so that too is 4 weeks.

So for anybody who has the spare iPhone for Beta testing iOS 8.3 as I am now the proud owner of an iPhone 5s I would love to know what changes and additions have been made that I can look forward to in the future?

Rod Sprague said:

So for anybody who has the spare iPhone for Beta testing iOS 8.3 as I am now the proud owner of an iPhone 5s I would love to know what changes and additions have been made that I can look forward to in the future?

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There is really not a great difference between 8.2 and 8.3

For Developers, Apple has now included the the WatchKit framework, and Xcode now has the Watch Simulator. Not too exciting is it ??

The minor releases of any major product often don't wow people (except for OS X and Android where minor version numbers have become major releases) and iOS is no different (as it should be - minor means something). I wouldn't expect any major overhauls until iOS 9.

vansmith said:

The minor releases of any major product often don't wow people (except for OS X and Android where minor version numbers have become major releases) and iOS is no different (as it should be - minor means something). I wouldn't expect any major overhauls until iOS 9.

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And I think iOS 9 will be a overhaul of iOS8 and smooth everything out, so the Watch, iPhone, iPad and OS X are all in sync the way they should be. Its not quite there right now.

ferrarr said:

I believe the two OS's (iOS & Mac OS) will not sync until iOS 11.

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Ummm, they do ATM. My point is, that is not always 100% of the time. iCloud, is how they sync now, where I change 1 thing in Calendar on my iPad and its immediately sync'd to my MBP and iMac. I want Handoff working 100%, and iCloud to be quicker than it is, like Dropbox.
I can actually see when DB is syncing with its little animation, but with iCloud, there is NO indication when or if has sync'd. I still use DB for my bigger work files, because I know it is reliable, where I'm not so sure about iCloud yet.

TattooedMac said:

This first public beta for 10.10.3 was released on the 2nd March, and is stamped as the second developer beta (14D87), which was released a week ago. The first 10.10.3 Developer release was on the 5th of February, so thats a 4 week difference.

As to the iOS, we got the iOS 8.3 Beta release on February the 9th, and it is only now that iOS 8.3 Beta 3 is released, so that too is 4 weeks.

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I fear I've been misunderstood, though this may well be my fault.

The "public" beta of Yosemite 10.10.3 is build 14D87p. The second developer build of 10.10.3, released to developers just one week earlier, was 14D87h. As you and I are both saying (if I understand you correctly), they are the same. So the "first" public Yo beta is the second dev beta, with no real difference but release a week later.

With iOS 8, the third developer beta came out on March 12th, simultaneously as the first "public" beta of iOS 8.3, and they again are the same. The developer build is 12F5047f, the "public" beta is the same, so they were released on the same day and are identical.

Hopefully I've clarified my point, which is that the public is getting a "public" beta that is very close to the current working developer beta in both cases. You seem to be saying that the first public beta is actually the first beta, a throwback to a month ago. Unless I've misunderstood you, that's not the case.