Apple releases first Release Candidates of iOS 15.3, iPadOS 15.3, tvOS 15.3, watchOS 8.4

Apple has moved on to its third round of developer betas, with Release Candidates of iOS 15.3, iPadOS 15.3, tvOS 15.2, watchOS 8.4, and HomePod software 15.2 now available for testing.

The latest builds can be acquired by developers in the beta-testing scheme via the Apple Developer Center, or as an over-the-air update for hardware already using earlier beta builds. A public beta version of the releases is expected to start arriving soon, and will be available through the Apple Beta Software Program website.

The Release Candidates replaces the second betas, which were issued on January 12, 2022. The first round became available on December 17, 2021, four days after final release versions of iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, tvOS 15.2, and watchOS 8.3 shipped.

For the moment, the betas for iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3 offer no real major feature changes to report on, and so far appears to be a maintenance release that focuses on performance and bug fixes. More features may surface as builds get provided to testers.

Both AppleInsider and Apple itself strongly recommend users don't install the betas on to "mission-critical" or primary devices, as there is the remote possibility of data loss or other issues. Instead, testers should install betas onto secondary or non-essential devices, and to make sure there are sufficient backups of important data before updating.

Find any changes in the new betas? Reach out to us on Twitter at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at andrew@AppleInsider.com.