What's New in iOS 26.3 Beta 1?

[betaprofiles]

Apple today released the first beta of iOS 26.3 to developers. This could be the last beta update of the year ahead of the holiday break, with Beta 2 possibly arriving next month. Below is what’s new in iOS 26.3 Beta 1.

• How to download iOS 26.3 Developer Beta for free, no need beta profile →

---

iOS 26.3 Developer Beta 1
Build: 23D5089e
Released: December 15, 2025

---

As mentioned above, please note that iOS 26.3 Beta 1 was released ahead of the holiday break, so there may not be another update until the new year, as past releases suggest. Therefore, you may want to consider staying on iOS 26.2 if this is your primary daily-use device.

Apple also tends to add very few new features in X.3 Beta 1 updates to minimize bugs on users’ devices, since Apple’s software engineers are clearly unable to address issues during the holiday break.

Transfer to Android

iOS 26.3 Beta 1 adds a ‘Transfer to Android’ option, making it easier to move data from an iPhone to an Android device without needing to download a separate app, as was previously required.

Google is also said to have added a similar feature in Android Canary 2512, allowing Android users to more easily transfer data to iOS.

Notification Forwarding

There is a new ‘Notification Forwarding’ option in Settings → Notifications that allows notifications from the iPhone to be forwarded to third-party wearable devices.

Apple says notifications can only be forwarded to one device at a time, so when this feature is enabled, the Apple Watch will no longer receive or display notifications.

Weather & Astronomy Wallpapers

The Weather and Astronomy wallpapers have now been split into two separate sections; they were previously grouped together.

There are three Weather wallpapers shown with different widget and font combinations, and no new wallpapers have been added.

---

I’ll keep adding more iOS 26.3 Beta 1 changes and new features here as I discover them. Stay tuned and follow @BetaProfiles on X or Threads!

[Syxhen (Marco)]

I see that the download is very slow today, probably the servers are congested.

It bumps from few hours to 2 days and more. But I’m not in a rush for the new Beta, the 26.2 is already stable.

[betaprofiles]

It depends on your internet connection. I was still able to download iOS 26.3 Beta 1 fairly quickly.

That’s right, this update doesn’t include many notable changes. You should stay on iOS 26.2, as we won’t be getting iOS 26.3 Beta 2 until the new year.

[Syxhen (Marco)]

It seems that Sparkle (Tier 1 network in EU) had some problem so we got troubles with some company’s server (Apple, TikTok etc.) across the nations.

Now everything is fixed. I noticed almost no difference, so we should be better stay with iOS 26.2 until next year

As always, thanks for your effort in providing us info!

[Apple_Boy (Lucas)]

Is it just me or it can’t zoom out on the library in the photos app?

[betaprofiles]

Nice catch. I can’t zoom out the Photos library either. Hopefully it’s just a bug.

[Anthony2317 (Anthony Zhixuan Cai Hu)]

From your experience, is it like stable enough, like not too buggy?

[jbl]

Seems to be a bug, cause my photos app works normal

[betaprofiles]

It feels pretty much the same as iOS 26.2, and I haven’t noticed any annoying bugs so far.

[betaprofiles]

I tried it on iPadOS 26.3 Beta as well, and I can’t zoom out in the Library tab either

Not zooming out of a photo or video, but zooming out in the Library tab. Mine always stops at this zoom level, even though it should be able to zoom out further.

[Anthony2317 (Anthony Zhixuan Cai Hu)]

strange that it doesn’t do that.

[KingDando]

I found a new bug:

The MenuBar shows now an Headphone Icon, when the Apple Pencil is connected.

(I can’t upload a video )

[betaprofiles]

That’s a pretty weird bug. Does restarting help?

And yeah, this forum uses Discourse, so video uploads aren’t allowed but GIFs work just fine.

Also, it’s really nice to see the Beta Profiles icon on your iPad’s Home Screen . I recently updated the icon to support Light, Dark, Tinted, and Clear modes in iOS 26, but it’s quite different from the one you’re using now, which was inspired by the Apple Developer app. Feel free to add the new icon and see if you like it. If not, you can just remove it and keep the current one (I like that one a lot too).

[KingDando]

Here’s the video in short-variant as an GIF

I restarted the iPad, now the Earphone Icon is gone . This means an Restart helps.

I took the old BetaProfiles icon on the iPad because it fits better with the Apple Developer Icons. I’ve already changed it on my iPhone and I think it’s cool that the new icon also supports the liquid glass effect from the app icons.