Apple today released iOS 26.3 Beta 2 to developers, one month after the first iOS 26.3 beta was released. Today’s update also marks the end of the holiday break, meaning we should now see weekly beta updates resume. Below is what’s new in iOS 26.3 Beta 2.
In case you missed it, here’s what was added in iOS 26.3 Beta 1: What’s New in iOS 26.3 Beta 1?
iOS 26.3 Developer Beta 2
Build: 23D5103d
Released: January 12, 2026
Notification Forwarding
In iOS 26.3 Beta 1, a Notification Forwarding option appeared in Settings → Notifications for all users. However, in Beta 2, this option now seems to be visible only to users in the EU. It’s possible that Apple has decided to limit this feature to the EU only.
This feature allowed notifications from the iPhone to be forwarded to third-party wearable devices.
End-to-end Encryption for RCS Messages
As @TiinoX83 on X discovered, after inspecting carrier bundles in iOS 26.3 beta 2, that Apple has added a new setting allowing carriers to enable end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages in iOS 26.3 beta 2.
He also pointed out that, for now, only four French carriers Bouygues, Orange, SFR, and Free include this code.
It is still unclear whether RCS end to end encryption will be included in the final release of iOS 26.3. If not, this could be Apple laying the groundwork for rolling out the feature in a future update.
Apple & Google Partnership News
Besides the changes mentioned above, Apple and Google have also confirmed a multi-year partnership that will bring Google Gemini to power the next-generation Siri and Apple Intelligence.
We could get our first look at the new Siri, built on Google’s large language model, as early as iOS 26.4. A developer beta may arrive in February, with the official release expected sometime in March or April.
The next-generation Siri is expected to better understand users’ personal context, be aware of what’s on screen, and offer deeper app-level control. Apple first introduced these features at WWDC24, but they’ve been delayed until now.
I’ll keep adding more iOS 26.3 Beta 2 changes and new features here as I discover them. Stay tuned and follow @BetaProfiles on X or Threads!
