Apple iOS 16.6 developer beta 4 for iPhones released ahead of iOS 17; know what's coming

Apple is gearing up for the release of one of the last iOS 16 updates and has now rolled out the iOS 16.6 developer beta 4 for the developer community. Know what it brings.

iOS 16.6.1 developer beta has now been rolled out for iPhones. (Pexels)

With WWDC 2023 now in the rear window, Apple is shifting its focus to the upcoming iOS 17 update that will arrive with the iPhone 15 series. But before that, the Cupertino-based tech giant is gearing up to release one of the last iOS 16 updates. Apple has now rolled out iOS 16.6 Public Beta 4 to developers for testing purposes. Apple regularly releases updates to enhance the user experience by fixing bugs, improving features, and making refinements. But before the updates are pushed out to the public, they are first released to the developer community which tests the new features and improvements for performance and stability.

While it is not expected to bring any new features or major changes, the iOS 16.6 public beta 4 is said to focus on security improvements and bug fixes for the previous iOS version. Since it is just the developer beta of iOS 16.6 that has been rolled out, there is still a considerable amount of time before it will be rolled out to the public.

Previous update issues

When iOS 16.5 update was released, it brought along a plethora of issues that have been giving headaches to iPhone users. Apple Support Forums have been flooded with complaints related to poor battery life and phone heating up since the update. To fix these issues, Apple has quickly rolled out the iOS 16.5.1 update which fixes battery and heating problems on iPhones. Moreover, it also brings a fix for a crucial Zero-Click security issue in the WebKit and iOS 16 Kernel.

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Shockingly, battery and heating-up issues have been common on iPhones ever since iOS 16 was released, and despite Apple releasing multiple patches with various fixes, the problems still persist in some capacity.

But with the iOS 17 update expected soon, we hope that all the new features, coupled with quality-of-life improvements bring joy to iPhone owners. However, those with iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X would need to upgrade to a newer device as Apple has dropped support for the aforementioned iPhones.