Apple has released the first public betas for iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, macOS Golden Gate 27.3, watchOS 27.3, tvOS 27.3 and visionOS 27.3 two days after releasing the first Developer betas, which were full of new features and bug fixes.

This means that if you are enrolled in the Apple Beta programme, but do not have an Apple Developer account, you can now try out Apple's latest features that are still in testing. These features are slated for a full public release in December.

What's in 27.3?

Apple's 27.3 updates include a range of new features from Apple Intelligence in China and expanded language support in the overhauled Health app, to new reachability features and bug fixes for iPhone Duo. Here's a quick rundown.

  • Apple Intelligence in China, with Quianwen integration
  • Overhauled Health app is back for testing, and now supports global English, Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese
  • Siri AI is now available in four more languages: Norwegian, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Vietnamese
  • New reachability feature for iPhone Duo
  • Vertical tab bar in Safari
  • Adaptive Dark Mode in Safari
  • Siri Recap & Live Rewind for Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4
  • Updates to StandBy Mode

These are just the highlights as we went into more detail in our post a few days ago when the developer beta released. You can find that here.

How to download

To download a public beta, you must first enrol in the Apple Beta Software Programme for free on the Apple website.

Once you enrol your Apple Account, all of your devices linked to that account will show a new 'Beta Updates' section under the Software Update section in System Settings.

This is off by default, but if you click Beta Updates (or the information system next to it on Mac), you'll have a choice to switch to the iOS 27 Public Beta.

You can then return to the main software update page where any available beta updates will be ready to download, just like any other update.

It is important to note that this is a beta release, so bugs are expected and you can experience data loss.

Apple advises you to backup your device to iCloud or make a Time Machine copy of your Mac before updating.

Beta updates can be turned off if you no longer want to participate in the programme.