Following the release of OS X 10.10.3 to the public, Apple has also released iOS 8.3 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The update, which has been in beta for several months, brings over 300 new emojis (including diversity options) as well as a new keyboard for inputting the symbols. The new keyboard features a scrolling UI, rather than the old page metaphor, to better accommodate the wider range of emojis available in the update.
iOS 8.3 also includes a whole host of new Siri languages, so more international users can benefit from Apple’s virtual personal assistant. The update adds Siri in Russian, Danish, Dutch, Thai, Swedish, Turkish and Portuguese. Siri’s voice has also been tweaked in this update.
Full change list included after the break:
There are also a lot of smaller changes, that no doubt some users will find helpful. For instance, Siri can now start calls on speakerphone if you ask it to do so. iOS 8.3 also includes new settings for changing how the iTunes Store asks for authentication, meaning users can optionally allow free apps to be downloaded with no password required.
The update also includes new filtering options in the Messages app. Toggling a preference in Settings adds a filter bar to the Messages app, which separates messages from unknown senders out of the main list. You can also report iMessages as junk, which will send a request off to Apple to review the message.
In addition, Apple released Xcode 6.3 with Swift 1.2 and an Apple Watch fix for apps that use continuous background location updates:
A bug where continuous background location updates fail to update has been resolved. If your Watch app relies on continuous background location updates to function, it is recommended that you update your WatchKit extension deployment target to iOS 8.3 and submit your app with Xcode 6.3.
iOS 8.3 was also notable because it was the first version of iOS to be released as a public beta. Apple is expected to do the same with iOS 9 in the summer.
Full release notes:
