by Dan Moren
Apple previews iOS 11.3 with new Animoji, battery/performance toggle, more
While Apple doesn’t preview every point release, the company’s been known to do it before when announcing a midstream update of some significance.
Of the improvements described, the ones that caught my eye were the improvements to ARKit, which include the ability to put virtual objects on vertical surfaces like walls, and the briefly mentioned HomeKit software authentication feature–something that had been discussed during WWDC last year, and I thought had already been included in iOS 11. Apparently not?
Oh, also there are four new Animoji. In case you’re wondering what really drives adoption.
Also of note is that while iOS 11.3 does include a new iMessage-related feature–Business Chat–there’s no mention whatsoever of the iMessage in iCloud feature that was teased for iOS 11’s initial release, repeatedly pushed back, and eventually disappeared from Apple’s site (Update: As MacRumors notes, Messages on iCloud does appear to be back in the iOS 11.3 beta–at least for now.) . AirPlay 2, which we were yesterday told will arrive later this year for the HomePod in a software update, isn’t included in the iOS 11.3 update either.