What's New in iOS 10.2 Beta 3: TV App Updates, SOS and Videos App Removed
Apple today seeded the third beta of iOS 10.2 to developers, introducing some notable improvements to the new "TV" app that was introduced in the second iOS 10.2 beta.
As can be seen in the video below, the TV app is more fully functional, with support for the "Up Next" feature that keeps track of what you're watching across multiple devices. TV has now completely replaced the former Videos app in the United States, which has now been eliminated.
Here's a full list of changes that can be found in iOS 10.2 beta 3:
SOS - The SOS functionality that allowed users to call emergency services by pressing the power button multiple times on the iPhone has been removed in this beta. According to Apple's release notes, SOS is currently only available in India, perhaps for testing purposes before a wider rollout.
Messages - There's a new "Send With Love" Screen Effect option in Messages that sends a heart along with a text message.
TV settings - In the Settings app, there's a new section for the TV app. It allows users to choose whether to use cellular data for playback and choose the streaming quality over Wi-Fi and Cellular. There's also an option to choose whether to make purchases and rentals from the store in HD or SD.
TV functionality - The TV app now supports the "Up Next" feature that keeps track of the television shows and movies you're watching, saving your place or recommending next episodes across multiple devices.
Videos - The Videos app has been removed from iOS entirely in the United States and replaced with the TV app. The Videos widget, introduced with iOS 10.1, has also been removed, but there is a replacement TV widget that's been available since beta 2. In countries outside of the United States, the Videos app is still available.
Apple has only provided the third beta of iOS 10.2 to developers today, but will likely make the new features available to public beta testers later this week.
Because Apple has promised a December launch for several of the features in iOS 10.2 (including Single Sign-On and the TV app), the update could be officially released during the early weeks of the month.
Top Rated Comments
One, semantically speaking, all videos are not TV, but all TV are videos.
Two, I'm not at all interested in them doing to videos what they did to music. I just need/want an app to play the videos I choose to sync to my device. I do NOT want to wade through what is essentially a storefront just to watch the videos I own, or have to tweak settings to not have streaming and renting and buying and "discovering" (which is essentially advertising IMO) forced down my throat.
The problem with being treated like separate entities is that it requires people to want to first download and install the app first and I am sure that most people wouldn't bother with half of Apple's own applications. I have had a folder or separate home screen on my iPad and iPod Touch from the first day they were released for all the iJunk that is force fed on iOS and cannot be removed, until Apple decides to make the app obsolete and deletes it on you.
Also Apple couldn't make sure their own apps have some tight performance coupling to the iOS kernel giving them unfair competitive advantage.
I mean Microsoft used to be slammed for both adding bloatware AND anti-competitive practices like making application DLL's tightly coupled to the OS kernel that competitors didn't have access to, but Apple is allowed to get away with all this still?
It's 2016, an app is an app, an OS is an OS, and an OS is not an Emoji delivery system either. If Apple wants to tweak iMessage or improve emoji, deliver that through the standard app store update process. An OS update should only be for security and stability.