- Apple released iOS 14.3 beta for public beta testers
- It brings the much-awaited Apple ProRAW feature to the Pro models
- The RAW photos will provide more control over color and white balance
- Apple Music and Apple News+ Audio received feature updates
Apple recently released the iOS 14.3 beta. It brings a lot of new changes and features. The beta reveals changes in the Apple Music, Apple News+ Audio, and other features. This beta also includes the Apple ProRAW photo format for the iPhone 12 Pro and the 12 Pro Max. Apple added a new Home app as well. It includes support for the rumored AirTags and third-party tracking accessories.
Apple ProRAW
Users can enable the ProRAW option from the Settings app. Open the Settings app and go to the Camera tab. Under the Formats heading, look for ProRAW toggle and enable it. When in the Camera app, the new RAW toggle appears in the upper right-hand corner. When in the Photos app, users will see a new RAW Media Type under Albums. All the ProRAW photos will be tagged as RAW in the upper left-hand corner.
Apple stated that each file in the ProRAW format would occupy approximately 25 MB. With this feature, Apple is giving end-users the most amount of creative control. While other formats like HEIF and JPEG are perfect for capturing photos at small sizes, it isn’t much customizable. RAW images provide more flexibility to adjust elements like color and white balance in post-processing. On the other hand, JPEG images are pre-processed and presented in a ready-to-share format.
Apple aims to combine its computational photography features like Deep Fusion and Smart HDR with the benefits of RAW images. It shoots a 12-bit file that uses Linear DNG format to retain more information and dynamic range in the file.
Apple Music
iOS 14.3 brings a new look to the Music app. a few selected Apple Music playlists will feature a full-bleed header. This means while playing the playlist, the users will see a full header over the list along with an animated artwork. The Music app will now utilize the system-wide video player. Instead of a custom player window, the Music app will play videos in the default iOS media player.
Apple News + Audio updates
Users who have subscribed to Apple News services will see a tag in their app. The News app will show a ‘Subscriber Edition’ insignia in the upper right-hand corner. iOS 14.3 makes reading stories easier. Now each audio story will get the text-version links next to it. Another minor tweak is the change in text size. This will not truncate the titles as before.
Users can now subscribe to the News+ Audio channel. It shows stories listed under different subjects.
Apple TV app
The app gets updated Watch Now, Library, and Search buttons at the bottom. These are similar to the ones in the Music app. The buttons receive a new tint color throughout the app. The ‘Search’ results are also similar to the Music app. Another tweak can be seen in the spacing between sections of the app.
The final release date for iOS 14.3 has not been revealed yet.
