What’s New in iOS 26.3 That Apple Wants You to Try This January?
Discover what’s new in iOS 26.3 beta: iPhone-to-Android transfer, notification forwarding to wearables, and updated Weather wallpapers. Launch in Jan 2026.
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Apple has started the process of testing iOS 26.3, which is the next update of iOS 26, and it is planned to be released in late January. The beta version of the update comes with a number of features that are meant to make devices work better together and give users more control over their devices.
iOS 26.3 has come up with a very simple way for iPhone users to transfer their data to an Android phone. The user-friendly feature lets the user to just put their iPhone next to an Android phone and the transfer would take place. Users can migrate photos, messages, notes, apps, passwords, and phone numbers without any intermediate apps. However, there are certain things that will not be transferred, like health data, Bluetooth-connected devices, and locked notes. Just like Apple has provided a tool for Android-to-iPhone migration which is reciprocal, thus allowing a two-way data transfer.
The new version also brings in the "Notification Forwarding" feature, which is now available for the first time. It will be possible for users to get notifications from the iPhone on selected third-party wearables, such as Android watches. This option, which is located in the Notifications section of the Settings app, permits forwarding to only one device at a time. If it is activated on a non-Apple device, then there will be no notification delivery to an Apple Watch. This is a compliance measure with the European Union’s regulatory requirements that non-Apple wearables must have parity with Apple in terms of notifications access.
The category of Weather wallpapers has been restored in the lock screen customization. It was previously part of Astronomy, and now Weather has its own section that includes three pre-designed wallpapers. The users may change the watch face, type the time, and add the widgets to visualize the weather information on the lock screen easily.
iOS 26.3 still supports all gadgets that are compatible with iOS 26. There have been no additional confirmations from Apple, however, beta testers might uncover more alterations as testing goes on.
The rollout of the stable version of iOS 26.3 is expected at the end of January 2026, which will make these new features available to everyone.
