iOS 10.3 Beta Release Date Set For January 10th, Will Feature ‘Theatre Mode’ [Rumor]

According to a new rumor, iOS 10.3 beta release date is set for January 10th with a new feature called ‘Theatre mode’. Here are the details.

Apple is becoming more and more prolific with beta releases of both iOS and macOS, and rumors are starting to swirl as to what iOS 10.3 will bring with it when its first beta ships. The generally reliable Sonny Dickson has had his say on the subject via Twitter today, claiming that the first beta release of iOS 10.3 will land with developers as soon as January 10th.

iOS-10.3-beta

The very specific date has us thinking that Dickson does know something rather than simply putting the pieces together, but Apple is far from beyond changing its plans at the last minute, so we may never really know for sure until we see the OTA update pop up on developers’ devices. Until then, we can only take Dickson at his word and plan for a January 10th beta release, though we won’t be too surprised if the day comes and goes with no software released.

The release date isn’t the only tidbit that Dickson offered today, though. Again, speaking via Twitter, he also claimed that the new software will come with a new “Theatre mode” built in, with the new feature accessible via a button within the iOS Control Center. That button, Dickson says, will be shaped like popcorn in order to represent the feature itself.

As the name suggests, the new Theatre mode will apparently offer things such as dimmed screen lighting, reduced notifications and perhaps even a version of Night Shift, which would alter the color of the screen to better suit movie watching, whatever that might look like.

Sonny

The features of the Theatre mode are largely assumptions on our part, but it does make plenty of sense. Smartphone use in the theatre can be distracting for everyone, and anything which can reduce that distraction is just fine in our books.

According to another theory floating around, Theatre mode could also be Apple’s name for Dark mode in iOS.

We’ll have to wait and see what January 10th brings before we start getting too excited, though.

(Source: Sonny Dickson [Twitter])

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