This article was published on January 11, 2016

iOS 9.3 adds features for education, F.lux-like screen dimming and more


iOS 9.3 adds features for education, F.lux-like screen dimming and more

Apple released a first beta of iOS 9.3 today, which contains a number of interesting new features as teased by a new page on the company’s site today.

The new feature works similar to F.lux, which is available for Mac and Windows, and uses your clock and geolocation to change the amount of blue light emitted by the screen. By reducing blue light before bed, it’s widely regarded that you’ll sleep better.

Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 7.32.35 AM

What’s interesting there is that Flux came to iOS by way of a workaround in 2015, but was quickly blocked by Apple and the company asked it to stop making the hack available.

Perhaps more importantly, iOS 9.3 also adds a new app called Apple School, which aims to help position iPads as perfect for educational institutes.

The new app has a number of features, from the ability to see what kids in the classroom are doing on their iPads remotely, to helping guide them through lessons.

appleschool

The feature also allows iPads to be shared across multiple users for the first time, allowing students to log into any device in a classroom to get access to their own apps. It’s possible that this could, eventually, lead to multiple-user support for all iPad users in the future.

iOS 9.3 also includes a number of other features, such as the ability to use Touch ID to protect the Notes app and improvements to Apple News.

It’s rare for Apple to announce or even detail upcoming features for iOS releases, but for iOS 9.3 it’s given a deep dive of the major changes on a new feature site.

iOS 9.3 is in developer preview, so you’ll need a paid developer account to download it.

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