Credit: Trusted Reviews

Apple on Thursday seeded the third beta version of its upcoming iOS 12.1.1 update to registered developers.

iOS 12.1.1 is a relatively small update that brings incremental changes to some of Apple’s native applications — notably, it introduces several refinements to FaceTime.

FaceTime App UI

Notably, the update will rework the FaceTime app’s user interface by introducing a redesigned bottom bar that will include quick action buttons for muting a FaceTime call or flipping the camera around. Sliding up on this reworked bottom bar will allow users to bring up various options to interact with participants in a FaceTime call.

That’s much more convenient than the previous placement, which required that users went into a separate menu to access these features.

The iOS 12.1.1 update will also reintroduce the ability to take a Live Photo while on a FaceTime call — which was introduced in iOS 11 but removed prior to the launch of iOS 12.

Haptic Touch Capabilities

In addition, iOS 12.1.1 will introduce new Haptic Touch capabilities to Apple’s recently launched iPhone XR device. Users will be able to long-press on notification banners to see additional content — similarly to how 3D Touch-equipped iPhones handle rich notifications.

As far as smaller additions, the update will add the ability to hide the sidebar in Apple News when using an iPad in landscape orientation and the option to disable the physical SIM card in favor of the embedded eSIM on iPhones that support dual-SIM functionality.

New Watch Faces

iOS 12.1.1 will also introduce a handful of new watch faces and complications for the company’s Apple Watch Series 4 wearable. The Apple Watch app on iOS will also feature a reworked icon that looks more like the Series 4.

There’s also VoLTE support for Spring and a new TLS security update, along with other likely under-the-hood changes, bug fixes, security patches and incremental refinements.

Registered Apple developers can now download the beta from Apple’s developer portal, or as an over-the-air update if the proper configuration profile is installed on a device.

It’s also likely that Apple will release the third iOS 12.1.1 beta to its public beta software testers sometime today. If you’re interested, you can sign up for Apple’s beta program here.