‘Second Apple iOS 17.3 beta causes bootloop, update has been taken offline’

According to several users, the second beta version of iOS 17.3 causes a bootloop in which the affected iPhone continues to repeat the boot cycle indefinitely. The update with build number 21D5036c can no longer be downloaded. Apple has not yet acknowledged the problem.

At least one 9to5Mac employee and multiple users on Mastodon reported that their iPhone entered a bootloop after installing the beta update. According to one of those affected, a bug with the Back Tap feature is causing the problem; users who enabled this accessibility feature would enter a bootloop. It is not clear whether that is indeed correct.

Same user reports that Apple’s recovery process works to repair affected devices. This requires a connected Mac computer, with a specific button combination on the affected iPhone. When recovery mode is enabled, according to Apple install the current official iOS release. Users can also install the appropriate IPSW beta file with version number 21D5026f on the iPhone using the Finder or iMazing software, according to the source. When using Finder, user data is deleted.

The test version of the operating system in question, iOS 17.3 beta 2, was released on January 3, but has since been discontinued via the official Apple developer page available. Apple has probably taken the second beta offline again due to the mentioned problems, although the company has not yet said anything about the alleged bootloop bug.