macOS 12.3 beta 2 resolves Bluetooth battery drain and macOS Catalina FileVault issues

The recently released macOS 12.3 beta 2 includes a fix for the battery drain and a boot loop issue on Macs running macOS Catalina when installing macOS 12.3 beta.

macOS 12.3 will fix the DarkWake issue on Macs caused by Bluetooth devices and other bugs

First experienced in Macs running macOS 12.2, a bug caused excessive battery drain in Sleep Mode, apparently because of Bluetooth accessories waking up the machines every few seconds. The same issue affected Macs running on the first macOS 12.3 beta.

Although not mentioned in the release notes of the second developer beta of macOS 12.3, the update patched the DarkWake issue. @Mr.Macintosh wrote on Twitter that the DarkWake bug which drained affected Macs’ battery life overnight from 100% to 0% is now resolved on macOS 12.3 beta 2.

He also shared the Magic Keyboard connected to an affected Mac woke up the machine every 25 seconds which drained the battery quickly.

This screenshot is a better example. The one above at the beginning shows from standby without a BT device. This one is with an Apple magic keyboard connected. The Mac would darkwake every 25 seconds. The battery would drain quickly overnight. The issue also affected desktop Macs pic.twitter.com/TTiWhljE2u

— Mr. Macintosh (@ClassicII_MrMac) February 8, 2022

Furthermore, the update also fixes the boot loop issue of Macs running on macOS Catalina. At the launch of macOS 12.3 beta 1, Apple published a warning that Macs on macOS Catalina with FileVault enabled might face a boot loop issue when installing macOS 12.3 beta or macOS Big Sur 11.6.4 beta. The release notes of the latest beta version read:

macOS 12.3 beta might cause boot loop issues for macOS Catalina users using FileVault

Virtual machines running on Apple silicon are unable to install macOS 12.3 beta.

iCloud+ Custom Email Domain set up flow can’t be initiated from the iCloud settings in System Preferences.

Apple also seeded second developer beta of iOS 15.4, iPadOS 15.4, watchOS 8.5, tvOS 15.4 and HomePod 15.4.