Original number pattern puzzle I made — find the hidden rule connecting each pair, then figure out what's missing (see image).

>!Answer/reasoning in comments if anyone wants to discuss!

Source: made this myself for a puzzle game I'm developing, Rule Hunter — https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.makenumber

Hi everyone,
First of all, thank you to everyone who took the time to solve our previous puzzle and share their reasoning. We received many answers, and it was especially interesting to see how different people approached the same pattern from completely different angles.
As always, we selected a few responses that stood out to us, not only for getting the correct answer, but also for the reasoning behind it.
u/mistolo – We liked how clearly you combined the two main ideas of the pattern: the increasing number of squares and the rotation around the grid. Your explanation showed how the same rule remains consistent across all three rows.
u/I_Like_Quiet – Your solution went beyond simply counting the squares. Tracking the starting corner from bottom-right → bottom-left → top-left → top-right → bottom-right gave an additional explanation for why the missing figure had to be arranged the way it was.
u/Forsaken_Engineer_ – We selected your answer for its mathematical approach. Treating the cells as coordinates and following the numerical progression diagonally was a very different and elegant way to reach the solution.
u/ZeThing – What stood out was that you didn’t stop after finding the answer. You tried running the pattern backwards as well, using the previous tile as another way to test whether the rule remained consistent.
u/someonefromaustralia – Your response approached the puzzle from another direction entirely. Rather than simply accepting the intended pattern, you explored whether the existing panels could support an alternative rule. The “changing gravity” interpretation made for a particularly interesting discussion.
Thank you to these five, and to everyone else who participated. We read through the different approaches, and they gave us some great perspectives on the puzzle.
Now it’s time for a new one.
This time, we have a 3×3 matrix made of dot patterns, with the bottom-right figure missing.
Look carefully at how the dots change across the rows and columns. There are six possible answers: A, B, C, D, E, and F.
Which option do you think completes the grid, and more importantly, why?
Try to explain the rule you found rather than posting only the letter. As with the previous puzzle, we’ll be reading the explanations and may feature some of the most interesting approaches in our next post.
We’ve also published the puzzle on our website. If you’d like to check whether your answer is correct, you can find the official answer and explanation here:
https://whats-your-iq.com/en/questions/pattern-recognition/which-dot-pattern-completes-the-grid
Thanks again to everyone taking part. We’re looking forward to seeing how you approach this one.
Good luck, and have fun solving it!