When Apple announced iOS 26 at WWDC in June, developers (or anyone with a developer account) were able to dive right in and try out all the new features. The rest of the iPhone population had two options: wait until September for the full release or download the public beta in July.
It’s been July for over a fortnight now, and we’re still waiting for the public beta to arrive. However, the wait might not be much longer. In a reply to a post about iOS 26 by journalist and developer Parker Ortolani, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the iOS 26 Public Beta will arrive “around the 23rd,” or in about a week. The other public betas (macOS, watchOS, tvOS, iPadOS, etc.) will likely arrive the same day.
It’s not clear whether there is a delay in the release of the public beta or if Apple’s plan are just different this year. Apple generally releases the iOS public beta in mid-July, which should have been this week:
- iOS 18: Monday, July 15
- iOS 17: Wednesday, July 12
- iOS 16: Tuesday, July 12
- iOS 15: Wednesday, June 30
- iOS 14: Thursday, July 9
iOS 26 brings several new features to the iPhone, including the Liquid Glass interface, a new Phone app, preferred routes and visited places in Maps, and polls and backgrounds in Messages.
To test the public beta, you can sign up at Apple’s Beta site and turn on iOS 26 Public Beta updates in the Software Update tab in Settings.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor, Macworld
Michael Simon has been covering Apple for more than 20 years. He started covering rumors with Spymac when the iPod was the iWalk, and has owned nearly every iPhone Apple has ever made. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, son, and far too many gadgets.