Apple Releases Fourth Public Betas of iOS 26 and More

[MacRumors]

Apple today released the fourth public betas of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26, allowing the public to test the updates ahead of their September launch. The fourth public betas come a week after the third public betas, and the updates correspond with the seventh developer betas that were released earlier today.

Public beta testers that have registered on Apple's website can download the latest iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 public betas by opening the Settings or System Settings app, going to the General section, tapping on Software Update, and choosing the iOS 26, iPadOS 26, or macOS 26 Public Beta options.

iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 feature Apple's Liquid Glass design, with a visual aesthetic that focuses on transparency. Icons, menu buttons, navigation bars, and more reflect and refract light with subtle animations. There are pop-out menus in some areas, tab bars shrink down, and everything has a more rounded look.

There are new Apple Intelligence features like Visual Intelligence for screenshots, updated order tracking in the Wallet app, new features in Reminders, and Live Translation for the Messages, Phone, and FaceTime apps. Image Playground has ChatGPT style options, and Genmoji supports mixing two or more emoji characters to make something new.

2D photos have a more 3D look with a Spatial Scene feature, and Safari has updated navigation. In the Phone app, there are new Call Screening and Hold Assist features that will save you time, while the Messages app supports customizable backgrounds and polls. Apple Music has a DJ-like AutoMix feature, CarPlay has an overhauled interface, there's a new Apple Games app, and Preview has come to the iPhone for the first time.

macOS Tahoe has the same Liquid Glass design as iOS 26, and it extends to app icons, folders, the Dock, in-app navigation, menus, the Control Center, and the Menu Bar. The Control Center and the Menu Bar are customizable, and you're also able to customize folders, app icons, and widgets.

Safari has an updated tab design and a redesigned sidebar, and Apple has brought the Phone app to the Mac for making phone calls through Wi-Fi Calling. The Phone app supports the new Call Screening and Hold Assist features.

Spotlight has been overhauled with improved search and the ability to execute hundreds of actions without opening up an app. There's a new Games app with a Game Overlay feature, and developers have access to Metal 4.

More on what's new can be found in our iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe roundups.

Article Link: Apple Releases Fourth Public Betas of iOS 26 and More

 

[jz0309]

The fourth public betas come a week after the third public betas, and the updates correspond with the seventh developer betas.

strictly speaking, 4 days later (PB3 was released last week Thursday).
I am enjoying iPadOS 26 on my M2 iPad Air, no real complaints thus far

 

[Robert.Walter]

iOS 26 PB4, 8.92 GB on iPhone 25e (16e).

 

[Robert.Walter]

strictly speaking, 4 days later (PB3 was released last week Thursday).
I am enjoying iPadOS 26 on my M2 iPad Air, no real complaints thus far

I’m not a fan of the rounded text boxes, they make things feel cramped.

Also who needs a prominent search box everywhere? Pull down was better bc it didn’t displace critical functions (some two taps down) into fussy menus.

I have a problem with safari reader freezing the And Wallet didn’t populate with info from my safari autofill. When I started manually putting it into wallet, it overwrote one if my descriptions. So I deleted all cards from Apple Pay, on phone & watch, and repopulated with a wallet drawing from my autofill data.

Looking forward to my passport into wallet. This will be great.

I do like minor passwords upgrade (will be very helpful for many folks).

But so many seeming style changes for change’s sake. I would rather have had more functionality than cosmetic schnik-schnak.

 

[Populus]

I guess this is the same build number as the seventh dev beta, right?

Any noticeable changes to Liquid Glass transparency, or they finally settled on that?

 

[unregbaron]

Been using the public betas for a while but haven’t really noticed feature improvements.

 

[TrueIcex]

What does the discharge of the battery look like?

I would like to install the beta version on the main device, but I'm afraid to install it. iOS 18.6.1 eat batteries like stupid on 15 pro max

 

[EBone12355]

I love when we get to the time that the public betas follow the developer betas by a couple hours.

I've been running the public betas on my M2 iPad Air and 4th Gen iPad Air, and have yet to find a bug or have a crash.

 

[mtulman1]

Only bug i have experience on the iPad beta is sometimes when unlocking and sliding up, it’s blank. Have to do it a few times. Otherwise no bugs to speak of, pleasantly surprised.

 

[wayneholbrook]

I would have thought the watch beta would have been out at the same time to release the blood oxygen update. But no update on ethe watch yet after installing the ios26 beta 4.

 

[MothJab]

Ios26 is so ugly. Literally bad windows vista and aero.

Wouldn’t be so bad if the icons weren’t made to look like candy crush

 

[markgpearse]

Only bug i have experience on the iPad beta is sometimes when unlocking and sliding up, it’s blank. Have to do it a few times. Otherwise no bugs to speak of, pleasantly surprised.

Me too. Very glitchy iPad unlock. I've also noticed worse battery life on my iPad.

 

[Sammael]

On beta 3 (iPhone 14), I had noticed that occasionally, I could not back out of any apps/screens. Just downloaded beta 4, we’ll see if it persists. Outside of a few small personal gripes, I don’t really have any issues with iOS 26.

 

[Havalo]

Frosting…defrosting…frosting…defrosting. Apple really playing with beta testers’ emotions when it comes to liquid glass effect 😁😂

 

[iammike1]

2nd public beta now where I get no notification of a missed call. If I don’t hear the phone ring then come up to it later, nada. I’d never know.

 

[djinn]

Frosting…defrosting…frosting…defrosting. Apple really playing with beta testers’ emotions when it comes to liquid glass effect 😁😂

We call that Apple OS Global Warming

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

control center is way less glassy on my m1 . It looks like regular blur now

 

[Permanent Sigh]

A lot of bad padding around several UI elements. You’d think they would work on that after several betas, where I’m sure they got plenty of feedback on that. Embarrassing stuff.

 

[caliguy]

Blood Oxygen does now work with Apple Watch.

 

[kch50428]

I also got beta updates on my HomePod minis. But none for my watch as of 1715CDT

 

[beant0wn]

A lot of bad padding around several UI elements. You’d think they would work on that after several betas, where I’m sure they got plenty of feedback on that. Embarrassing stuff.

The days of good designers at Apple are gone. The new generation working on UI and software are really lost, nothing is intuitive at all, aesthetics slipping…sigh.

 

[-griffy-]

Blood Oxygen does now work with Apple Watch.

Not on the public beta as far as I can see. PB4 isn’t out for WatchOS yet.

 

[yoheywut]

Last beta was rough on battery, made worse by an out of town trip. Hoping this settles things down a bit more.

 

[whelmedjedi]

So far, only bugs that is still persistent since beta 1 is safari liquid glass menu background colors and unnecessary shadow effects. Anything else is perfect.

 

[whelmedjedi]

The days of good designers at Apple are gone. The new generation working on UI and software are really lost, nothing is intuitive at all, aesthetics slipping…sigh.

Do you mean designers who designed ios 7 and iphone 6 disasters? I hated them. So, no thanks.