Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 18.6 to Developers

[MacRumors]

Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming over a month after Apple released iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5.

iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update.

With the iOS 18.6 update, Apple may bring Apple Intelligence to China for the first time. Apple is expected to partner with Alibaba and Baidu for AI features in the country, but it is not clear if this has been delayed because Apple is facing regulatory hurdles in China.

We don't know of any other new features expected for iOS 18.6, and Apple is winding down work on iOS 18 as it shifts focus to iOS 26. iOS 26 is in beta testing right now and it is set to be released in September.

Article Link: Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 18.6 to Developers

 

[ghostface147]

Woohoo more betas!

 

[kaishockz]

Hope there is something about new airtags in the Code. Otherwise we have to wait till fall.

 

[tywebb13]

it is build 22G5054d - same as what was predicted in https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/16/ios-18-6-beta-coming-soon/ so well done macrumors!

but wait. there's more

iPadOS 18.6 beta 1 (22G5054d)
macOS 15.6 beta 1 (24G5054d)
tvOS 18.6 beta 1 (22M5054b)
audioOS 18.6 beta 1 (22M5054b)
visionOS 2.6 beta 1 (22O5754c)
watchOS 11.6 beta 1 (22U5054b)

too

 

[arthurgd3]

Waiting for the next iOS 26 DB.

 

[Populus]

Finally!

Eager for those big-fixes and efficiency improvements.

 

[Kottu]

Most of the Beta testers have already moved on to iOS 26. No wonder why Apple has difficulties to get rid off bugs.

 

[applefan8254]

-

 

[GaryMumford]

Most of the Beta testers have already moved on to iOS 26. No wonder why Apple has difficulties to get rid off bugs.

Beta testers, specifically 'Developer' beta testers should be testing on more than one version of the OS. If your app works perfectly on 26, but crashes on 16, 17 or 18, then you will have a lot of unhappy users

 

[krvld]

Where is Beta 2 though?