Do I need my MacBook to be on a public beta to be able to install an iOS public beta?

[davidg4781]

I'm trying to get on the public beta for iOS and update to whatever is current. I flipped the switch on iPhone and downloaded the file from the developer site. But when I do Option+Update, I get a dialog box prompting me to install files. Once I click install, I get this...

I can't update OTA because my iPhone needs to free up 18 GB of space and there's pretty much no way I can do that.

For context, the reason I'm wanting to update to the PB is because I'm unable to load several debit/credit cards to my Apple Wallet after updating to iOS 18.3. I'm seeing a few others with the same problem so I want to see if going to 18.4 fixes this. And Apple, Wells Fargo, Imprint, and Discover are all aware of this but blame each other.

Edit: I had restarted my Mac and iPhone several times and still saw this error. I the Mac to public beta, restarted, and it started updating with no issues.

 

[Banglazed]

Not necessarily but you do need to install the latest Xcode beta or MobileDevice.pkg (works even on older macOS that does not support the latest Xcode beta) that’s in the Xcode beta (tap with two fingers or control tap to show the package contents and navigate to Contents/Resources/Packages)

 

[davidg4781]

I got it. I did a few resets and it worked.

I still can't add my debit card to Wallet. I'll try again in April.

 

[davidg4781]

Ok. This is weird, maybe.

Last night before I went to sleep, I tried adding my Wells Fargo debit card. Same issue... Card not added, contact card issuer. Whatever, I went to sleep.

This morning, I decided to turn off iOS betas. In Software Update, the beta was turned off but it also showed it was back to 18.3.1.

It wouldn't revert back on its own, would it? It felt like it took the update with no issues.

 

[BigBlur]

No, it wouldn't have reverted back on its own. You must have accidentally reinstalled 18.3.1.

Banglazed got it right. You need to either enroll your Mac in the beta too, or download the Xcode beta. By enrolling your Mac in the beta, that will point your Mac to the beta Software Update Server and it'll find the update you need (from your first post/screenshot). Or if you want to do it manually, you can download the Xcode beta and find/install the package from /Contents/Resources/Packages/MobileDevice.pkg inside the Xcode-beta.app file.

 

[davidg4781]

No, it wouldn't have reverted back on its own. You must have accidentally reinstalled 18.3.1.

Banglazed got it right. You need to either enroll your Mac in the beta too. This will point your Mac to the beta Software Update Server and it'll find the update you need (from your first post/screenshot). Or you need to download the Xcode beta to find and install the MobileDevice.pkg if you want to do it manually. The package can be found at /Contents/Resources/Packages/MobileDevice.pkg inside the Xcode-beta.app file.

Alright, I didn't think it would revert. I had switched off macOS betas while it was installing. Maybe it canceled.

I don't think I want to deal with all that. I really need Apple or the banks to figure this out and I think by messing around, it could keep them from finding the root cause of the issue.