How to Install iOS 17 Beta Software Updates on Your iPhone

[lazyrighteye]

I don’t recall: what’s the typical delta between dev & pub beta release dates? Thanks.

In same boat as some others: betas available on-device.

 

[ghostface147]

By late august it will almost be September...

Yeah and that's usually when they have their last beta.

 

[sza]

I don’t recall: what’s the typical delta between dev & pub beta release dates? Thanks.

I remember the public beta used to be made available 1 week later than the dev beta

 

[alexandr]

Yeah and that's usually when they have their last beta.

Exactly — you might as well wait for the actual release... I want my damn Home widget!!

 

[Lakersfan74]

I figure if it’s good enough for Apple to release it’s good enough for me and they do give you a warning to not put it on your main device so it’s on you if things go wrong

 

[roland.g]

I have always run Public Betas and am in the top percentage of competency for iPhone users, that said the great thing about the Public Betas is that it is usually Developer Beta 3 that first PB is released and by then it is quite stable. Maybe 17 is fairly stable from the get go but I would personally advise against installing dev beta 1 on a daily driver when PB 1 will be available soon enough.

 

[tomnavratil]

I partially agree with that, but this isn't your typical "beta" from any tech company. These have been stable releases for 5+ years. I think the idea of the beta is actually more intimidating and risky sounding than it actually is. I've had brand new phones with more glitches than the 17 beta.

Yes and no. It's a still a beta with a lot of bugs and generally the amount of bugs goes developer beta > public beta. Plus if you check the release notes between the betas, it's not a few bugs, really, it's a lot and that's fine.

However general public who does not contribute via Feedback Assistant or other methods to improving iOS and just consumes should IMHO still use the public track.

What's the point of using the developer beta if you don't submit bug reports, just to get it earlier?

 

[BigMcGuire]

When I check for updates on my iOS 16, I noticed I have an option for:





I was an Apple Developer but haven't paid the $99 for several years...

 

[lazyrighteye]

I remember the public beta used to be made available 1 week later than the dev beta

Thanks.
Curious the purpose of the relatively short delay - I don't suspect that affords time to address any bugs fixes. Just a devs-first courtesy, perhaps?

Anyway, for those so inclined, it's nice to see pub betas freely available. Expand the pool.
As many have covered here, proceed with caution.

 

[CarAnalogy]

If you need instructions to install a beta release then it’s likely you are not competent to do so. There are posts after posts from users who’ve been hosed by a beta, lost data and don’t know what to do.

In my very personal opinion I think it’s a disservice to publish such instructions knowing it will cause untold misery to large numbers of unskilled users, many of which are doing it not to actually test and report issues, but to have bragging rights. But this is just me.

They do start out asking whether one should do it, but I agree there’s not enough caution there. The biggest concern is to not use your main iCloud account. That’s where people really get hosed.

I see people mention backups, but not using a whole separate testing account. If there is a data loss bug in Photos and you use your main account and lose pictures, Apple is going to tell you that you were running a developer beta at your own risk and there may not be anything they can do for you.

Especially considering this is the very first beta, no one who isn’t actually prepared to test it should be messing with it.

 

[Lakersfan74]

Yes and no. It's a still a beta with a lot of bugs and generally the amount of bugs goes developer beta > public beta. Plus if you check the release notes between the betas, it's not a few bugs, really, it's a lot and that's fine.

However general public who does not contribute via Feedback Assistant or other methods to improving iOS and just consumes should IMHO still use the public track.

What's the point of using the developer beta if you don't submit bug reports, just to get it earlier?

People don’t submit bug reports in the public beta either. Even real developers don’t provide feedback. That’s an optional feature. If people really used that option, Apple wouldn’t have so many bugs as frequently

 

[mattopotamus]

Yes and no. It's a still a beta with a lot of bugs and generally the amount of bugs goes developer beta > public beta. Plus if you check the release notes between the betas, it's not a few bugs, really, it's a lot and that's fine.

However general public who does not contribute via Feedback Assistant or other methods to improving iOS and just consumes should IMHO still use the public track.

What's the point of using the developer beta if you don't submit bug reports, just to get it earlier?

I'd venture to say this type of news would not reach the general public.

 

[mattopotamus]

When I check for updates on my iOS 16, I noticed I have an option for:

View attachment 2214472

View attachment 2214473

I was an Apple Developer but haven't paid the $99 for several years...

Did you even read the article?

 

[Kar98]

I have all of my devices on the new betas now (Mac, iPhone, iPad, TV, watch). Guessing they are so stable because the changes are fairly minor this year.

I was in fact unable to detect any obvious change on my iPad. Gonna do my phone next I guess.

 

[tomnavratil]

People don’t submit bug reports in the public beta either. Even real developers don’t provide feedback. That’s an optional feature. If people really used that option, Apple wouldn’t have so many bugs as frequently

Getting a lot of the automated feedback through Public Beta is helpful to Apple and to be honest many senior developers who focus on macOS, iOS and iPadOS development too and also get great conversions with Apple engineers about highly-specific problems. In the years we've developed iOS apps, I have to admit we always had a good experience with Apple on troubleshooting specific things in betas, especially using new APIs.

 

[gomichaelgo]

Those of you with the beta, how’s the stability?

For the most part it's ok for me. It crashes when i try to open the settings app for music, and sometimes just stops playing music when I am listening, and I have to close and reopen to start it again. But other than that, I haven't noticed anything that bad.

 

[Bolt1982]

Must had caught on cause it’s telling me I have to pay for it, I’ll just wait for the public beta

 

[olives9]

Does anyone know how to get rid of the Notification badge in Settings for the iOS 17 dev beta being available? I'm not enrolled in the Developer program but I am a Public Beta user. I noticed I can download ios17 but I rather wait until some of the bugs are resolved. I've already tried rebooting & turning Dev/Public Beta software updates to OFF but can't get rid of the badge in Settings. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[tomnavratil]

Thanks.
Curious the purpose of the relatively short delay - I don't suspect that affords time to address any bugs fixes. Just a devs-first courtesy, perhaps?

Anyway, for those so inclined, it's nice to see pub betas freely available. Expand the pool.
As many have covered here, proceed with caution.

Often to catch system-breaking bugs or bugs that might be difficult to deal with for a regular user, the second reason being developers usually tend to provide more feedback compared to regular users so a lot of the bugs are caught and not reported multiple times by people later.

 

[CEO]

Does anyone know how to get rid of the Notification badge in Settings for the iOS 17 dev beta being available? I'm not enrolled in the Developer program but I am a Public Beta user. I noticed I can download ios17 but I rather wait until some of the bugs are resolved. I've already tried rebooting & turning Dev/Public Beta software updates to OFF but can't get rid of the badge in Settings. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

You should be able to disable beta updates in the software update section of the settings app. You can turn them back on once you’re ready, but turning it off should remove the update from your device.

 

[lazyrighteye]

Often to catch system-breaking bugs or bugs that might be difficult to deal with for a regular user, the second reason being developers usually tend to provide more feedback compared to regular users so a lot of the bugs are caught and not reported multiple times by people later.

Good points.
Are those system-breaking bugs typically identified and addressed in that week between dev and pub beta releases?

 

[BigMcGuire]

Did you even read the article?

I guess I missed the part where they said previously enrolled get it. Thank you!

 

[!!!]

That's awfully harsh. I like having the instructions. Not because I'm incompetent but because it gives me a guide to follow. I'm not going to install the beta software on my phone but that's not because I couldn't manage it. I do a lot of Terminal work for my research. I look up how to do things all the time, even if I've done them for years. It's not because of incompetence, it's because I want to make sure I do everything correctly.

Surgeons use checklists (which are essentially instructions), not because they are incompetent but because they want to make sure they get everything right.

People need to understand there are risks with beta software but if someone installs it and it breaks something, it's an opportunity for that person to learn.

The point is that you should be able to figure out how to do this on your own, because during the beta you may have to figure out how to do something own your own as well. You should also be reporting bugs, for which you'd have to be able to figure out the steps to reproduce it.

Also, if someone is capable of figuring it out, it's also more likely that they have a proper backup, understand the risks involved, and have a separate device to test on.

 

[tomnavratil]

Good points.
Are those system-breaking bugs typically identified and addressed in that week between dev and pub beta releases?

I mean I tend to agree with some of the posters above that the performance of even developer betas has certainly gone up in the recent years and they are rarer however when they happen, usually that's the case. As somebody posted above - public beta 1 usually comes out around developer beta 3? Somewhere around that point so it's slightly polished.

 

[ToyoCorollaGR]

I am enrolled on beta.apple.com since a few years now and I didn't have to go to developer.apple.com to accept the legal terms - I just tapped Beta Updates and all three Beta versions were there to choose from.

Same..