God bless the brave beta testers. I don't have the confidence in beta operating systems to take that plunge.
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How to Install the iOS 26 Public Beta on Your iPhone
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Means you need a long page of instructions to update.
Completely agree. I have no idea what people are so up in arms about. It looks cool and is running smoothly. I haven’t had any issues so far.
It’s been a while since I’ve done a local backup, but I think whoever wrote the article forgot to show how to also archive a backup. What I read just sounds like how to do a local backup. Don't you have to also click on manage backups to archive it?
Just installed public beta... man it's glitchy... very odd visual artifacts... like I'm watching those old school cable shows that were scrambled and would momentarily come into focus and then descramble... that type of effect... especially on transitions. This is NOT ready for public beta.
I have my iPhone 13 on 79% battery health. I know that the betas tend to have worse battery life, but I love the liquid glass design. Update is calling to me like the green goblin mask.
I can just back my phone up on Mac and then restore it if something goes wrong, right?
I can just back my phone up on Mac and then restore it if something goes wrong, right?
You can if it’s an encrypted backup. I’ve done it more than once.
from about mid august every year, after the public beta stability is achieved, our family runs public beta every year on a half dozen different phones, plus our watches, ATV and macs. We have had no terrible experiences, and no real bad glitches in the last 5+ years.
I’ve been testing some stuff on a secondary phone (15 Pro). B4/PB1 is stable. It’s usable. But the Home Screen is a bit laggy swiping between pages, animations locking/unlocking the phone aren’t totally smooth. It’s not going to brick your phone, but it’s going to have imperfections that you will have to tolerate.
I wouldn’t want it on my main phone.
I wouldn’t want it on my main phone.
One can drive a car without wearing a seatbelt for years, with no ill effects. Or have a home for years without fire insurance and never have it burn down. I wouldn't recommend those practices, either.
I believe MR forgot to tell people to turn off iCloud backup before installing the beta and after completing a backup of data. If you don’t, you probably won’t have a pre-beta backup to restore to if something goes wrong.
Wow. So many commenters here seem to feel the need to regurgitate some version of "don't do it" over and over and over again.
They're not wrong: don't install this if you're the type to come back here and whine about something that doesn't work.
But I'll say: this first beta has been remarkably better than prior iOS final versions. I'm honestly very surprised; I can't think of a single thing off the top of my head that doesn't work... Knock on wood! There are a few things that definitely need some fine-tuning because they're a little "off" right now, but this is the first beta I've ever installed that didn't actually break something that I know of.
They're not wrong: don't install this if you're the type to come back here and whine about something that doesn't work.
But I'll say: this first beta has been remarkably better than prior iOS final versions. I'm honestly very surprised; I can't think of a single thing off the top of my head that doesn't work... Knock on wood! There are a few things that definitely need some fine-tuning because they're a little "off" right now, but this is the first beta I've ever installed that didn't actually break something that I know of.
But as stated, if one waits until the initial beta is stable, the risks are minimized, and in subsequent point updates the risks are even less because the changes are more features than core. I always wear my belt, hearing & eye protection, vax, and am fully insured. I am a cautious person who prefers to get his security updated early via the public beta.