iOS 18.6 Beta Coming Soon Alongside iOS 26 Beta

[MacRumors]

iOS 26 has been stealing the spotlight over the last week, but there is still another iOS 18 update on the horizon, according to a leaker.

The first iOS 18.6 beta should be coming very soon, as a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing iOS information today shared a build number (22G5054d) for the beta. We do not link to the account's posts at the owner's request.

Update: The first iOS 18.6 developer beta is now available.

Apple's software engineers have been internally testing iOS 18.6 since March, according to MacRumors analytics. There are now thousands of pageviews from iPhones running the iOS 18.6 beta in our website's visitor logs, as testing ramps up.

iOS 18.6 will likely be a minor update with bug fixes and security patches, but some smaller new features are also possible. The update was initially expected to enable Apple Intelligence in China, but that has reportedly been delayed due to regulatory hurdles.

The table below provides an overview of iOS 13.6 through iOS 17.6.

iOS 13.6​	June 1, 2020​	July 15, 2020​	- Digital car keys in Wallet app - Apple News+ audio stories - Symptoms category in Health app - Bug fixes and small enhancements​
iOS 14.6​	April 22, 2021​	May 24, 2021​	- Apple Podcasts subscriptions - Family Sharing for Apple Card - AirTag and Find My enhancements - Bug fixes​
iOS 15.6​	May 18, 2022​	July 20, 2022​	- Restart live sports in TV app - Bug fixes​
iOS 16.6​	May 19, 2023​	July 24, 2023​	- Bug fixes and security patches​
iOS 17.6​	June 17, 2024​	July 29, 2024​	- Bug fixes and security patches​

iOS Version
First Developer Beta
Public Release
Inclusions

For those curious, we have not yet seen any evidence of an iOS 18.5.1 update being in the works, so Apple might jump right to iOS 18.6.

Following beta testing, iOS 18.6 will likely be released in July.

There will likely be an iOS 18.7 update too with additional security patches in September, before Apple fully moves on to the iOS 26 cycle.

Article Link: iOS 18.6 Beta Coming Soon Alongside iOS 26 Beta

 

[sniffies]

iOS 18 is so 8 years ago.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

Who is going to beta test 18.6 when everyone is testing iOS26?

 

[Populus]

Who is going to beta test 18.6 when everyone is testing iOS26?

Hopefully there will be some beta-testers as interested in 18.6 as me…

I still really wish they polish iOS 18 even further with this 18.6 version, because I plan to stay on one of the latest iOS 18 versions on all my devices, for a long time.

Not only because I am usually a late adopter of a new operating system (usually I wait until the n.3 version, right after or right before Christmas), but also because this year especially, I want to give Apple many months to keep working on this new interface and fix most of the first bugs, as well as optimizing the performance on older devices such as those powered by the A14 or A15 System on a Chip.

 

[TJFDenver]

the location bug on apple apps (iOS) is still semi-constantly prompting for access permissions ... been an issue since 18.3 ... this is getting old

 

[svish]

Will be a very minor update. Hopefully it will be bug free. Expecting to see it being released in the next 30 days or so. Will wait a few days before updating.

 

[winxmac]

Wait for iOS 18.7 which potentially could be the last update and be released around the same time as iOS 26.0 non-beta

 

[Stuipdboy1000]

I suspect this will be the update that brings support for new AirTags so I’d expect there to be some changes with Find My in the betas.

 

[eifelbube]

and
visionOS 2.6 Beta Coming Soon Alongside
visionOS 26 Beta
?