Question regarding transition from public beta to official release

[Didz81]

I've heard in a YouTube video that when iOS 16 officially gets released to the general public, those of us who are running the betas, should delete a profile in settings before going for the official public update. But by doing that, would that mean that I would lose all my lockscreens that I've made during my time on the public beta program and I would have to make all new lockscreens or is there a way to keep all those lockscreens going into the official release? The video I saw got me a bit confused regarding this so I figured I'd go on here and ask and hopefully get it cleared up. Thanks for replies and help in advance!

 

[one more]

You will not lose anything. When you delete the beta profile the only thing that will change is that you will be getting iOS 16 public releases from that moment on, so no more betas. Everything you have setup and customised during your beta trials will remain the same.

If you want to leave the beta programme, you could remove the beta profile just before iOS 16 gets released to the public. We are expecting the developers iOS 16 release candidate on 7 September and for the public beta testers shortly afterwards. Once you install that you can remove the beta profile. This will remove the Feedback app, but that is the only visible change you should notice.

 

[Lee_Bo]

You will not lose anything. When you delete the beta profile the only thing that will change is that you will be getting iOS 16 public releases from that moment on, so no more betas. Everything you have setup and customised during your beta trials will remain the same.

I can confirm this. I’ve done it twice in the past. Just delete the beta profile and the only future update notification you get is official update.

 

[Squillace]

The beta profile and the beta software you are using are two completely different things.

 

[contacos]

The final GM will most definitely be the same built number as the final release so you can just delete the beta profile once you are on the latest GM and it won’t change a thing on your phone

 

[owidhh]

Just adding my 2 cents and what I think should be clarified:

What the videos and other sites are talking about, is the Configuration Profile. These are used to, well, manage configurations on your iOS device. Corporations use that for example to control settings for their employees' phones. my mobile carrier uses it to add their network configuration automatically. And Apple is using that to enable your iOS device to access beta releases.

As others have said, this is separate from your user data, apps, configurations. Although you could technically call those a "profile", this is not what is meant in this case.

 

[RobM_]

The final GM will most definitely be the same built number as the final release so you can just delete the beta profile once you are on the latest GM and it won’t change a thing on your phone

This is important for people to properly understand. Every year there are people who get to the final RC / GM, remove the profile ahead of the public launch, and then freak out that they weren’t updated to the main release, fearing they’re stuck in betas forever.

You’re not, it’s the same thing. The last release of the betas is almost always the same as the very first public release. And if you do delete the profile and the final release is a different build, you will be updated. If it’s the same build, you won’t because you‘re already running it.

 

[Didz81]

Thanks for your answers, everyone. It cleared up my confusion and I'm glad my customizations will stay the same going from the beta to the public final version of iOS 16.