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iPad Pro Safe to install the public beta on your only iPad device?

T

TinaBelcher

macrumors 65816
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Jul 23, 2017
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Probably wrong place to ask…

Is it safe to install the public beta on your iPad Pro M1?
I don’t own a secondary. I’m just too curious and want to experience “windowing” mode.
Would it cause syncing problems with my iPhone and Mac that still runs last year’s software?
I’m not gonna install it on my iPhone or mac. I’m gonna wait for the fall release for those.

Would you do it and have you?

Update: I did it! It’s really nice. Doesn’t feel groundbreaking as I thought, but it’s a descent update. I the aesthetic!
 
Last edited:
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TinaBelcher said:
Probably wrong place to ask…

Is it safe to install the public beta on your iPad Pro M1?
I don’t own a secondary. I’m just too curious and want to experience “windowing” mode.
Would it cause syncing problems with my iPhone and Mac that still runs last year’s software?
I’m not gonna install it on my iPhone or mac. I’m gonna wait for the fall release for those.

Would you do it and have you?
Click to expand...
I installed it on my M2 iPad Air yesterday, to try out windowing primarily. No issues and everything I’ve checked out thus far works. Complaints about Liquid Glass are exaggerated.
I like windowing, except, when I first open my iPad the last used app shows up in full screen but when I go to the dock to get my next app the windows are back. Need to do some more troubleshooting on that one.

I have only this iPad but do not have any data on it that is not also on my Mac so if I have to wipe, no problem
 
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TinaBelcher said:
Probably wrong place to ask…

Is it safe to install the public beta on your iPad Pro M1?
I don’t own a secondary. I’m just too curious and want to experience “windowing” mode.
Would it cause syncing problems with my iPhone and Mac that still runs last year’s software?
I’m not gonna install it on my iPhone or mac. I’m gonna wait for the fall release for those.

Would you do it and have you?
Click to expand...
Just beware, it is a Beta. You will 100% have annoying bugs that you don't even think about. So just be carful. Is it stable enough to use? Yes. Is it going to be flawless...absolutely not.
 
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Thank you all for the responses so far! I appreciate it.
Once the official OS26 comes out in September, will I get to update to it, or will I only receive the latest “public beta” updates from now on?
 
TinaBelcher said:
Thank you all for the responses so far! I appreciate it.
Once the official OS26 comes out in September, will I get to update to it, or will I only receive the latest “public beta” updates from now on?
Click to expand...
It's your choice, there's a toggle that will do either
 
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Beta is a beta, public or developer. I personally wouldn’t install a major change like iOS 7 or iPad os 26 on only iPad. Huge changes every beta, it can brick your iPad.
 
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TinaBelcher said:
Thank you all for the responses so far! I appreciate it.
Once the official OS26 comes out in September, will I get to update to it, or will I only receive the latest “public beta” updates from now on?
Click to expand...

There's a few ways to get off the beta track.

About a week before final release, the 'final' beta (usually referred to as the GM/Gold Master) releases. You can either turn off the beta toggle then and wait a week, then install the version released to everyone.

Or, you can install the GM, then turn off the beta toggle. When 26.0 releases you won't see an update because you're on that version. Then, once 26.0.1 comes out and you update to it, you'll be off any sort of beta release.
 
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GMShadow said:
There's a few ways to get off the beta track.

About a week before final release, the 'final' beta (usually referred to as the GM/Gold Master) releases. You can either turn off the beta toggle then and wait a week, then install the version released to everyone.

Or, you can install the GM, then turn off the beta toggle. When 26.0 releases you won't see an update because you're on that version. Then, once 26.0.1 comes out and you update to it, you'll be off any sort of beta release.
Click to expand...
I’ll keep this in mind thank you!
 
Bigger question: how is your only iPad used?

If it's casual web browsing and light use in your off time, sure why not?

If it's your primary computing device, and/or your income, career, or an upcoming professional degree exam depend on it... uh that should speak for itself.
 
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Sippincider said:
Bigger question: how is your only iPad used?

If it's casual web browsing and light use in your off time, sure why not?

If it's your primary computing device, and/or your income, career, or an upcoming professional degree exam depend on it... uh that should speak for itself.
Click to expand...
I’d say heavily web browsing, YouTube, streaming, music ect. I use it more than my MacBook, but I don’t use it like a MacBook cause I don’t see it as a computer
 
Aside from reduced battery life I have had no problems with the Beta. I really like the windowing. Liquid glass is a change - I personally just think it is different, neither better or worse.
 
I run it on both my iPads and have had no show stopping issues. I did have to uninstall and reinstall a program that kept crashing and that fixed it but if you use it for anything crucial, maybe hold off.
 
I guess I am lucky that I have my old 2018 iPad Pro lying around that I can use to play around with the beta. I certainly will not dare to install the beta on my iOS devices. For one, it can potentially break the banking apps on my iPhone, and I rely too much on my iPad for work to risk something going wrong.

My experiences with beta software -

1) Install the iOS 7 beta on my iPhone. It broke the Mailbox app, causing notifications to go haywire (each new notification would ding once for each unread notification in the app). Even restoring the phone back to iOS 6 did not fix the app, and the developers were not able to issue a fix till iOS 7 was officially released.

2) Made the mistake of installing iOS 9 on my 5s right before I was scheduled to travel overseas with my students. Thankfully, everything on my phone still worked, but battery life was extremely poor, and I had to keep charging my device.

3) Installed iOS 12 public beta on my 9.7" iPad Pro because iOS 11 was running so poorly on it. To its credit, the performance improvement was instantly noticeable and made my iPad that much more useable. But it was really more of a "what have I got to lose" kind of scenario, and my iPad is running pretty well on 18.5.

That said, I am looking forward to running iPadOS 26 on my iPad Pro later this year. I can wait another two months. Life's hectic enough as is. o_O
 
TinaBelcher said:
Probably wrong place to ask…

Is it safe to install the public beta on your iPad Pro M1?
I don’t own a secondary. I’m just too curious and want to experience “windowing” mode.
Would it cause syncing problems with my iPhone and Mac that still runs last year’s software?
I’m not gonna install it on my iPhone or mac. I’m gonna wait for the fall release for those.

Would you do it and have you?

Update: I did it! It’s really nice. Doesn’t feel groundbreaking as I thought, but it’s a descent update. I the aesthetic!
Click to expand...
No. It is not safe to install a beta on one's only iPad.
 
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I've been installing developer betas, not even public betas on my only devices for many many years and I've only had one issue once with a work app. There have been some battery issues and some overheating, but no serious problems ever.
 
I have been running Developer beta software since iOS 2.0 so my official release date for the next version of iOS or iPad, OS etc., has always been June. Yes I have to deal with Bugs a lot more often but I get to enjoy the new software as soon as it is released to the developer community and I love it.

The only thing I don’t install beta anymore is Apple Watch OS because if it messes up, you have to send it off to get reflashed everything else you can do on your own at home
 
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