Apple will not pre-announce when it will release iOS 26 beta updates, but over the years it has proven to has a mostly predictable schedule after the first one has rolled out. Here's when to expect new versions.
The only correct and truly sensible date for iOS 26 beta releases is to not pay any attention to them and wait for the official release in September. But as the second developer beta has just come out and the first public one is due in July, here's what is coming next, and roughly when.
What comes when
The pattern is always that the first developer betas of iOS — and macOS — are released on the day of announcement at WWDC. The public beta of both tends to follow the next month, and then usually the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, betas come out simultaneously over the following weeks.
Based on the last five years of complete beta releases — iOS 14 in 2020 to iOS 18 in 2024, there are typically either seven or eight developer betas. For public betas, while they did go to eight for iOS 14 and seven for iOS 16, it's more typical for there to be up to five or six.
Then invariably, the period between beta releases shortens as the official release starts. Since iOS 14, the second developer beta to be released after the initial WWDC launch has taken between 14 and 17 days.
Statistically, that would suggest that the earliest that the second developer beta of iOS 26 would be released was June 23, 2025 — and that's exactly when it came out.
A note on dates
All of the dates for every developer beta and every major public beta here is taken from AppleInsider, which always posts updates within moments of their release.
Also, when calculating the gaps between releases, we've excluded the end date throughout. Where other sources have included the end date, their day count is greater, but the overall trend remains the same.
Breaking down beta release timetables
Of those five years of beta testing, iOS 15 was the slowest to reach its second update at 17 days. Then iOS 18 was the fastest at 14 days.
Although of them all, iOS 18 was peculiar in how each of its beta releases came practically every 14 days. Some releases took 13 days, some took 15, but overall the implication was that work on iOS 18 proved to be steady.
There's a good chance it was more steady than Apple had anticipated too, because the last beta was released 27 days before the official release. It was as if iOS 18 were finished early and Apple had to just wait for its planned release date.
Despite variations like that, it's still possible to calculate a typical schedule based on Apple's history. Although note that the following date estimates further presume that Apple will not release a beta over the weekend:
- Beta 3: July 7 to July 13
- Beta 4: July 21 to July 28
- Beta 5: August 8 to August 11
It's not practical to estimate any further out as even small delays near the start could have knock-on effects that delay later releases. But then equally, the interval between beta releases decreases throughout the process.
Plus, of course, there can be unforeseen problems that take more work from Apple than anticipated. Such as with iOS 16, where beta 3 took practically an extra week at 20 days.
It's also reasonably likely that macOS betas will be released simultaneously with iOS — but it isn't guaranteed.
When to expect iOS 26 public betas
Apple has said that iOS 26 will be released in public beta during July, and of course it's up to them. Apple clearly has a schedule for the whole beta test cycle leading up to the official release, even if that schedule is sometimes affected by unexpected problems.
Over the past five years, though, the first public beta has followed the first developer one by an average of just over 29 days.
The shortest time between developer and public betas was 16 days for both iOS 14 and iOS 15. The longest was iOS 17, which took 36 days.
It's likely that the iOS 26 public beta's launch date will be nearer the top end of that range, too. That's because the last three public betas followed 34, 36, and 34 days after their developer counterpart.
Based on this, while the first public beta can't realistically be pinned down, statistically it could be as early as June 25, 2025. More likely, it will be July 14 or July 15.
It is of course far more likely that the first public beta will come out in July rather than June since Apple has stated that. But in 2021, Apple had also promised a July release, yet delivered it on June 30 instead.
Only developers should really take note
If it's your job to keep up with iOS developments, you're already scheduling your work around when you predict each new release to come out. For all other users, truly the only practical thing is to ignore it all and wait for the proper release in September.
Just as someone who follows Apple, though, you can find it a little revealing when releases come out. As noted above, iOS 18 was downright weird with its practically perfect two-weekly release cycle, but at other times you can get a sense for when things are going well or not.
Which does then also give you a sense of how long you should give Apple to fix problems found during the official release in September.
Do note that, as ever, while it suits Apple to have as many people testing its software for it, you're not being paid to risk your data. Let everyone else try out the releases and find the bugs, before Apple finally makes iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe its official, current operating systems.
