Last Updated on June 13, 2022 by srinivas
When iOS 16 lands on your iPhone this fall, it will bring with it a ton of great new features. But you don’t have to wait until September to try them out. If you’re brave, you can download and install the iOS 16 beta – just expect there to be some bugs and issues along the way.
Apple released a developer beta of iOS 16 on Monday, June 6, right after iOS 16 was announced at its WWDC keynote. But it’s a very early bugged release, intended for registered developers who need to test their software and start using new frameworks and APIs. If you’re not a registered developer, you’ll have to wait for the public beta, which comes sometime in July. Here’s everything Apple has said about the beta and what we can glean from past releases.
When can we expect iOS 16 public beta 1?
Speaking at the WWDC Keynote, Tim Cook concluded, “Our OS releases will be available today as developer betas, and each of them will be in public beta next month.” At the very least, that means we can expect the iOS 16 Public beta in July.
Apple
But that doesn’t really limit things, so let’s take a look at past releases to see if we can learn more about what to expect.
- With iOS 15, the first developer beta was released on June 7. The second developer beta was on June 24, and the first public beta came six days later, on Wednesday, June 30.
- With iOS 14, the first developer beta was released on June 22. The second developer beta was on July 7, and the first public beta was just two days later, on Thursday, July 9 (a Thursday). (WWDC was held later in 2020 due to the pandemic.)
- With iOS 13, the first developer beta was released on June 3. The second was on June 18, with the first public beta about a week later on Monday, June 24.
If we look at the modern history of iOS releases, we can see that a second developer beta usually follows two to three weeks after the first, and the first public beta follows within a week. Beta releases almost never come on a Friday.
Our best guess, looking at history, would be that developer beta 2 would be released sometime between June 27 and June 30, and the first public beta would be released the following week – the first week of July.
Sign up for iOS 16 beta
Although the first public beta of iOS 16 is still a few weeks away, you can register now so your device will be ready when it’s available.
- Click Sign In on the Apple Beta page and register with your Apple ID.
- Log in to the Beta Software Program.
- Click ‘Enroll your iOS device’. (If you signed up for the beta of an earlier version last year, you may need to delete the profile for that and then re-enroll in the new one.)
- Go to beta.apple.com/profile on your iOS device.
- Download and install the configuration profile. You may need to skip to Settings to enable the profile. Go to General † VPN and Device Management and tap there on the iOS 16 beta profile.
The beta profile is usually available well before the first beta release. If you’ve installed it, you’ll be all set when the public beta comes out in July. All you have to do is go to Settings † General and tap software update to install the public beta.
Read our full guide on how to sign up for and install the iOS developer or public betas.