Now that the second beta of iOS 18 is available, developers, or enthusiastic people with a free developer account, can start experimenting with additional features like iPhone Mirroring for Mac and improved SharePlay screen sharing. Still, developer betas aren’t intended for wide adoption, so you should probably wait for the first, more stable public beta of iOS 18. All you need is an Apple Beta account, a test iPhone that isn’t your daily phone (to be safe) and a modicum of patience.
But how much patience? The iOS 18 public beta is a great way to test out new iOS 18 features, such as customizable home and lock screens, text message formatting, satellite text messaging, and the redesigned Photos app (although we don’t expect the Apple Intelligence features will appear later in the year).
If we look at the schedule of previous beta versions and consider that iOS 18 beta 2 arrived just two weeks after the first, we estimate that the public beta could be available sooner than we thought.
Have you already installed the beta version of iOS 18 and are you hesitating? Don’t worry, you can go back to iOS 17.
When will Apple release the first public beta of iOS 18 for iPhone?
If you feel like installing the updated iOS 18 public beta, Apple’s beta page frustratingly states that this and the other beta versions of the operating system are “coming soon.” Not much more useful, Apple says in a press release that “a public beta will be available through Apple’s Beta Software Program next month at beta.apple.com.” But Apple has been offering public betas every year since 2015 with iOS 8.3, and those betas have consistently appeared about three or four weeks after the first developer betas.
That means the iOS 18 public beta could arrive roughly as soon as July 8, 2024.
Here is when the previous public releases first appeared:
- iOS 17 Public Beta: July 12, 2023
- iOS 16 Public Beta: July 11, 2022
- iOS 15 Public Beta: June 30, 2021
- iOS 14 Public Beta: July 9, 2020
What about Apple’s other public betas?
iOS tends to generate the most interest, but Apple also releases public betas of its other operating systems around the same time. We expect iPad OS 18, WatchOS 11, TVOS 18, and even HomePod 18 software to appear on or around the same date as iOS 18.
The macOS public beta, on the other hand, sometimes appears on a different schedule. But the last two releases, Sonoma and Ventura, kept pace with iOS:
- MacOS Sonoma Public Beta: July 11, 2023
- MacOS Ventura Public Beta: July 12, 2022
- MacOS Monterey Public Beta: July 7, 2021
- MacOS Big Sur Public Beta: August 10, 2020
We wouldn’t be surprised if the MacOS Sequoia public beta also arrives as soon as July 8, 2024or maybe the following week.
Where is Vision OS?
Of note, out of sight on Apple’s Beta page is Vision OS 2 for Vision Pro. Last year, Apple did not release a public beta version of Vision OS, so it’s still unclear if one will arrive this year before the Vision OS 2 release.
To learn more about what Apple is doing, we compare Apple’s Find My Network and Google’s Find My Device and what we think might be the most underrated feature of iOS 18.
