After four developer beta cycles, Apple has released the public betas of its upcoming software updates, including iOS 26, macOS Tahoe, watchOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26.
Yeah, it’s a lot of 26s this year.
All the updates bring the new Liquid glass design to your devices, and from my testing so far, I’m a big fan of the visual change. However, some elements, such as the transparency of the glass and the colour of some icons, have changed a little bit in the developer beta, so they might be altered further depending on feedback from public testers.
While the betas are very pretty and offer a handful of great features, be aware that they’re unfinished software, so there may be some hiccups in your testing. Often, when running beta software, it’s good practice to restart your device at least once a day. That said, if you only have one device and you need to rely on it heavily, it might not be the best idea to run the beta. For instance, the key-scanning app I need to use to enter my office building doesn’t currently work on the beta.
How to get the new software
If this is your first time participating in an Apple beta, you’ll need to sign up on the Apple beta website.
After that, if you want to download any of the new software on your Mac, iPad, or iPhone, head to the Settings app and then into the General section. From there, you can choose ‘Software update’. Once you turn on beta updates, you should be swiftly given the option to upgrade to 26.
On Apple TV, you need to go into the System Settings section, and on Apple Watch, you need to update through the Watch app on your iPhone. You can learn more about how to install the betas on Apple’s beta website by choosing the device you want to install it on from the list along the top of the page.
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