Apple published the first public beta of iOS 18.6 on June 18, little over a week after the firm revealed iOS 26 at its Worldwide Developers Conference. The iOS 26 upgrade will change the look of iPhones a lot this autumn, but the current beta largely resolves bugs and security holes.
Read more: An Expert’s Guide to iOS 18
The location where you may download the public beta 1 of iOS 18.6.
This is a beta, therefore I suggest installing it just on a device that isn’t your main one. This isn’t the final version of iOS 18.6, so the upgrade might have bugs and drain your battery faster. It’s better to keep these problems off your main device.
The beta is not the final version of iOS 18.6, so your iPhone might get extra features when it comes out. No one knows when Apple will make iOS 18.6 available to everyone. But this will probably be the final big upgrade to iOS that Apple provides until it releases iOS 26 this autumn.
When iOS 18.6 comes to your iPhone, here’s what you can anticipate.
This beta is focused about fixing issues and making things safer.
If you’re a developer or beta tester, don’t anticipate much from this beta other than patches for bugs and security holes. I didn’t see any new features or modifications after downloading and checking into iOS 18.6 beta 1. And that’s not unexpected given Apple’s history of releasing iOS.
Apple said iOS 18 will be out at WWDC 2024, and iOS 17.6 came out in July, more than a month later. There were more than 30 major bug fixes and security updates in the release, but no new features. At the time, Apple told everyone to download the update. It was the final big upgrade for iOS 17 before iOS 18 came out.
When Apple launched iOS 16.6 in July 2023, it performed the same thing. The tech giant’s upgrade was mostly about fixing bugs and making the system more secure. The next big iOS release was iOS 17.
Apple is probably changing its mind and putting more effort on iOS 26. The business has already issued two developer betas of its iOS software to be ready for its debut in the autumn.
There will be additional betas before iOS 18.6 is published to the public, so Apple has plenty of time to add or remove functionality. However, I wouldn’t expect any new features. Apple hasn’t said when it would release iOS 18.6, but given iOS 17.6 and iOS 16.6 came out in July 2024 and 2023, I think iOS 18.6 will come out next month.