Running the latest iOS 26 developer beta or public beta? You’re probably looking at the version of iOS 26 that will be released in September.
No more betas
For starters, iOS 26 beta 7 and beta 8 have virtually no differences. The current public beta is based on dev beta 7, but that will likely change today.
Will there be an iOS 26 developer beta 9? Probably not. Apple shipped eight developer beta versions of iOS 13 through iOS 18. That could obviously change with iOS 26 if something needs to change between now and the first release candidate, but the way iOS 26 looks and behaves is most likely finalized.
Without more betas lined up, we can expect Apple to release iOS 26 RC to beta testers following the iPhone event. The current rumor for that date is September 9. Hopefully we’ll see an official announcement from Apple tomorrow around 9 am PT/12 pm ET.
Forecasting further, iOS 26 could officially launch a week later on September 16. Again, look to the iPhone event date for RC release timing and add a week for the official launch.
iOS beta count history
iOS 26 8 betas iOS 18 8 betas iOS 17 8 betas iOS 16 8 betas iOS 15 8 betas iOS 14 8 betas iOS 13 8 betas iOS 12 12 betas iOS 11 10 betas iOS 10 8 betas iOS 9 5 betas iOS 8 5 betas iOS 7 6 betas iOS 6 4 betas iOS 5 7 betas iOS 4 4 betas iPhone OS 3 5 betas iPhone OS 2 7 betas iPhone OS 1 0 betas
Personally, I’ve run each beta on my primary (and usually only) iPhone since iOS 5 beta 1. Having iMessage before it was publicly released was fun. I had to check 9to5Mac’s iOS 6 beta coverage to verify that there were, in fact, only four developer beta versions. Turns out it’s true. I arrived at 9to5Mac two months before iOS 7 beta, making running every beta pretty much required.
iOS 12 was particularly fun. This is from my iOS 12 beta 12 story seven years ago:
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