iOS 26 Is Almost Here — Apple Drops What We Expect To Be the Final Beta Before Launch

Apple has released iOS 26 Public Beta 5 and Developer Beta 8. While there isn't much in terms of new features in the latest betas, these should be the last beta versions of iOS 26 before Apple releases the iOS 26 Release Candidate (the same version everyone will download when it launches). Exciting times, indeed!

How do we know these are likely to be the final beta versions of iOS 26? There are two key factors that indicate Apple is ready to release the final version. First, there are almost no differences between iOS 26 Developer Beta 7 and Beta 8 (and Public Beta 4 and Public Beta 5). That means Apple is making performance tweaks and fine-tuning the OS for the big time, rather than introducing new features.

The other reason stems from history: Apple has released eight developer betas since the introduction of iOS 13. It's been the magic number for some time, and we don't see any reason Apple would change.

Of course, we're dealing with unfinished software. There's always a chance Apple could discover a massive issue with iOS 26 — forcing it to release another beta to get things right. I'm running iOS 26 Public Beta 5 on my phone and I've actually noticed a slight performance improvement over the previous beta, which felt sluggish on my iPhone 14 Pro Max, but a complete overhaul is unlikely at this point.

We expect Apple to send out invitations to its event today — with the keynote rumored to take place on September 9. That means we can expect iOS 26 to launch on September 16 (exactly one week after the event, as is tradition for Apple).

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