If you like to see what’s coming ahead of everyone else and you’re part of the iPhone and Mac world, Apple has new software ready for you to try.
June doesn’t seem like so long ago, but that was when we saw what Apple had in store for us at WWDC, its Worldwide Developers Conference.
For an interesting change, there was actually no hardware, no new Macs, nothing like that. Instead, Apple focused entirely on software, and the big changes coming to the iPhone, the iPad, the Apple Watch, and also the Mac.
A new look at the OS design with Liquid Glass was a part of that, as were some clever features across iOS and iPadOS, with improvements for AI and translation on the former, while the latter gets more multitasking support. It’s a pretty sizeable update, and one of the changes is the name.
Forget the sequential numbers we’ve seen over the years, because Apple is unifying the whole thing for the next year. The next operating systems all sport the number “26”, because these are the changes that’ll take you in 2026.
The updates are expected publicly in September, likely alongside a new iPhone or four in the iPhone 17 range, but maybe Apple will rename it all to the iPhone 26 to make it all fit.
Before then, however, Apple has its previews of the operating systems for those who like to live a little dangerously.
It’s worth noting that as public betas, these may have bugs. You may find apps crash and other bits and pieces don’t work the way their full release versions do.
But if you want to live a little dangerously experience an early taste of iOS 26 on iPhones, iPadOS 26 on the iPad, tvOS 26 for Apple TVs, macOS Tahoe 26 for Macs, or watchOS 26 for Apple Watch models, you’ll find the public betas online now.
