Waiting for new products is rarely easy, even when you have a vague inkling and expectation of an impending arrival.
New iPhones in September? Yep, that makes sense, and possibly a few new Macs by the end of the year. Working from rumour usually gives you something to work with in terms of buying something later on down the track, but if you don’t plan on a new spend, you might instead be excited about what’s to come.
Specifically, we’re talking about upgrades, something Apple does particularly well when it rolls out new features in operating systems to owners of current and previous model devices.
Those features typically arrive closer to the launch of a new product or two, but regardless of whether you’ve spent on something new, you typically get them all the same.
This year, it’ll be new features in the form of AI and updated operating systems, including features that might just make your computer, phone, and tablet feel faster.
That’s one of the feature drops Apple talked up earlier this year when it showed off what’s coming at the 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference, also known as WWDC. Now closer to launch, Apple is ready with a preview you can try for yourself: the public betas.
Before this point, you’ve needed to be a developer to play with features early, a process largely known as “living dangerously”, particularly if you used your main machine for the privilege. Developer pre-releases are often a little more cutting edge and a bit buggy, giving developers that head start to make their apps compatible as soon as possible.
Regular people don’t need to be that cutting edge, and so might want to wait for a final build.
But if the final date likely near September is too too far, there’s another option: the public betas.
A little easier to use and with fewer bugs, the public betas is often seen as closer to launch than anything else, and more accessible as a result. They usually come a little bit later, arriving two to three months before the actual launch.
With that in mind, Apple is ready with its public betas now, providing early access for iOS 27, iPad OS 27, tvOS 27, watchOS 27, HomePod (software) 27, and of course macOS 27, meaning every operating system and main feature set focused on the next year is technically available in testing now, provided you have the computer and don’t mind living a little dangerously.
We say “a little” because betas aren’t usually the sort of thing you want to run on a production computer. Bugs can happen on a final release app or operating system, but if they’re going to happen anywhere, they’re more likely to be in a beta, where the features and quirks are still being ironed out.
Over in the world of Apple, those features can at the very least be played with in a publicly accessible beta now, covering changes to the Liquid Glass design aesthetic and child safety, among others, not to mention the addition of a proper AI-connected Siri, as well. Even developers could see some boost in the form of AI using Xcode 27 (though this can run on macOS 26, as well).
For folks keen to see what this is all about, the public betas are live. But remember to take into consideration that beta doesn’t mean final, and there might still be the odd bugs here and there. Essentially, just tread carefully ahead of release, especially if you’re loading the OS on a device you regularly rely on, because it might be a little less reliable (even though it could also be totally and utterly fine).
