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iOS 9 public beta to be released today via Apple’s Beta Program (U: Available)

Update: The public beta is now available via Apple’s Beta Program site. Instructions on how to go about installing can be found here.

Alongside the public beta of OS X 10.11 El Capitan, Apple today has announced that it will release the public beta of iOS 9 later today. The public beta will allow users to test the new features of iOS 9 before Apple launches in a stable build of the operating system this fall. Users can sign up to be a Beta Program member on Apple’s Beta Program site.

With the public beta of OS X, Apple has in the past updated it less frequently than it does with the developer builds so we can assume it will take the same strategy with iOS.. Earlier this week, Apple released the third beta of iOS 9 and will likely continue to release new builds every two weeks leading up to the public launch this fall.

iOS 9 includes a variety of new features  like Proactive search, Transit in Apple Maps, and a new Notes application. The update also includes new features for the iPad that further hint at the launch of a larger-screened iPad Pro. There are also, of course, a plethora of under-the-hood fixes.

Last month, we broke down some of the features in iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 El Capitan and noted some improvements Apple could make to the functionality of the features before launch later this year.

If you’re curious as to how to go about preparing your device for the public beta and what risks installing it entails, view our guide here.

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Comments

  1. Shane Hawk (@shanehawkk) - 9 years ago

    Too early

  2. Can this update be done OTA or do you have to download it to your computer and install from there?

  3. Jonny - 9 years ago

    It’ll be interesting to see if the public beta will work with watchOS 1.0.1 (or if they’ll release a public beta for that).

    • David McIntyre - 9 years ago

      Watch OS 1.0.1 works, and shows up-to-date in the Watch app. I was hoping for an early access OS 2 with the iOS 9 preview, but I suppose I have to wait (or join the official Apple Dev program).

  4. This is def the perfect time. Beta 3 has fixed almost all the issues and stability problems I once had. Battery life is also great now too.

  5. twelve01 - 9 years ago

    Hallelujah! -normal user

  6. applegetridofsimandjack - 9 years ago

    Hahah this is so funny. About 2 hours ago I was thinking of installing iOS9 without a UDID. I saw a video of how to do it on youtube but finally I decided not to do it.

    • Andrew Messenger - 9 years ago

      you don’t need to register the UDID without iOS 9 anyways. there’s no ‘trick’ to it.

      • applegetridofsimandjack - 9 years ago

        ‘you don’t need to register the UDID without iOS 9 anyways’ what does that mean?

      • AnxiousChild - 9 years ago

        that means English might not be your friend at all times :D

    • thisisasticup - 9 years ago

      It means you don’t need to register your udid to install betas anymore. You haven’t had to do it since ios8. People just tell you do so they can make money off of you.

      • applegetridofsimandjack - 9 years ago

        The bastards :p.

        So basically anyone can upgrade to iOS9 if they want to? The dude in the video also said there are activation issues if you do upgrade. What does he mean by that? I have an unlocked iPhone 6…

      • Andrew Messenger - 9 years ago

        sorry i meant to say “with iOS 9” but my muscle memory added “out” — but yeah. UDID not necessary. Been using 9 beta since the beginning on devices i never put into the developer program.

  7. GadgetBen - 9 years ago

    Its given me an option to update the Watch too for public beta

    • Almog (@Almogos) - 9 years ago

      Really? Can you show us a picture?

    • Well, it gives you the option to install the iOS 9 Beta Profile on the Apple Watch (or the iPhone). But the question is, if the Watch will load the watchOS 2 Beta if you install the iOS 9 Beta profile?

      Did you tried it?

      • surfingarbo - 9 years ago

        I installed the beta profile on my watch, but for me is says 1.0 is the current version. (Yes I know about 1.0.1 – mine for some reason still says 1.0 is the current version). So no, I don’t think it will load watchOS 2 Beta for us public testers.

      • That’s what I thought. But I think I once saw the watchOS 2 beta profile online (uploaded by some developers I guess). The description said, that if you are running iOS 9 beta on your iphone, you could install that profile on you watch and then download watchOS 2 beta.

    • Stephen Dougherty - 9 years ago

      Installed the watch profile and it shows no updates for Watch OS

  8. John Haverty (@havertyj) - 9 years ago

    Installing the beta now on my iPhone 5. See how it goes….

    • John Haverty (@havertyj) - 9 years ago

      Tried three times to download. Starts downloading and gets to almost the end and then fails. Trying a full reset on phone to see if it will work now. I have about 2 GB of space and it says it is 1.2 GB for the update.

      • applegetridofsimandjack - 9 years ago

        I had 800mb of free space on my iPad Air 2 and it updated without telling me there’s insufficient space left. I was really surprised when I managed to update to iOS9 without freeing up some space.

      • John Haverty (@havertyj) - 9 years ago

        My iPhone 5 finished updating. Looking around now… Seems a little slow on some apps, but other than that not too bad. I am interested to see how the low power mode works. Looks like it has to be turned on and only way to do it is in the settings > battery area. Be nice if it kicked in automatically.

        I also keep hoping that Apple will introduce a notification option so that when I am on a call and a reminder, alert, etc. occurs, that it does not beep in my ear and cause me to not hear the other person talking. Seems like a easy fix… My Blackberry back in the day had that feature. :) Well, I will keep dreaming and looking for this each iOS release.

      • jacosta45 - 9 years ago

        I do agree that low power mode should start automatically, maybe when battery gets to 20%.

      • John Haverty (@havertyj) - 9 years ago

        I am trying out low power mode this morning. Not seeing battery be extended so far. Started at 100% with battery when I enabled and already down to 89%. Sent a few texts, but nothing else on the phone. See how it goes with low power mode through noon hour.

  9. taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

    Downloading now for my iPad Air 2. Not so interested in updating my 6 Plus right now.

  10. applegetridofsimandjack - 9 years ago

    I already posted something in feedback assistant:

    FEEDBACK ASSISTANT IS GARBAGINGLY SLOW lol.

    But I really like iOS9. Power mode is one of them features I can’t wait to use.

  11. The website is not working at all LOL … Does someone know why>?< :/ I want to download the beta so much !!!!

  12. Richard Shields - 9 years ago

    What is the build number for the public beta?

  13. tekenology - 9 years ago

    Any issues with the iPhone 6 Plus, MacBook Pro 2011, or Mac Mini 2012?

  14. tekenology - 9 years ago

    Oh and the beta.apple.com is down, just so you know

  15. Shaun Francis Jones - 9 years ago

    I just asked on the Apple Support about the public beta and the Apple Watch. They said that this beta will work with watch os 1.0.1 :) Going to give it a go then.

  16. bbronst7 - 9 years ago

    Help! I have been downloading the beta onto my iPhone 6 and it says there is 45 minutes left. I am going to take this as a sign to stop. How do I stop the download??

  17. GadgetBen - 9 years ago

    Updated to public beta, I have no News app and swiping to reveal the new intelligent search panel is just a blank page with search bar….?

    • J.latham - 9 years ago

      Same here. Can’t seem to find any setting to turn on for it.

      • J.latham - 9 years ago

        Never mind, tapping the microphone in the search screen seemed to activate it for some reason.

      • mike012891 - 9 years ago

        My intelligent search is blank and I don’t see a microphone.

    • Aral Ege Tuğay - 9 years ago

      Just change your region to United States from Settings > General > Language & Region.

  18. Jamushroom (@Jamushroom) - 9 years ago

    Not too sure about installing this on my main phone :/

  19. is anyone else’s battery getting killed?

  20. jxslepton - 9 years ago

    Battery drain?

  21. Will - 9 years ago

    Will the final release require a restore after install if you test the beta?

    • Andrew Attard - 9 years ago

      I highly doubt it… the change from iOS 7 to 8 last year was super simple… just like a normal update. no issues here. :)

  22. taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

    Anyone else not like the lower case San Francisco font on the keyboard? It needs to be bold in my opinion., looks to thin at least on my iPad Air. 2.

    • J.latham - 9 years ago

      I don’t think it’s the font as much as the vertical spacing. The lower case “I” for example is way too high in its key cap, but in line with the rest of the letters on that row.

    • I think the font is way too bold and was better before. It probably depends on person’s eyes so I suggest making it changeable in settings.

  23. Justin Hong - 9 years ago

    Hello,

    Anyone not able to snap pictures with volume up button after iOS 9 public beta?

  24. dwainestroud - 9 years ago

    Can you use Google Chrome for iOS to “download profile”? Son is having difficulty and he can’t get Safari.

    • noahgoa - 9 years ago

      You NEED safari. How are they unable to have it? Safari Is the only way you can download the profile. No safari, no IOS 9.

  25. jrstobbe82 - 9 years ago

    What are the difference for iPhone 5s users compared to 6 users? I downloaded the public beta but spotlight (swipe from left to right) is basically the same and no split screen multitasking either on the iPhone 5s or iPad mini

  26. jrstobbe82 - 9 years ago

    Spotlight search and Siri photo search responds that there’s no app available to do that… (I’m a iPhone 5s) anyone else have a similar experience

  27. Innocent Uke - 9 years ago

    cant seem to download it seem to take for ever to find it on my ipad

  28. Lee Crockford - 9 years ago

    It’s downloaded onto my 5s and I must say that I’m surprisingly pleased with how stable it seems to be so far.

    Of course there are a few minor issues I’ve noticed:
    – A bit juddery in places (transition to multitask view)
    – Some freezing in areas of the settings pages (e.g.; wallpaper options)
    – The search screen in podcasts doesn’t work.
    – Crashing when trying to select video in camera
    – The letters on the keyboard don’t seem to be vertically centred (?)
    – Siri does’t seem to be able to “find stuff” (ie; photos by name) as well as Apple had suggested.

    The good stuff:
    – San Francisco looks great on the retina screen (I’m not not convinced of San Fran in El Capitan, however…)
    – It’s generally nippy and responsive
    – The new horizontal scroll in pictures is fantastic.
    – The new options in notes are not only welcome, but super simple and easy to use (especially checklist!)
    – The new multitasking screen allows much faster switching (especially apps that are “a long way away”), although the reverse order to previous iOSes takes a little getting used to..

    Other bits:
    – Obviously, I haven’t had it long enough to test the rumoured battery issues and as I’m outside North America, there’s no News app.
    – The feature I wished iOS9 had was if you held either the wifi or bluetooth icons in Control centre that it would take you to their respective settings screen.

    All in all, I’m really happy so far.

  29. prius3 - 9 years ago

    Installed it this morning on a 4S spare.
    Installing took a long while, after downloading 1.2GB worth of update.
    Did a full reset and erase after install and so far kept all settings to their defaults.
    Did not activate my iCloud on it though as when it was running 8.4.

    So far I am *very* pleased from what I see.
    Before installing, I had 995MB used, after 805MB (190MB less memory footprint :) ).
    Some apps reduced memory footprint in varying degrees (say 1% to 5% – none of them I think is using the new app thinning and no updates were carried out so far).

    It has now been in stand-by about 1hr and battery still a solid 100% – no battery drain to be seen.
    The new font change is quite obvious and pleasing to the eye.
    The interface in some cases feels cramped on such a small screen, but it works.

    Low power mode unfortunately is activated the moment you flip the switch on and not when the battery level reaches a certain low level – does not make much sense and considering that it is not reachable directly from the lock screen, it is quite useless to me. Screen brightness get reduced by the way. I already gave feedback to Apple about it.

    The battery icon is square and ugly (as well the battery icon in yellow – horrible) and looks odd compared to the others in the settings.
    The App Store loads way faster and apart some occasional choppy animations or lags, the UI feels definitely faster than 8.4 on the same phone with the same setup.
    Also connecting to the mobile network seems faster.

    If it goes on like this with the next releases, iOS 9 is a winner.

    Useless note: New dynamic wallpapers maybe, would be nice…they are getting old. ;)

    • prius3 - 9 years ago

      Installed iOS 9 on an iPad 2 too – memory footprint was reduced from iOS 8.4 of 400MB. (from 2.0GB to 1.6GB). Apps don’t seem to be affected as it happened on the 4S.
      It seems smoother than iOS 8. All installed apps seem to be working ok with 9.
      On this device I did no complete reset and left everything as it was before the upgrade.
      Not a real surprise, but low power mode is not available on the iPad.
      Let’s see though if I will notice any battery lifetime improvement or battery drain. So far it seems ok.

  30. kjl3000 - 9 years ago

    The nightmares of selecting text is finally over with iOS 9 on iPad ! :)

  31. Server Down….

  32. James Follis - 9 years ago

    Wifi-calling does not seem to show up any longer sense installing iso 9 any one else having this problem ?

  33. I downloaded iOS 9 on my iPad , I don’t see any issues that I need to worry about. Do you recommend me to download it on my iPhone 6 as well?

  34. Is cursor control on the iphone removed in the public beta? I cant get it to work or find an option to turn it on.

  35. I downloaded it on my iPhone 6 plus 16 gb and saw a huge increase on the memory footprint, it was 4.7 gb free before install and 1.9 after install. I will do a clean install later to see if this helps out, and i can clear out the apps i never use. Anyone else had this problem?

    So far all is well, in my 4 hrs of use from last night all apps work fine antutu benchmark gave it a 45700. Some minimal issues like siri only giving voice feedback in English (I am in mexico so I use it in spanish)

  36. Jayden Medlen - 9 years ago

    Does iOS 9 public beta work with the current Apple WatchOS??

  37. prius3 - 9 years ago

    Newsfeed is not available for the 4S in Germany…

  38. keith6301 - 9 years ago

    Anyone experienced a complete download only to be told an error occurred and you need to re-download? Wasted my flipped data as I have a cap. Using iPhone 6.

  39. Robert Wacker - 9 years ago

    Anyone else with an iPad mini 1st generation able to download iOS 9 public beta profile but not get the iOS 9 beta? I would like to try iOS 9 beta on my iPad mini, but it’s not showing the update. 😞

    • Innocent Uke - 9 years ago

      I’m using iPad 4 gen and I can’t even find the iOS 9 beta either it still searching and it been 30 minutes now

  40. jamdungyute - 9 years ago

    So I have noticed that the ‘swipeselection-like’ feature is no longer available in the latest beta/update…. Bummer

  41. ام لولو - 9 years ago

    thank you

  42. Ethan Huhn (@EthanHuhn) - 9 years ago

    Has anyone had any issues with not having a phone app when you download the iOS 9 beta. I can’t make outgoing calls but can receive them any ideas on what to do. I am downloaded the beta on my iPhone 6.

  43. keith6301 - 9 years ago

    i6, intermittent freezing. Frustrating and killed BBM.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

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