iOS 26 has been in beta testing with developers for over a month, and there’s still been no public beta release yet. Apple has only confirmed a July launch, but according to Mark Gurman, there’s a specific day next week being targeted.
Apple reportedly targeting July 23 for iOS 26 public beta
Historically, Apple tends to launch its summer public betas about a week after beta 3 debuts.
But iOS 26 beta 3 arrived last Monday, July 7 and we’re now over a week later with no public beta.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, we may need to wait another whole week.
In response to a post on X today questioning the public beta’s absence, Gurman replied:
Next Wednesday, July 23 would be a later launch than usual for Apple’s public betas.
It also means we’re likely to get iOS 26 developer beta 4 before then.
Top comment by Jeremy Martin
I am running the beta macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS. Im pretty happy with all of them. iOS still seems a bit janky and jittery on my iphone 16 pro and the battery life is not great yet but im sure that will improve over time. I have been most impressed with macOS and especially iPadOS. I like the new look on both of these and the awesome functionality of iPadOS just made it, when paired with a magic keyboard folio, just as useful as my MacBook Pro. I find i grab my iPad now just to do random browsing and computing before i grab my MacBook Pro for those tasks. They did a great job with iPadOS. As far as stability, other than what i mentioned with iOS on my iPhone 16 Pro, it doesnt seem anymore unstable than regular "stable" releases.
If Apple follows its usual 7-day gap between betas, we could see iOS 26 beta 4 arrive tomorrow.
Then again, historical precedent has already been deviated from, so in this case it’s anyone’s guess whether a new beta will arrive before the public beta or not. Perhaps there will be a ‘revised’ beta 3 released instead.
One way or another, now that we’re halfway through July, the iOS 26 public beta release window is narrowing fast.
Are you surprised the iOS 26 public beta hasn’t been released yet? How is beta 3 running for you? Let us know in the comments.
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