Apple released iOS 26.4 to everyone this week, bringing new emojis, updates to Apple Music, and more to iPhone users everywhere.
Now, attention is shifting to iOS 26.5 among loyal 9to5Mac readers. We’ve received a lot of questions about when the first iOS 26.5 beta will be released, so here’s what we know based on history.
iOS 26.5 beta 1 release date: What history tells us
Apple hasn’t confirmed when it will release iOS 26.5 beta 1, but we can get a pretty good idea of its plans based on prior years.
Barring any major strategy changes, this makes it pretty clear that we should expect the first iOS 26.5 beta to be released next week.
Additionally, I am seeing a spike in iOS 26.5 devices in Google Analytics traffic for 9to5Mac. This is generally a reliable indicator that Apple is ramping up testing internally before releasing the first beta to developers.
iOS 26.5: New features
It remains to be seen what new features Apple will ship as part of iOS 26.5. The elephant in the room, of course, is the upgraded Siri that Apple first promised at WWDC 2024. New Apple Intelligence features for Siri were expected to come with iOS 26.4, but the latest reporting is they were pushed to iOS 26.5 and iOS 27.
This suggests we might see select new Apple Intelligence and Siri features as soon as the first iOS 26.5 beta next week.
What do you think? Will iOS 26.5 include big changes to Siri, or will Apple shift its entire timeline to iOS 27? Let us know down in the comments.
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- Anker Nano USB-C wall charger with built-in screen
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- Charge all your Apple gear at the same time
- Bring wireless CarPlay to any car
- USB-C cable that shows how fast you’re charging
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