Gurman: iOS 18 is ‘final’ with beta 7 until iPhone 16 launch

Today Apple released iOS 18 beta 7 to developers. Historically, there would be a beta 8 during the last week of August. However, according to a new X post by Mark Gurman, that’s being called into question.

iOS 18 likely feature complete with beta 7

Shortly following the release of iOS 18 beta 7, Mark Gurman shared the following on X:

Gurman’s sources tend to be reliable. However, his post is not entirely clear.

• it’s possible he’s saying that today’s iOS 18 beta is the final beta until the iPhone 16 debuts
• it’s also possible Gurman simply means there are no new features coming to future betas before the iPhone event

Beta schedule depends on iPhone 16 event date

It’s common for Apple to debut the RC (release candidate) of its OS updates on the same day as its September iPhone event.

That RC build will include features specific to the iPhone 16 line, as often happens with new iPhone launches.

This year, the date of that September event has not yet been announced. Tuesday, September 10 looks like a strong option, but it could also come a week earlier on Wednesday, September 4.

If the iPhone event is happening the first week of September, then iOS 18 beta 7 being the final release makes a lot of sense. Often there’s a 1-2 week gap between the last release and the iPhone event.

However, if September 10 is the event date, we should still see one more beta—beta 8—next week. According to Gurman’s source, though, we shouldn’t expect any new features in that release.

In any case, today’s iOS 18 developer beta is expected to be the final release with noteworthy changes.