iOS 18 beta is now available! It’s tempting to rush out and download it. Now that you don’t even need a paid developer account to access the developer beta, there’s just a few minutes of form-filling between you and a first look at the big iOS update coming this fall.
But you might not want to rush to pick it up right away. Running beta operating systems always carries some risks, and early beta versions of iOS in particular. Plus, not all the features you might want to try are there yet.
Here’s what you need to know to decide whether or not to try the iOS 18 beta, based on the best current information available. We will update this article throughout the beta test as the situation evolves.
Current version and features
The current version of iOS 18 beta is: Developer Beta 1
This version has a lot of new features, such as new home screen customization and Control Center, but it’s missing a lot of features that you might want to run iOS 18 for.
Notably, none Apple Intelligence features are present, including new Mail app categorization, notification summaries, text tools, Image Playground app, and more.
Some of the other nice features, like RCS messaging, aren’t there yet either. Chances are, many of the features you’re dying to try aren’t in beta yet.
Bugs and issues
It’s not uncommon for iOS betas, especially early developer betas, to be full of bugs. After all, that’s the point of beta testing.
Compared to some years, this initial Developer Beta 1 release is actually quite stable, but that doesn’t mean it’s almost bug-free. There are occasional crashes when running everyday apps like Apple Music, the Control Center layout freaks out at times, and we’ve seen the typical reports of increased battery drain.
Several apps, like some that connect to your car, freeze when loading or think the iPhone is jailbroken and refuse to load for security reasons. There’s a good chance that at least one of the apps you rely on will become unusable until it’s updated.
igamesnews recommends: Wait for a later release
We still think it’s a good idea to run a beta version of iOS on a secondary device, or at least have a secondary device up to date with the latest version of iOS 17 and all your apps so that you can use it to access everything you can. need.
But in the case of iOS 18, it’s probably not worth running the beta right now unless you’re a developer who needs to start testing your app or working on an update to use more new frameworks and APIs.
The best features aren’t here yet, and those that are are buggy enough to cause a lot of frustration. We think even adventurous users should wait for a later release.
