Apple has officially announced the launch of iOS 26 Public Beta, which is the most stable so far, and is based on the fourth version of the developer version. The update introduces a 7.69GB "liquid glass" design.

A month after the liquid glass design was unveiled and just two days after the fourth beta version of the iOS 26 update was released, Apple officially announced the launch of the first public beta version and more stable than the expected update.

You may be wondering: How did Apple return to the "first beta" after it had reached the fourth version? And how could this version be more stable?

In fact, Apple divides the update phases into three main categories, ranked from least stable to highest:

It starts with the Developer Beta, which is geared toward app developers to test their software's compatibility with the new system.

Then, when the system reaches a reasonable level of stability, the public beta is released, which is aimed at users who want to try out the new features.

Finally, comes the Release Candidate, which is called the "official pre-release version".

And now we are in the second phase, where Apple launched hours ago the public beta version of the iOS 26 update, which is, as we expected, the fourth beta version for developers. It was stable enough to reach the public. Apple has also released working beta versions of the iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26 updates.

The iOS 26 Public Beta update comes in 7.69GB in size, and it introduces a liquid glass design language that completely reshapes the look of the phone's interface.

Devices supported with the iOS 26
update
As we are used to from Apple and its commitment to long-term updates, the list of support includes all iPhones from the 11 series to the 16 series, as well as the iPhone SE (2nd generation and later). For iPads, the iPadOS 26 update supports devices starting with iPad mini (5th generation) and later, which also includes the latest iPad Air and iPad Pro models.

Supported

iPhones iPhone 16 iPhone