Apple’s first iOS 26 beta was so rough that it had some falling over themselves to write it off forever. But that’s an overreaction to say the least, and Apple is already showing why you can’t judge an update by its beta 1 release.
Apple’s first iOS 26 beta was so rough that it had some falling over themselves to write it off forever. But that’s an overreaction to say the least, and Apple is already showing why you can’t judge an update by its beta 1 release.
I’ve long been of the opinion that people shouldn’t install beta software, especially on their iPhones. That’s doubly true when we’re talking about an initial beta release that dropped hours after the WWDC opening keynote on June 9.
That isn’t to say that I always follow my own advice. In fact, I rarely do, although I do hide behind the fact that I need the betas for work.
At least, that’s how I justify it to myself.
But iOS 26 beta 1 was so bad, so unusable, that even I couldn’t stick with it. I’d rolled back to iOS 18.5 long before WWDC week came to an end, vowing to wait until much later in the cycle to try again.
That being said, as bad as iOS 26 beta 1 was, it’s important to remember what we’re dealing with here. That is, an early beta of the biggest graphical redesign the iPhone has undergone since iOS 7. And that one didn’t go too smoothly, either.
For that reason, I think it’s important that people not lose their heads. That they’re more measured in their response than the “Apple’s doomed” and “Apple designers have lost the plot” posts that I saw on social media.
I know. I might as well wish for world peace and the numbers for this week’s lotto, too.
iOS 26: The bad, and the ugly
Two weeks after Apple’s iOS 26 beta launched, I probably don’t need to tell you how bad it was — everyone has been very quick to share their experiences with it.
