It’s been four weeks since Apple unveiled iOS 26 and its upcoming major software redesign for the iPhone. Now it’s time to start testing the third developer beta and see how much performance and optimization improves. iOS 26 also includes a lot of new features and functionality as well as a new look and feel inspired by Liquid Glass.
The third developer beta of iOS 26 is available here
Apple sums up the upcoming iPhone software update by saying that iOS 26 “delivers a stunning new design, powerful Apple Intelligence capabilities, new ways to stay connected in the Phone and Messages apps, and exciting updates to CarPlay, Apple Music, Maps, and Wallet.”
In the second iOS 26 beta, we saw design tweaks including clarity improvements in Control Center, better menu organization in Safari, and stronger accessibility options with the addition of borders to High Contrast Mode. However, beta testers are still concerned about the full transparency of Notification Center, and the second beta introduced a strange placement of the left-aligned icon in the dock when using fewer than four apps. (It’s even more weird and wrong for iOS 26 on the iPhone SE with the lack of alignment with the full dock.)
Public beta in July
Most importantly, we will be able to evaluate performance in Beta 3 as we approach the target release date which is just two months away. We’re a third of the way through the trial period, so there’s plenty of time to improve performance, especially on older iPhone models. However, July is when Apple says it plans to release the first public beta of iOS 26 to eager customers who want to test out pre-release software with a bit less risk than a developer beta. That makes today’s iOS 26 developer beta 3 build a candidate for the first iOS 26 beta, barring any show-stopping bugs, of course.
Is your iPhone ready for iOS 26? The next major software update works on iPhone SE (2nd generation) as well as iPhone 11 and later. iOS 18 is the last version that will run on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max. You will need to Upgrade your iPhone If you want the latest features and newest designs, but older iPhones will continue to receive software updates for security for a while. Features using Apple Intelligence require iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or any model in the iPhone 16 family.
In the meantime, we’ll be rounding up and listing every iOS 26 beta change and more on 9to5Mac, so stay tuned (and join the fun with tips@9to5mac.com)!
FTC: We use automatic affiliate links to earn income. more.
