Apple has seeded the second public beta of iOS 26.5, iPadOS 26.5, macOS Tahoe 26.5, watchOS 26.5, and tvOS 26.5 to members of the Apple Beta Software Program. The release follows developer beta 3, which landed yesterday, and marks the first time public testers have access to the beta 3 builds.
This is only the second public beta of the entire 26.5 cycle, which means a lot of people are getting their first real look at what has been brewing across three developer seeds. If you have been holding off on testing, now is a reasonable point to jump in — beta 3 is typically when Apple shifts from adding features to stabilizing, so the software is meaningfully more polished than it was in the first public seed.
What Is in iOS 26.5
The headline features tracked across the 26.5 betas include RCS end-to-end encryption between iPhone and Android, which arrives enabled by default in the Messages settings. Apple Maps gets groundwork for Suggested Places, the ad placement system Apple announced for this spring. There are also improvements to data transfer options when moving from iPhone to Android, new App Store billing plan configurations for developers, and various Liquid Glass UI refinements carried over from earlier betas.
The update does not include the major Siri overhaul that many users have been waiting for. Apple is holding that for iOS 27, expected to be unveiled at WWDC on June 8.
How to Install
Public beta access requires signing up at beta.apple.com and enrolling your device. On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings, General, Software Update, and switch to the Public Beta channel. On Mac, open System Settings, General, Software Update, and look for the public beta option.
As with any beta software, it is worth backing up your device before installing. Public betas are more stable than developer betas but can still have bugs that affect daily use.
Build numbers match the developer beta 3 seeds released yesterday: iOS and iPadOS 26.5 beta 3 (23F5059e), macOS Tahoe 26.5 beta 3 (25F5058e), watchOS 26.5 beta 3 (23T5558e), and tvOS 26.5 beta 3 (23L5460d).