Apple has moved on to its sixth round of developer betas, with new builds available for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 Tahoe, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26.
The sixth batch arrives after the fifth, which arrived on August 5. The fourth landed on July 22, the third appeared on July 7 for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26 Tahoe, and visionOS 26, but tvOS 26, arrived one day later on July 8.
- iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 beta 5 is build 23A5318c, replacing 23A5308g
- watchOS 26 beta 5 is build 23R5340a, replacing 23R5328g
- macOS Tahoe 26 beta 5 is build 25A5338b, replacing 25A5327h
- visionOS 26 beta 5 is build 23M5322b, replacing 23M5311g
- tvOS 26 beta 5 is build 23J5339a, replacing 23J5327g
Along these betas, Apple also introduced second release candidate builds for macOS 15.7 (24G210) and macOS 14.8 (23J10), and a sixth beta for HomePod Software 256, build 23J5339a.
The main fall release includes big changes, including the new cross-platform Liquid Glass aesthetic. It consists of a largely glass-based interface with transparent elements throughout the operating system and Apple’s first-party apps.
Other changes in iOS 26 include a new battery management system, an overhauled camera app, ChatGPT integration tweaks, and AirPods feature updates.
For iPadOS 26, it is more productivity focused with an updated Files app, Preview, and window management changes. The macOS Tahoe changes include the Phone app, Clipboard History, and a reworking of Spotlight.
The fifth iOS 26 developer beta added a new mode switching toggle to the Camera app, new splash screens for Apple’s apps, more bouncy animations, and more app icon tweaks. There was also an alleged image-based leak indicating a change in resolution and screen size for teh Apple Watch Ultra 3.
The ’26 betas aren’t the only ones Apple is currently testing. It has been running a second track for current-gen operating system betas.
AppleInsider and Apple strongly insist against users installing test operating systems or beta software onto primary or “mission-critical” hardware. Due to the increased risk of data loss and other issues, beta participants should use secondary or non-essential hardware and ensure they have sufficient backups of their critical data at all times.
Members of the public wanting to try out the features of the inbound generation should really use the public betas instead.
Find any changes in the new builds? Reach out to us on Twitter at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at [email protected].
