Apple has brought out the RC developer betas of iOS 26.6 and others for testing, in what could be the last for this round.
Apple is currently operating multiple beta-testing tracks at the moment. While the focus is on the 27-generation, it's current 26-gen OSes are still getting updates to version 26.6.
The RC developer betas landed after the fifth, which came out on July 13. The fourth arrived on July 6, the third landed on June 29, the second were distributed on June 15, and the first round came out on May 26.
Release candidates are considered complete by Apple, and are effectively what consumers will get in the final public release.
Apple also brought out two release candidates for older macOS versions:
As usual, whenever Apple has two beta tracks in operation, the milestone releases gets the new features, while the current-gen builds are performance and security-focused.
The first iOS 26.6 beta build included a new feature for Contacts that notifies users if they reach the maximum of 20,000 blocked listings. There was also a security fix for Apple Maps.
AppleInsider and Apple strongly recommend that users don't put beta operating systems or beta software onto their primary or "mission-critical" devices due to the potential for data loss and other issues. Ideally, they should retain backups of their data and try to use spare and secondary hardware for testing purposes.
The more risk-averse users should wait for public beta builds, which are more battle-hardened and less prone to errors.
Find any changes in the new builds? Reach out to us on X at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at [email protected].
