First Public Beta of iOS 16 Expected in July, Will Coincide With Third Developer Beta

Public beta testers will be able to try out the upcoming iOS 16 update starting in July, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The update is reportedly scheduled for release alongside the third developer beta, which is expected to come out after developers have tested the beta software for a few weeks.

In past years, Apple has typically released public betas of next-generation iOS updates alongside the second developer beta, so if Apple is planning on a third developer beta release, the public testing is slated to begin later than usual this year.

Gurman speculates that the public beta could be running behind, and that internal seeds are a "bit buggy" at the current time.

First betas are often riddled with bugs that need to be worked out, which is why Apple goes through a months-long beta testing period before the updates see a public launch in September. Because of the bugs, Apple often recommends that betas be installed on a secondary device rather than a main device.

We know very little about iOS 16 at this time as Apple has kept the update under wraps and there have been few leaks. We are expecting notification updates, Health app improvements, and possibly features like car crash detection.

Gurman also this weekend said that Apple will introduce new ways of system interaction and "fresh Apple apps," but what exactly that means is unclear.