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After months of rumors and speculation, WWDC's big keynote has come and gone. With it, Apple unveiled iOS 18, the next big update for all compatible iPhones. While the company won't be rolling out iOS 18 to the general public until this fall, the software is available to test right now—so long as you're willing to accept the risks.
This year, Apple presented us a rather modest iPhone update, at least for most of our devices. The biggest features at the top of the keynote included the ability to choose where you could place your apps on the Home Screen (insert joke about Android having this for years here), an overhaul to Messages (including the ability to schedule messages, thank god), and a new Passwords app that gives iCloud Keychain users a reason not to switch to LastPass or 1Password.
But the biggest new features by far are powered by "Apple Intelligence," Apple's brand name for its AI systems. With Apple Intelligence, you'll be able to ask Siri to perform tasks in various apps, ask the AI to rewrite any text for you, and generate images and "Genmoji." While these features are technically part of iOS 18, they aren't available in the current beta, and will roll out to testers this summer. (They're also only available on iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.)
Look, I'm not the Apple police: I can't stop you from installing iOS 18 as it stands right now on your iPhone. If you want to try all the new features Apple mentioned on its virtual stage today, that's up to you.
However, the boilerplate disclaimer with any beta is this: Installing software that is currently in testing and hasn't been approved for general release is risky. By installing iOS 18's first beta, you are welcoming potential bugs and glitches Apple has not sorted out yet, which could potentially lead to the loss of any data not properly backed up before the install. Unless you know what you're doing, or you're okay losing all your stuff, it's best not to install beta software on your main devices.
This isn't even the public version of the iOS 18 beta: This is the iOS 18 developer beta, the version of the software meant for iOS developers. Apple gives these users an early look at the new software so they can test it with their apps to make sure all programs are optimized by iOS 18's rollout in the fall. If you want to wait for the public beta, which will have some of iOS 18 dev beta's issues ironed out, that will come some time in July.
However, if you just like living life on the edge, you can absolutely install iOS 18 on your compatible iPhone right now.
The first thing you should do before installing beta software on your iPhone is to back it up. Don't rely on iCloud for this: If your iPhone makes a new backup after installing the beta update, it will overwrite the old backup. Instead, connect your iPhone to a Mac or PC and back it up through Finder or iTunes.
In the past, you needed an iOS developer account to install the dev beta, which led users who didn't want to pay Apple's $100 account fee to download the beta from random sources across the web. Apple put a stop to that, and now lets you install the dev beta directly in Settings, even if you aren't an iOS developer.
To start, open Settings > General > Software Update, then hit Beta Updates. Choose iOS 18 Developer Beta, then tap Back. Once you see iOS 18 Developer Beta load on this screen, hit Download and Install.
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