You might be tempted to install the iOS 16 developer beta on your iPhone to try out all the exciting new features it has to offer, but it might be a good idea to wait if you only have your personal iPhone that you use every day..
If you watched WWDC 2022, then you know that Apple has released a lot of updates for the latest version of iOS. Apps like Messages, Shortcuts, and Weather are even better in iOS 16, and even the home screen and lock screen are getting improvements you won’t want to wait for.
A public release will take place by the end of 2022, likely in September, and a developer beta will allow app developers to dive in and start preparing their apps. But anyone can install the beta without being a developer.
It definitely sounds tempting, and we understand that you don’t want to wait months to try the latest version of iOS, but there are reasons why you should wait until September – or at least until the release of the iOS 16 public beta. Many the major issues will be fixed when Apple releases the public beta, but that’s not a guarantee and there are many other things to consider. Here’s why you shouldn’t install iOS 16 just yet:
Official installation will cost you money
Currently, iOS 16 is only available to members of the Apple Developer Program and the subscription costs $99 per year. This price is definitely worth it for developers or anyone who needs to test new software for work. Otherwise, $99 is a lot of money to try out beta software.
You can technically install the iOS 16 Developer Beta without joining Apple’s Developer Program. Some websites offer a profile. mobileconfig to install iOS 16 over the air, though you can’t be sure it hasn’t been tampered with. Developer recovery images are more secure and available directly from Apple’s servers, but you need a computer to use them. Also, these files are legally only for developers, so we cannot tolerate their use unless you are a registered developer.
If you’re not a developer, your best bet is to wait for the iOS 16 public beta. This is expected in July, probably early in the month if it’s similar to last year’s public beta, which came out 23 days after the first developer beta. We’ve already hit the 23-day mark, so it could be as early as July 1st.
There will be awkward bugs and performance issues
You will always run into a few bugs when launching a beta, but it’s always much worse before Apple releases its public betas. So if you download the developer beta of iOS 16 on your primary iPhone, you might notice annoying issues while doing day to day tasks. Switching to the developer beta makes sense if you have an additional iPhone you can use.
Here are just a few of the known issues that the iOS 16 beta has to offer:
- There may be a slow animation when using Zoom after exiting the Magnifier app.
- You can’t transfer photos and videos to your Apple TV or AirPlay 2-enabled smart TV directly from the Photos app.
- You may not be able to reinstall any of Apple’s system apps when connected to a cellular network only.
- Wireless connection to CarPlay may not work.
- ARKit body tracking may not detect people on iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and iPhone SE (3rd generation) models.
- You may not be able to find your App Library immediately after a reboot.
- Selecting messages in Mail may result in a blank view of the conversation.
- Sharing your ETA in Maps may not be sent to SMS recipients properly.
- Maps may close unexpectedly while navigating, when waking iPhone from the lock screen, or when navigating is finished.
- Background processing in the Photos app can crash, causing some features to fail.
- You may not be able to use the fine search function near many Bluetooth devices.
- Adding articles to a Safari Reading List from a Shared Sheet may not be added as expected.
- The Stock Watchlist widget may incorrectly display “Watchlist deleted”even if the watchlist is still in the app.
- You won’t receive a voicemail transcription in the Phone app.
- Your iPhone may stop communicating with HomePod or Home Services.
While Apple offers workarounds for some of these issues, there are still many more bugs you will run into. The biggest performance-related issue might be severe battery drain, which is always a problem in early betas. And in general, you may have more problems on older iPhone models.
- Screen recording with QuickTime Player on macOS may not always work correctly.
- You may experience a significant delay when opening a share sheet in the app, which can cause the app to freeze.
If you value the convenience and reliability of your iPhone and don’t have time to deal with these issues, it’s best to wait for the public beta or official release this fall despite all the cool new features you might be itching to try out.
Some new features won’t work properly
If you want to install the iOS 16 beta right now to basically start using all the cool new features before anyone else, you might be disappointed to find that some of them don’t work properly. This is a common issue that will be resolved by the official release of iOS 16, so it’s best to be patient and get the operating system as soon as it’s complete and up and running.
- You may not see the search box for the emoji lock screen editor.
- You may not be able to select emoji modifiers when creating emoji wallpapers.
- Maps may close unexpectedly if you long press the Add Stop button while planning a route.
- If one user reorders a group of shared tabs in Safari, they unintentionally reorder it on a per-user basis in a share.
Other beta issues include:
- The new object cut tool for images may not always work in Photos, Safari, and other apps.
- Tapping to restart a video in Memories from the Photos app does not restart the video.
- Searching for images from contacts in messages using Spotlight does not work.
- Turning focus status on or off for each contact in Messages has no effect.
- It’s listed everywhere, but just in case you didn’t know, unsending and editing iMessages in the Messages app won’t affect another user’s conversation unless they’re in beta. By design, it’s still worth noting before you consider upgrading to beta.
Some third party apps may not work properly
While most third-party apps should still work properly in the iOS 16 beta, some may not work, and some may even crash frequently. This will most likely happen with apps that haven’t offered updates in a long time, but even frequently updated apps can give you problems, like some banking apps.
In addition, Apple has dropped some developer-related features; Apps that use them may not work correctly in the iOS 16 beta.
Over the next few months, app developers will be working on optimizing all of their apps for iOS 16, but you may not see any of these optimizations until the iOS 16 public beta is released. Even then, some apps won’t be fully optimized until this fall when Apple releases iOS 16 to everyone.
If you end up installing the iOS 16 beta on your iPhone and find that one of your most used apps keeps crashing, you can always upgrade to iOS 15 if you’ve kept an archived backup or synced most of your data with iCloud. Otherwise, you may have to start over. There really is no need to go through this unless you are a developer.
You may lose data if you need to downgrade
After you update your iPhone to iOS 16 and try it for a while, you may decide you want to go back to iOS 15 and wait for the official release of the new software. There are ways to upgrade to iOS 15 from the iOS 16 beta, but you can unintentionally delete a lot of your data and files if you’re not careful.
That’s why it’s critical to create a backup while you’re still using iOS 15—before installing the iOS 16 beta update. The easiest way is to back up to iCloud, but there’s a catch: iCloud only saves one backup at a time, and it can create a new backup as soon as you start using iOS 16, which means your old backup won’t be saved. more available. If you’re backing up on your computer instead, you might run into the same issue if you haven’t backed up the latest iOS 15 backup.
We talk about all this and more in our downgrade guide, so check it out first if you’re planning on taking a chance on the iOS 16 beta.