In the past, Apple has tended to release its iOS public betas around the middle of July, so the mooted July 23 launch date is a little later than usual. Gurman ascribes this to the full-blown Liquid Glass redesign in iOS 26, saying “it makes sense that Apple would want to take a little extra time to get things right.”

Apple announced in June that the release of iOS 26 would first appear as developer betas as usual, with the first public beta set for July. When it reaches general release it will be on the 2025 releases, iPhone 17 series, as well the iPhone 16 sereis and some earlier models.

Meanwhile, the third iOS 26 beta added more changes to Liquid Glass to make it more readable, new wallpapers and several other fixes. As such, we’d expect the first public beta to take all the recommendations and fixes from the developer beta. This also goes for the full public release, which could look very different.