When Apple released the eighth beta last week, many expected it to be the last beta build before the stable release. As it turns out, beta testing is still in progress, as the company has now released new developer and public betas of iOS 26.
Apple is rolling out the Developer Beta 9 of iOS 26 which increases the build number from 23A5326a to 23A5336a. At the same time, the Public Beta 6 is also out. Last week's beta 8 build didn't bring any new features or improvements over its previous beta. The same is true with the latest iOS 26 Developer Beta 9 as there are no visual changes between the beta builds.
This beta release is the first time since iOS 13 that Apple has seeded more than eight betas of its upcoming update. However, the company has released up to twelve beta builds for versions prior to that.
With the "Awe dropping" event set for September 9, 2025, we can expect Apple to roll out the iOS 26 Release Candidate for beta testers as soon as the new iPhone 17 series drops, most likely on the same day. A week after that, on September 16, 2025, we can expect the stable version of iOS 26 to drop for everyone else.
Users currently enrolled in Developer Beta or Public Beta programs can install the latest iOS 26 Beta by going to Settings > General > Software Update > Update Now. Besides iOS 26, Apple has also released the Developer Beta 9 for iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26 and tvOS 26.
