How to download the iOS 17 beta on your iPhone

How to download the iOS 17 beta on your iPhone

(Image: © Apple)

The wait for the newest Apple software announcement for iPhones – iOS 17 – is over!  At WWDC 2023 we got a sneak peek at the upcoming iOS 17 which means iPhones are in for a fresh new makeover.

Whether you've got the latest iPhone 14, iPhone 13 or even an iPhone 11 rest assured iOS 17 will upgrade your phone into basically a brand new one without having to spend any money.

The iOS 17 beta was made available to members of Apple's $99/year Developer Program right after the keynote, but if you're not up for paying the annual fee to join the program a public beta will be available in July for members of Apple's free Beta Software Program.

Remember that while this may not be the complete feature set we'll see once it arrives later this year, expect plenty of bugs. Otherwise, you might want to hold off until the final release that Apple says is scheduled for the end of the year.

But if you can't wait, here's how to download the initial beta of iOS 17 onto your iPhone.

How to install the iOS 17 beta on your iPhone

To download and install the public beta of iOS 17, you'll need to sign up to the Apple Developer program, go to the enrolment page. 

Sign in to your Apple ID – you'll need to have two-factor authentication activated – then input your bio and payment info to sign up.

Once you're an official developer, go to the Apple Developer site on your iPhone, log into your Apple ID, and agree to any terms & conditions that appear. Then navigate to the Downloads page.

If you joined the program properly, developer beta downloads should appear for iOS 17.

Go to Settings > General > Software Update. The iOS 17 beta should appear there automatically. Once it shows up, tap Install and it will start to download.

In a few moments and a couple of restarts, you'll have iOS 17 on your iPhone! But do keep in mind, that there will be slowdown and crashes at random moments for this early release.

As this beta is for developers, not only do you need to be signed up for the Apple Developer program, but you'll also need to pay.

If you're not a developer, then wait for the public beta, which will arrive later. That's free to try, and you only need to sign up to the Apple Beta Software Program. While the public beta will likely be less buggy than the really early developer beta, it will still be an experimental release, so could still have plenty of issues you may want to avoid. In that case, wait for the full iOS 17 release later in the year.

Should I download iOS 17?

If you have an old iPhone stashed somewhere in a drawer, download the update on that. If not, we don’t recommend downloading the iOS 17 beta on your main device. Early betas are full of bugs and issues and can drain your battery life immensely. We suggest you wait until later in the beta cycle, probably around July or August of this year before taking the risk.

What phone do you need for iOS 17?

The list of iOS 17 compatible devices should go back to 2018, so from the iPhone XS and up. That includes iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR. Unfortunately, if you have an older model you may not be eligible for the new update. You may receive security updates in the near future, but any of the new features part of iOS 17 or later won’t come to your phone.