In the developer area you can find official confirmation that before the release of macOS and iOS 27 (at least) one more system update will be released for the main version that will be launched in autumn 2025. Apple has just released macOS 26.6 and iOS 26.6 in the first beta version. In any case, no major innovations are to be expected, because late in the year it would be like a big surprise if Apple were to present visible changes. As usual, there wasn’t much time between the release of the last .x update and the new beta. An x.6 often arrived in the summer
If you look back at the previous year, the x.6 update was released at the end of July – it will probably be quite similar this summer. At that time, numerous security improvements were part of the update, apart from that Apple had only processed regulatory requirements.
A current topic that could still be incorporated into 26.6 would be E2E encryption of RCS messages in the final version – Apple is currently declaring the feature as beta. iOS 26.5 also laid the foundation for paid placements in Apple Maps, so country-specific adjustments could be possible.
The larger focus is now clearly on iOS 27 and macOS 27, which will be available for the first time in less than four weeks. This year’s World Wide Developers Conference begins on June 8th – and Apple has already announced that new system versions are once again coming. We have listed a summary of the expected innovations in this article.
The current betas
Finally, as always, the well-known list of currently available beta versions. As is usual with a first beta, the letter at the end is still a long way from “a”, which Apple always uses to indicate that you are pretty much at the beginning. This is what it currently looks like in the developer area – a public beta is not yet available, this is usually available from the second or third developer build at the latest.
| system | Build number | Published |
| macOS 26.6 Beta 1 | 25G5028f | May 26, 2026 |
| iOS 26.6 Beta 1 | 23G5028e | May 26, 2026 |
| iPadOS 26.6 Beta 1 | 23G5028e | May 26, 2026 |
| watchOS 26.6 Beta 1 | 23U5025e | May 26, 2026 |
| tvOS 26.6 Beta 1 | 23L5729e | May 26, 2026 |
| visionOS 26.6 Beta 1 | 23O5728e | May 26, 2026 |
