macOS & iOS 26.5: Fourth beta available – release approaching | News

Another week of the current testing phase for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS and visionOS 26.5 has passed, which is why Apple has now activated the fourth beta version via the developer portal. With Beta 3, the rapid release cycle was already underway, so updated builds could be expected today. Apple is most likely planning the release for May – there should be one to a maximum of two more betas as well as the release candidates by then. 26.5 does not bring any major new functions; Apple will only show important changes to the systems in June at the World Wide Developers Conference.

Known innovations in 26.5
Apple is preparing advertising in the maps app for users in the USA. With the new “Apple Business” platform, the company has laid the foundations for corresponding bookings, and the Maps Ads will be launched in the coming weeks. So far, Apple has not said when the ads will appear in other countries – although it is only a matter of time.

In this country, iOS 26.5 brings, among other things, faster coupling of third-party accessories and “notification forwarding” to send notifications directly to third-party smartwatches. End-to-end encryption of RCS messages is still being tested, but Apple has not yet communicated a more detailed roadmap.

The current betas
Finally, as always, the well-known list of currently available beta versions. As is usual with a beta, there is a letter at the end of the build number that indicates how advanced Apple currently considers the development cycle to be. This gets closer and closer to “a” over the course of the beta and disappears completely when the release candidates appear. This time it started with “g” and “h” (watchOS), in the third beta it was already “d” and “e”. This is what it currently looks like in the developer area:

system	Build number	Published
macOS 26.5 Beta 4	25F5068a	April 27, 2026
iOS 26.5 Beta 4	23F5069b	April 27, 2026
iPadOS 26.5 Beta 4	23F5069b	April 27, 2026
watchOS 26.5 Beta 4	23T5568a	April 27, 2026
tvOS 26.5 Beta 4	23L5469a	April 27, 2026
visionOS 26.5 Beta 4	23O5468a	April 27, 2026