Hi, I was just wondering if the latest iOS 26 beta is stable enough to use as a full-time operating system. I only have one iPhone and I noticed a lot of people use the beta on the backup iPhone, but I want to use it on the iPhone that I am currently running so it would be my only phone TIA Sarah A
By Sarah, 14 August, 2025
Forum
Apple Beta Releases
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Comments
I use it on my daily driver
I use it on my daily driver it is stable.
Re: iOS 26 beta
It's completely up to you, but if this is your only device, I recommend not upgrading. iOS 26 still has stability issues with VoiceOver. Yesterday, a friend and I compared VoiceOver performance on my phone running iOS 18 and on his phone running iOS 26. Under iOS 26, VoiceOver has cursor-jumping problems in the Wallet app and the Capital One app. Some voices also cannot be downloaded, and Apple has yet to fix this.
Precautions
If you decide to install the beta, make sure you take a backup of your current configuration with iOS 18. I recommend an encrypted local backup on a Mac or Windows computer so you keep as much of your data as possible. We're getting very close to the stable release of 26.0, so things should be far more stable than developer beta 1, but the decision is ultimately up to you. If you try it and run into serious problems you can't deal with, be prepared to put your device in DFU mode, restore it back to 18.6 with a computer, and then restore your backup.
If you're planning to use the public beta, I recommend waiting until public beta 3 is released. Hopefully it will come out either today on Thursday the 14th or Friday. Public beta 3 should match developer beta 6 which came out on Monday.
What you may also want to consider doing is staying on 18 and waiting for 26.1 or 26.2 if you want to avoid some of the early bugs that will undoubtedly be present in the first public version.
no reason upgrade to it?
from what i understand though, for phones like mine in the 14 series, no difference between ios 18 and 26 in terms of features? i'll just turn automatic updates off and stay as i am until i am able in the future to hatain the inteligent-based phones
iOS 26 Beta Experience
Hi,
I have had the beta running on my iPad since last weekend, and it worked and seemed stable enough that I decided to put it on my primary device, this being my phone, and I have to say, I've had very little issues, to the point where I'd easily say I'm happy to run it as my main operating system.
Hubert
Sarah
If is your main device, no. Wait for the RC. I will wait for it. Right now is on the letter C.
I Wouldn't Recommend Beta on a Primary Device
Whether or not you install the beta is completely up to you. If (and only if!) you are looking for recommendations, based on the information you provided in your post, though, I wouldn't recommend installing the beta. While unlikely at this stage, there is always the possibility that something could go horribly wrong; and what may be a non-issue for others may be a deal-breaker for you.
@Karok
I've updated but I completely agree with you, there's not anything worth updating for.
installed on main phone
I installed the first dev beta in June on my main device and never had real problems besides some stuttering and the fact that some voices can't be downloaded.
Russian roulette
Those who installed it on a main device are playing it. Hope nothing happen to you but no one recommend doing so. Good luck to all. Need to wait for public beta 3 for it to drop to see if VO works for the iPad. My iPad 9 does not work if VO is on.
Daily driver here as well
I've installed the public beta on my 15 Pro and haven't had any show stopping problems either.
Having said that, I only use Eloquence and occasionally compact Samantha, so not being able to download voices doesn't affect me.
I also agree that there's not much to get super excited about. Braille access is nice to have, but I don't know yet if I'll be using it a lot. Most of the new stuff as far as VoiceOver goes is Braille based.
I personally installed dev beta 1
I personally installed iOS 26 Developer beta 1, on a primary device, , and found lots of bugs. as of now, however, iOS 26, still has bugs, but for me, there are little things that I can deal with. as all important data is either in the cloud, or on Whatsapp, I have nothing to lose. lost speach in developer beta 1, however, and had to get help resetting VoiceOver settings to get speech back. in Developer beta 6, lost speech again, got it back by doing VO-Home, as I have an external keyboard. the new ringtones are cool, but the beta is extremely big, so make sure you've at least 50 MBPS. or else it would take hours to download.
Good evening! Could anyone…
Good evening! Could anyone who has installed the latest iOS 26 beta tell me if the iOS 18 bug where I couldn't play games with AirPods Pro has been fixed? Unfortunately, any game that required stereo sound wasn't playable with AirPods Pro. I had to disable spatial audio for every game to play.
Not Installing
Hi. As of now I am not installing iOS 26 betas on my primary iPhone 15. Yes the new ringtones are cool but not worth installing betas for new ringtones. I will wait for the RC and then play around. :) Also, my sighted coworker has iOS 26 betas on her iPad and states there are accessibility issues.
Public Beta 3
Heard that the Voiceover issue is fix. Hope is so for all.
Public beta 3
UK Siri voice 3 is fixed she speaks again in a way you can make sense. Actually, so far for me this seems extremely stable.