Apple has a lot riding on its next generation of iPhone software, iOS 18. It’s full of redesigns and upgrades from live transcriptions of Voice Notes (I can’t wait) to the marquee feature, Apple Intelligence. It’s been described as the biggest-ever iOS update in Apple’s history. Though it’s usually hardware that grabs attention, it’s thought that the new software could drive sales of the iPhone 16 series hard, too. Here’s when it will arrive.
Remember that if your iPhone can run iOS 17, it will be able to run iOS 18 as well—though some advanced features will be restricted to later models and Apple Intelligence will run only on this fall’s crop of iPhones plus the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Developer Beta and Public Beta Are Live Now
If you’re a developer, you’ll doubtless be testing iOS 18 right now. You’ll also have access to iOS 18.1, released in parallel (confusing, right?). It’s there because the first glimpses of Apple Intelligence are in iOS 18.1. Developers can see the fifth beta of iOS 18 and the first of iOS 18.1.
The rest of us can access the public beta of iOS 18, currently in its third beta, which is the same as developer beta 5. I promise it gets less confusing after this.
Note that although the public beta seems stable, you’d be well-advised not to put it on your main driver: betas typically drain battery faster and some apps won’t work yet. To install, go to beta.apple.com and accept the terms and conditions. Then your iPhone will have an option in Settings to install the public beta.
General Release Date
The big question is when the fully-fledged, final version of iOS 18 will land. There are some broad brush strokes we can be sure of and more details that are harder to pin down. But let’s try.
From the iPhone 5 onwards, every iPhone has been released in September (apart from 2020 when the hardware was delayed into October by Covid issues). Every iPhone 16 series handset will come with iOS 18 pre-loaded. So, we can deduce that September is when the software will arrive for everyone.
Beyond that, we need another piece of information: the release date of the iPhone 16. I’m convinced this will be Friday, September 20. You can read full details of why I think this, along with when the keynote will be announced, when it will take place and when pre-orders will start here.
For the last three years, Apple has put the new software on general release five days before the onsale date of the new iPhone. That would mean Monday, September 16 is when Apple iOS 18 will be on general release. Mark your calendars now!
