Apple unveiled the new iOS 27 software for the iPhone on June 8, revealing the new Siri AI among other innovations. It won’t go on general release until September or even hit public beta until July. What if you just can’t wait? Here’s how to download the beta right now.
What’s New In iOS 27: Siri AI, Design Updates, And Image Playground
After all, there’s a lot more than Siri AI in iOS 27. There are improvements to make the software more responsive, changes to search, better connectivity and a major upgrade to Image Playground. Oh, and if you didn’t like Liquid Glass, with iOS 27 you can adjust the level of transparency more effectively than before to improve readability, for instance.
Although it’s called a developer beta, anyone can download iOS 27 regardless of whether or not you’re a developer or planning to become one. Until recently, you needed to pay an annual fee of $99 and become a member of the Apple Developer Program. That’s no longer the case, so there’s no fee.
iOS 27 Beta System Requirements And iPhone Compatibility
Before we go any further, remember that this is a beta release. As such, you’re strongly advised not to put it on your main iPhone.
There are likely to be issues with apps which may not work properly, for instance.
If you have another model knocking about, that’s where you should install it. Note, though, that on the iPhone Apple Intelligence is only available for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max and all more recent models.
However, other features are available on all iPhones from iPhone 11 onwards.
How To Install iOS 27 Developer Beta
First, you need to become a registered developer, at developer.apple.com/register/ using your Apple Account. There’s an agreement but once that’s completed, you’re registered — free.
That’s the most complicated part of the process. All that’s left is to go to Settings on the iPhone, choose General and then Software Update. Now you’ll see an option marked Beta Updates. This will say Off. Tap here and you’ll see four options. After Off comes iOS 27 Developer Beta, which is the one you want, though you’ll also see iOS 26 Public Beta and iOS 26 Developer Beta. If you don’t, a quick restart of the iPhone should remedy that.
Next month, these options will be joined by iOS 27 Public Beta.
How To Install iOS 27 Public Beta
If you decide to wait until July, the first public beta is likely to be the same as the third developer beta so is likely to be much more stable than the dev beta available now. That’s even easier to do.
Simply go to beta.apple.com and sign up. And then the only thing to do is the same as above, that is, open Settings, choose General, then Software Update and turn on Beta updates. Choose iOS 27 Public Beta.
One more thing: as MacRumors pointed out, you may still have to wait for Siri AI, no matter how impatient you are. “Keep in mind that the revamped version of Siri has a waitlist. To join the waitlist, open the Settings app on iOS 27 and tap on Siri and you will find it there. It can take anywhere from hours to many days to receive access to Siri AI and the Siri app,” Joe Rossignol reported.