Three weeks after initially unveiling the first developer beta of iOS 12, Apple has released the first public beta of the OS. The public beta release is essentially the second developer beta of iOS 12 which Apple had released last week. While installing a developer beta on your iPhone or iPad requires an Apple developer account which is paid, there’s no such requirement for installing the public beta release.
In fact, you don’t even need a PC to download and install the public beta on your iPhone or iPad. You can enroll into the program directly from your iOS device and then proceed to download the latest public beta from Apple.
Now, before you excitedly proceed to install iOS 12 on your iPhone or iPad, remember that it is still a public beta. This means that it is bound to have bugs and issues. While this year’s iOS beta has been pretty stable, third-party apps still have compatibility issues with the OS. So, even if iOS 12 itself might just work fine for you, chances are one of the many third-party apps that you rely on might not work properly.
Ideally, you should install this public beta on a secondary iOS device that you have. If you rely on your iPhone or iPad to get some major work done, avoid installing the public beta on it at all cost.
Before you install the iOS 12 public beta on your iPhone or iPad, make sure to create its backup. In case you’d want to go back to iOS 11, you can simply restore this backup.
Read: iOS 12: All the New and Hidden iOS 12 Features
iOS 12 Compatible Devices
iOS 12 will support the same set of devices that were compatible with iOS 11. This means that the iPhone 5s, which was first launched in 2013, continues to be supported with iOS 12.
iPhone:
- iPhone X
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPhone SE
- iPhone 5s
- 6th generation iPod Touch
iPad:
- New 9.7-inch iPad
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro
- 9.7-inch iPad Pro
- 10.5-inch iPad Pro
- iPad Air 2
- iPad Air
- iPad mini 4
- iPad mini 3
- iPad mini 2
- iPad 5
- iPad 6
Create an Archived Backup
Step 1: Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC and open iTunes.
Step 2: From the iTunes top menu bar, click on the iPhone or iPad icon.
Step 3: Click on Back Up Now. If you want extra security, click on Encrypt Backup. This will also backup sensitive data like your passwords, Heath data, HomeKit devices, and logins. So when you restore, there’s even less work to do. When you make an encrypted backup, you’ll need to create a password for it as well (which you can save in Keychain).
Step 4: Next, select Backup Apps. The entire device will be backed up to your PC.
Step 5: Now let’s archive it so this backup is etched in stone. From the menu bar, select Preferences.
Step 6: From the Devices tab, right-click on your backup and select Archive.
Enroll in Apple’s Public Beta program
Step 1: Head over to beta.apple.com and tap Sign up.
Step 2: Proceed to sign in with your Apple ID and then accept the terms and conditions of the Apple Beta Software program.
Enroll Device into Public Beta Program
Step 1: Now that you have enrolled your Apple account into Apple’s Public Beta Program, you will also have to enroll your iPhone or iPad to it. For this, on your iPhone or iPad, head over to Apple’s public beta site and log in with the same Apple account.
Step 2: Head over to the iOS tab and then select the Download profile option. You should be prompted to download and install the beta profile on your iPhone or iPad. Once installed, reboot your device for the changes to take effect.
How to Install iOS 12 Public Beta on iPhone or iPad
With the public beta profile installed on your iPhone or iPad, its time to install the actual public beta.
Step 1: After installing the beta profile and restarting your device, head over to Settings -> General -> Software Update.
Step 2: You should now see the iOS 12 public beta download ready for your device. If no update shows up, try again after a few seconds.
Since the public beta weighs in at 2.2GB, my recommendation would be to make sure that you have access to a high-speed Wi-Fi network before proceeding with the download. To initiate the download, tap Download and Install.
All future beta releases from Apple will automatically show up on your iPhone or iPad as a regular software update.
As mentioned above, iOS 12 is still in its development stage so its bound to have some bugs. This is why Apple has not yet released the final build of the OS to the public.
By doing a public beta test though, Apple is providing its more adventurous and bold users the option to try out iOS 12 months ago before its final release. This would also benefit Apple as it would allow it to test iOS 12 on a wider range of devices before its public rollout later this year.
