iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 public beta is out for iPhone and iPad. The question is – should you install it? I think you should wait a little longer.
iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 Public Beta is Out but I Will Not Recommend Installing it on Your iPhone or iPad
Public beta software is stable compared to the initial developer beta. However, it’s still beta software at the end of the day. It’s meant for testing purpose only, not daily driving. If you are assuming it’s perfect for use day in, day out – you’d be wrong.
However, it’s still stable compared to the first developer beta. But, is it stable enough that you should install it? I want to say ‘maybe’, I really want to, but I will lean towards a no instead, at least for one more beta before you jump onboard.
When the first public beta came out, developer beta 3 was available for over a week at the time. In other words, the public beta is basically the third developer beta but for the public, and it comes with a fair share of known bugs. Enough bugs to make you want to downgrade. Hence the no from my end.
See, the thing is, third-party apps are very broken at this point. Developers are trying to add initial support for iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, and it’s barely an effort as the operating system itself is not bug-free itself. Full support for these operating systems is not coming before the end of this year. Or, at the final launch of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 at the earliest.
If you rely on third-party apps a little too much, stay away from the public beta. Not only that, you’ll run into some amazing surprises while using first-party apps, too. These are things you should expect from software that is so early in its lifecycle.
As the operating system starts to get stable, and it will, so will the apps and experiences developers create. I’m expecting public beta 2 to be a far stable release. Just hold back for a couple of weeks before you install the update on your iPhone or iPad.
Until then, enjoy these iOS 18 wallpapers instead. Get a feel for what you can expect then install the update as the public beta 2 drops.
