Should you update to iOS 18.6 Beta? Right now, the new version offers little in terms of improvements, while introducing a myriad of bugs in multiple models. You can proceed if you’re into beta testing, but otherwise, maybe consider waiting for a more stable release.
Check below for in-depth information — and a few cases where updating may be worth it.
Why You Likely Should Skip the iOS 18.6 Beta Update
Firstly, the usual recommendation: don’t install pre-release software on your main device, or on any mission-critical equipment. Beta builds may be useful when investigating if specific bugs were fixed, but there’s also the risk of bricking.
Getting a non-functional device up and running again may be a hard task. Sometimes it takes a long time, and it may also require software or hardware not readily available to you.
If you can’t afford to have your iPhone unusable for some time, you should not update to iOS 18.6 Beta. Or, actually, any beta, ever. That said, check below some specific issues users have reported.
Battery Issues
The most common issue reported in the iOS beta subreddit is poor battery life. Many users have reported that their devices last way less between charges than on the iOS 18.5 stable release.
Irregular Charging
To make things worse, charging seems to be affected as well. In some cases, it’s intermittent, with single-second intervals when charging stops. In others, the battery fills up very slowly, even with Optimized Battery Charging turned off.
Phones Running Hot
The above may be related to thermal throttling — when performance reduces and charging slows down or stops due to overheating. There were reports of iPhones getting hot after the iOS 18.6 Beta update. That only seems to last a few minutes, however, so this may not be a major issue.
Slow Performance
For some users, the beta made their iPhones sluggish. The issue is that iOS 18.5 wasn’t great in that aspect, to begin with. To suffer an even deeper decrease in usability, then, may make your device borderline unusable.
Still no Apple Intelligence in China
This is not exactly a bug, actually. The point is: Apple Intelligence is expected to be made available in China alongside iOS 18.6. However, this first beta still doesn’t have the feature enabled.
This availability is probably defined directly on Apple’s servers, so it’s very unlikely any iOS 18.6 beta will change that. The issue is not software-related, but rather a matter of government regulations. Therefore, it’s managed separately from the iOS 18.6 release roadmap.
AirPods Issues
One user mentioned their AirPods started sounding quieter, even at max volume, after the update. That’s far from a major issue, but something to have in mind nonetheless, specially if you use your AirPods frequently.
Unreliable Mobile Data
There was also one report mentioning that, whenever the user’s iPhone was turned off, after restarting, mobile connectivity was gone. They stated the signal could only be restored by performing a full factory reset.
Bugged Features
In some cases, features that were working alright prior to the update start bugging severely on beta versions. If you rely heavily on any of the features below, you should not update to iOS 18.6 Beta.
Picture in Picture
According to one report, Picture in Picture isn’t working for some apps after the update. Minutely, Prime Video was mentioned as not working at all, while YouTube Premium only functions about half of the time.
Photo Shuffle Wallpaper
One user mentioned that, when using Photo Shuffle as a lock screen wallpaper, not all selected photos were being displayed. While the feature isn’t completely broken, only some of the images appear.
Home Screen Search Bar
Another broken feature in the iOS 18.6 Beta is the search bar in the home screen. According to this report, when you type keywords (like an app’s name), related results don’t appear. In this case, other users pointed out that simply restarting the phone may fix the issue.
Situations in Which You Should Consider the iOS 18.6 Beta Update
In some cases, however, the risks of updating may be worth it. Some users mentioned great performance improvements, stating the iOS 18.6 beta feels snappier than the stable iOS 18.5 release.
In addition to that, some long-standing bugs have apparently been squashed. Check below potential issues fixed in the iOS 18.6 Beta.
Swipe to Unlock
For some users, swiping up to unlock the iPhone’s screen was causing lags in iOS 18.5 (and maybe earlier versions). Apparently, iOS 18.6 fixes this, though similar issues remain in the Control Center and when moving through home screens.
Delete Watched Podcasts Episodes
A persistent bug in the Podcasts app made it unable to automatically delete watched episodes. Therefore, unless the user manually removed these, they would pile up and potentially occupy several GB of storage space. In iOS 18.6, the episodes are finally deleted after you finish listening to them.
Bluetooth and AirPlay
Another bug that has been present through many iOS 18 versions is Bluetooth devices randomly disconnecting. According to one report in Apple’s support forums, this has been fixed in iOS 18.6.
One side effect of the above issue was unreliable AirPlay connections with some devices. There’s a chance that the Bluetooth fix in iOS 18.6 also solves this problem.
What’s New in iOS 18.6 Beta?
Despite having been released almost two weeks ago, there’s still no official word on the features iOS 18.6 Beta introduces. The release notes for both iOS 18.6 Beta and iPadOS 18.6 Beta are completely empty. As a comparison, the macOS 15.6 Sequoia Beta changelog lists a known issue, but no new features.
As you can see, in most situations, the conclusion is that you should not install the iOS 18.6 beta. There’s a significant number of new bugs, and the OS may be way less stable than current iOS 18.5 build.
If you are among those affected by the problems seemly fixed by the beta, however, updating may be a good idea. Or if, you know, you can’t resist the curiosity. In this case, though, you can’t complain we haven’t warned you about the potential issues you’ll face.