Apple Releases iOS 26.5 Beta 1 for Developers: What’s New?

2 months ago

Apple has released a new beta build of iOS 26 today for developers. On Monday morning, Apple released iOS 26.5 beta and equivalents. Here’s what’s available to download right now:

iOS 26.5 beta (23F5043g)
iPadOS 26.5 beta (23F5043g)
macOS 26.5 beta (25F5042g)
tvOS 26.5 beta (23L5443g)
visionOS 26.5 beta (23O5441g)
watchOS 26.5 beta (23T5541h)

As for what’s new in iOS 26.5 beta? A video released by Phones and Drones has given us a quick breakdown:

Storage Usage: The update takes up about 24.43 GB total (14.25 GB for iOS and 10.17 GB for Apple Intelligence). This is nearly identical to the previous version, suggesting no major new features were added.
Thermals: The device ran slightly warm during the initial re-indexing, hitting between 96°F and 99°F near the cameras
System Data: There was a slight decrease in system data, dropping to under 20 GB.
Siri and Apple Intelligence: No Visible Changes: Despite hopes for Gemini-powered Siri features, the interface and settings remain exactly the same as iOS 26.4.
RCS Messaging: The “End-to-End Encryption” toggle for RCS is visible again, though it may just be leftover testing from previous betas and not yet fully active.
Music App Inconsistency: The search bar in Apple Music remains separated from the dock, unlike the App Store where it is integrated, showing a lack of design consistency in this build.

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