It’s been a week since the first developer beta of iOS 26 was released for iPhone. So, should you download it?
iOS 26 Developer Beta 1 is as Unstable as it Gets and that’s Completely Normal
First and foremost, I want to address something.
Please keep in mind that this is the very first developer beta, and not the final version of iOS 26 by any means. This means it is not available for the public, and is solely meant to be tested by developers.
An extremely strict emphasis on developers.
I’m seeing a lot of posts on social media bashing iOS 26 for its instability and it’s clear that the users talking about the update have no clue how developer betas work. So please, treat it like a beta, not the final version.
With that out of the way, I’ll jump right in and say this: you should not download and install the iOS 26 developer beta on your iPhone. It’s unstable, you’ll run into a lot of issues, and you’ll find social media flooded with various kinds of problems, including those related to Liquid Glass.
Battery related issues are aplenty in this beta, and Apple even released a revised beta last week to fix those issues on iPhone 15 and iPhone 16.
You will notice that your iPhone gets warm while testing out iOS 26 from time to time, which is something you should expect in a beta. Also, overheating can cause rapid battery health degradation as well.
Liquid Glass issues exist in this first beta. Many users are reporting readability issues in places like Control Center, and sometimes the glass effect does not adjust the text contrast in order to enhance readability. This will definitely be fixed in a later beta.
The truth is, the first developer beta is always going to be this unstable. No company has ever released the first developer beta of a major software update that’s stable enough for daily use. Hence, avoid it until the first public beta is available for download sometime next month.
I still remember the first beta of iOS 7 when it dropped. I went straight to Apple’s website to download the beta, restore it onto my iPhone, and it was a total mess. Issues like slow animations, extremely thin UI elements, and so much more. But, when the final version was released in the same year, everything was way better. Expect the same with iOS 26.
If you still want to go ahead and download the new iOS 26 beta on your iPhone, then you will find all the necessary details posted here.
