Apple Releases First Public Betas of iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5

Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5 updates to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to test out the software head of its official launch. The public betas come two days after Apple provided the betas to developers.

iOS 16
Those who have signed up their accounts for Apple's free beta testing program can enable the beta by opening up the Settings app, going to General, selecting Software Update, tapping on Beta Updates, and selecting the iOS 16 Public Beta option.

iOS 16.5 appears to be a relatively minor update, and few changes were found in the first developer beta. There is a new Sports tab located in the Apple News app, and Siri can now be asked to start a screen recording.

Development on iOS 16 is slowing down as Apple prepares for the upcoming June debut of iOS 17, the next-generation version of iOS.

Apple has also seeded a new public beta of watchOS 9.5 to public beta testers.

Related Forum: iOS 16

Popular Stories

iphone air thickness

Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales

Friday October 17, 2025 8:29 am PDT by
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec). The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps. More features and changes will follow in future ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon

Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released by the end of next week. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
iPhone Siri Glow

Some Apple Employees Have 'Concerns' About iOS 26.4's Revamped Siri

Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings. iOS 26.4 will...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New 14-Inch MacBook Pro Has Two Key Upgrades Beyond the M5 Chip

Thursday October 16, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump. First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

New iPad Pro Has Six Key Upgrades Beyond M5 Chip

Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more. With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
m4 macbook air blue

M5 MacBook Air Coming Spring 2026 With M5 Mac Studio and Mac Mini in Development

Thursday October 16, 2025 3:57 pm PDT by
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year. Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

M5 Chip Achieves Impressive Feat in 14-Inch MacBook Pro Speed Test

Friday October 17, 2025 7:10 am PDT by
The first alleged benchmark result for the M5 chip in the new 14-inch MacBook Pro has surfaced, allowing for some performance comparisons. Based on a single unconfirmed result uploaded to the Geekbench 6 database today, the M5 chip has pulled off an impressive feat. Specifically, the chip achieved a score of 4,263 for single-core CPU performance, which is the highest single-core score that...

Top Rated Comments

Johnny907 Avatar
34 months ago
Siri lets you start a screen recording now.
She still can’t so much as adjust headphone volume without an internet connection, and half the time getting her to reply to a text message requires unlocking the bloody phone first which defeats the entire point, but ooooo now she can save you a pull down gesture and button push.
Progress!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
d4cloo Avatar
33 months ago

Siri lets you start a screen recording now.
She still can’t so much as adjust headphone volume without an internet connection, and half the time getting her to reply to a text message requires unlocking the bloody phone first which defeats the entire point, but ooooo now she can save you a pull down gesture and button push.
Progress!
Exactly. Siri often even doesn’t get triggered on my phone until I shout HEY SIRI for third time.
Many of my attempts aren’t understood and often she tells me “I can’t do that on this device” or responds audible on the wrong device (e.g suddenly on my HomePod instead of phone).
It’s extremely hard to discover what she is capable of and what not, and it’s quickly getting ridiculously outdated now that I’m interacting with OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Whisper.
A while back my internet was down but my WiFi was working just fine. Even the most simple commands required an internet connection.
Siri feels like a completely failed technology for years that has only has been patched and had no clear vision or direction since its inception.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Johnnyponken Avatar
34 months ago

Siri lets you start a screen recording now.
She still can’t so much as adjust headphone volume without an internet connection, and half the time getting her to reply to a text message requires unlocking the bloody phone first which defeats the entire point, but ooooo now she can save you a pull down gesture and button push.
Progress!
I am hoping that they till iOS 17 retires Siri altogether and puts out the next generation of voice assistant called “Alpha” that works using 4gpt
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sjsharksfan12 Avatar
33 months ago

If you disable public beta to off, I would think you need to power off the device. Then turn it on again after it being off for so many seconds. Then it shouldn’t prompt the update.
I did it the old way and removed the device from the Beta process.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)