Apple CEO Tim Cook Says iOS 26 Developer Beta is Most Popular Ever

Apple's CEO Tim Cook today said the iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 developer betas are the company's most popular developer betas ever.

iOS 26 Feature
"It's wonderful to see great momentum building for our platforms," said Cook, on a conference call discussing Apple's quarterly earnings results. "iOS 26, macOS 26, and iPadOS 26 are by far the most popular developer betas we've had."

Apple released the developer betas immediately following its WWDC 2025 keynote in June. Cook did not provide any specific installation numbers, nor did he comment on the public betas of the updates, which were released last week.

Jason Snell shared a transcript of Cook's full remarks on Six Colors.

Two years ago, Apple dropped the requirement to pay $99 per year for an Apple Developer Program membership in order to access its developer betas, allowing anyone who creates an Apple Developer account to install them for free. This change has surely resulted in a larger number of non-developers installing the developer betas, even though Apple recommends that average customers wait for the public betas.

In addition, the new Liquid Glass design across Apple's platforms is a major visual change, which developers might want to prepare for. And many non-developers likely wanted to play around with the new design too, without having to wait until the public betas were released in July, or the final releases come out in September.

Related Roundups: iOS 26, iPadOS 26
Related Forum: iOS 26

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Top Rated Comments

goonie4life9 Avatar
6 weeks ago
That’s right, folks, this is the BIGGEST, BEST beta cycle EVER! Customers are clamoring for the revolutionary Liquid Glass design language. Apple spent years developing this game-changing design language for the best-in-class OS 26 and is thrilled by the response to just the beta version. The new OS is truly the OS for consumers and ultra pros alike. Apple can’t wait to see the incredible things customers are able to do with the ALL NEW OS 26 and the breathtaking Liquid Glass. Apple thinks you’re gonna love it!
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HylianKnight Avatar
6 weeks ago
Well, it’s a redesign so I’m pretty sure most developer want to stay on top of that…Not sure Apple should extrapolate much else from this.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tonmischa Avatar
6 weeks ago
People probably want to see this disaster with their own eyes. I'm not sure Tim should count that as a success.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
YourBoss Avatar
6 weeks ago
Just cosmetic with a lot of new bugs ✨
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacUserFella Avatar
6 weeks ago
We love betas, we don’t care for instability
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
netsped Avatar
6 weeks ago
Hundred bucks he'll also say that it's the best iOS they have ever released in the next 40 days.. and I won't even tell you what he is going to call the new iPhones.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)