With iOS software releases, it is typical for Apple to be constantly iterating. When a new version of iOS comes out, a new iOS beta almost always follows the day after. iOS 17.4 was released on Tuesday, March 5, and no iOS 17.5 beta followed as is typical. So when might Apple provide the first iOS 17.5 beta?
It's now been more than three weeks since the launch of iOS 17.4, and pauses like this are unusual, but not unheard of. Sometimes there are droughts because of major features, or holidays, and in this case, it could be both.
Apple is still navigating the app ecosystem changes that were introduced in iOS 17.4, and there are tweaks coming. Apple planned to allow third-party apps to be downloaded only from alternative app marketplaces, but now alternative apps will be provided directly from websites too. The option to download an app from a website has not been introduced as of yet, and it is an unexpected change, so it likely requires some behind the scenes work. There are also other potential changes that Apple must make in the EU as the European Commission investigates its compliance, another factor that may be eating up resources.
This weekend marks the Easter holiday, and holidays can sometimes cause betas to be pushed back too.
When considering these factors, it makes some sense that we haven't yet had an iOS 17.5 beta. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Thursday that Apple's "beta 1 development finishes next week," which suggests that we could see a beta release next week or the week after.
Here are the wait times between .4 public releases and .5 first developer betas from prior years:
- iOS 13 - 7 days
- iOS 14 - 6 days
- iOS 15 - 22 days
- iOS 16 - 1 day
If iOS 17.5 is released on April 2, it will be 28 days between the prior release and the beta software, and if it comes a week after that, it will have been 35 days.
After the beta does go out, we'll likely see a release sometime during the month of May. Prior .5 public releases have happened on May 18, May 16, April 26, and May 20.
Update: Apple released the first beta of iOS 17.5 to developers on Tuesday, April 2.
