You can now download iOS 18 Public Beta 5 on your iPhone

Apple has released the fifth public beta version of iOS 18.

The latest public beta of iOS 18 contains very few changes and mostly bug fixes. The previous public betas brought improvements to the major overhaul of the Photos app, such as the removal of the carousel, and a new feature for Safari, dubbed “Thanos Snap” because of its design, that lets you remove distractions like ads and videos from websites in your web browser.

Downloading and installing iOS 18 is easy. All you need to do is sign up on Apple’s Beta Software Program website and you can become a beta tester from the comfort of your couch.

You probably know that the iOS 18 beta has been available to developers since June. However, not everyone wants to run the developer beta because it is intended for developers and is usually less stable than a public beta. Ultimately, both betas are not as stable as the general public version of iOS 18, but that won’t be out until the fall, and you may not want to wait until then to try iOS 18.

Read more: iOS 18 Beta Cheat Sheet: All your iPhone update questions answered

iOS 18 brings several major new features and overhauls to iPhone, including a completely redesigned photo album, text messaging via satellite, a dedicated app for passwords, better customization of your home screen, a redesigned Control Center, and support for RCS messaging.

Here’s everything you need to know about downloading the iOS 18 public beta to your iPhone.

Check this out: iOS 18: My 5 favorite features

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First, does your iPhone even support iOS 18?

Apart from Apple Intelligencewhich will be available exclusively for the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max when it launches later this year and next year, iOS 18 works on a wide range of iPhone models dating back to 2018. Here’s the full list of iPhones that support iOS 18:

The iPhone 16, which is expected to be announced later this year, will run iOS 18 immediately after installation.

Next, a warning…

A public beta is usually more stable than a developer beta — but it’s still a beta, which means you may have to contend with bugs and other critical issues that could negatively affect your phone. If you have a spare iPhone somewhere in your drawer, use it to run any iOS 18 beta, whether it’s the developer or public version.

In my personal experience, however, it’s usually not a problem running a public beta on your main phone. You might run into a bug here and there, maybe a feature in a third-party app doesn’t work exactly as intended because it’s obviously not optimized for an iOS beta yet. But it’s never crippling, maybe just a little annoying, and if you don’t mind that, it shouldn’t be a huge problem running the iOS 18 public beta on the iPhone you use every day.

Before you think about updating to iOS 18, first update to the latest iOS 17 version (currently 17.5.1) and then back up your device. Go to Settings > Your name > iCloud > iCloud backup and met Secure Now.

How to download the iOS 18 public beta on your iPhone

After you’ve backed up your phone, you can download the iOS 18 public beta. Here’s what you need to do:

1. On your iPhone, go to the Apple Beta Software Program website and sign up (if you’re already a member) or register for the program. You’ll need an Apple ID, of course. If this is your first time registering, follow the instructions.

2. Then tap the iOS tab, where you should see more information about the iOS 18 public beta.

3. Under Getting Started, click the blue Register your iOS device Link.

4. Now go to Settings > General > Software Update > Beta Updates and select the public beta version of iOS 18 to install.

5. Finally, go to Settings > General > Software Update and install the iOS 18 public beta.

After your phone restarts, it should be running the first public beta of iOS 18.