iOS 17, the next major version of Apple’s mobile operating system, will be announced on Monday as part of Apple’s WWDC presentation. But when can you expect to use iOS 17? The iOS 17 release date has yet to be officially confirmed, but the company has usually stuck with a familiar format on the calendar…
Ahead of June 5, rumors are rife about the Apple Reality Pro headset … or whatever it’s going to be called. But WWDC is the time when Apple unveils new software features for the coming year for the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.
In fact, for iOS 17, Apple has already shared details about new accessibility features coming later this year, including a new simplified alternative app launcher layout and a live talk feature using your own voice.
But the rest of the consumer features will be announced on Monday. When the iPhone is docked, expect to see a sophisticated Always On Display, similar to the Smart Display. Amazon Echo Show, a new journaling app, a new Wallet app and location sharing features, additional Dynamic Island functionality for iPhone 14 Pro (and soon, iPhone 15) owners, and a few other surprises that have yet to be rumored. However, since Apple’s focus is primarily on the XR headset this year, iOS 17 won’t feature anything major like the iOS 16 lock screen redesign or the iOS 14 home screen widgets update.
When will iOS 17 be released?
As for the release date, expect iOS 17 to be available as a developer beta seed following the main announcement on Monday. That means around 1pm PST iOS 17 Beta 1 will be available for developers to install on their test devices. Developer Seeds are only available to registered Apple developers.
Assuming Apple sticks to its predictable schedule, a public beta of iOS 17 could follow a few weeks later, either in late June or early July. In comparison, the first public beta of iOS 16 was released on July 11, 2022. Anyone can register Apple should be part of the beta software program.
iOS 17 will go through several more rounds of beta seeds over the summer months, and will be officially released to the world in the fall alongside the release of the iPhone 15 lineup. This time is always in the second or third week of September.
Apple usually releases the next version of watchOS at the same time as iOS, but the iPadOS 17 and macOS 14 releases may not ship until a little later, usually around October.
Before that, iOS 16.6 is currently in the beta testing phase — including minor improvements like iMessage contact key verification — and will ship by the end of June.
Stay tuned to 9to5Mac as we bring you full coverage of all the WWDC announcements and get your hands on iOS 17 as it becomes available.
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