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Apple has moved on to its fourth developer beta round, covering iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 Tahoe, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26.
The fourth round arrives after the third, which for most of the 26-generation operating systems was on July 7. This included iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26 Tahoe, and visionOS 26, while tvOS 26, arrived one day later on July 8.
- iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 beta 4 is build 23A5297i, replacing 23A5287g
- watchOS 26 beta 4 is build 23R5317g, replacing 23R5307g
- macOS Tahoe 26 beta 4 is build 25A5316i, replacing 25A5306g
- visionOS 26 beta 4 is build 23M5300g, replacing 23M5290f
- tvOS 26 beta 4 is build 23J5316g, replacing 23J5306g
As usual for a milestone release, the betas include cross-platform changes. The main change is the Liquid Glass, a new transparency-centric aesthetic that is used throughout the operating systems and Apple’s first-party apps.
The changes in iOS 26 include a brand new battery management system, an improved camera app, tweaks to the ChatGPT integration, and AirPods feature updates too.
The revisions in iPadOS 26 make it more of a productivity device, including a better Files app, Preview for the first time, and significant window management changes. Among the macOS changes are the Phone app, Clipboard History, and a reworking of Spotlight.
In the third developer beta build for iOS 26, Apple added more wallpaper color options, as well as more tweaks to the new Liquid Glass UI.
The ’26 betas aren’t the only ones Apple is currently testing. It has a second track, trialling the current-gen operating system updates, including iOS 18.6 and macOS 15.6.
AppleInsider and Apple strongly advise against users installing test operating systems or beta software onto primary or “mission-critical” hardware. The higher likelihood of major issues in these early beta releases can potentially result in the loss of data.
Ideally, beta participants should use secondary or non-essential hardware and ensure they have sufficient backups of their critical data at all times.
Members of the public wanting to try out the features of the inbound generation should wait until the initial public betas are issued. This safer build is due to start circulating sometime in July.
Find any changes in the new builds? Reach out to us on Twitter at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at andrew@AppleInsider.com.
