Is it safe to install iOS 17 public beta?

Never install any beta on production hardware or that you cannot afford to be potentially bricked. It is beta software and anything is possible. No one in these support communities will discuss or provide support to you on the beta software.

subash45 wrote:

Is it safe to install ios 17 public beta

Do not use the beta with any iPhone you need to work.

Do not use the beta with any data you need available.

Do not use the beta with any iCloud data associated with an Apple ID you need available.

Do not expect all apps to work.

If you cannot wipe and not preserve the current iPhone and current iCloud contents, you should not be running a beta.

If you do decide to load the beta, have backups of everything.

timtim1973 wrote:

Now i understood why some products are so-called “Pro”, interesting.

Whether an Apple product is marketed as Pro or not is unrelated to this.

Apple software referred to as a beta is useful for a developer testing their own apps, and for organizations that have large or complex deployments, and for individuals and organizations with spare hardware and staff and skills and that would like to assist Apple in improving Apple products.

For some individual users, betas can be interesting, but only if that user has the necessary spare hardware and the inclination to test and report issues, and the willingness and ability to completely reset the iPhone or iPad or Mac or Watch without reloading it if (when?) things get weird.

For users that might have no backups of their important data, or that might need their iPhone or iPad or Mac or Watch to work and to work reliably, or that are unable or unwilling to contend with unstable or unavailable apps or with data corruptions and the occasional reset and reload, betas can be problematic.

The betas are a part of getting to software versions that are stable and reliable. But the betas might not be either.

Nareshpatra wrote:

newvirsoin

The next version of iOS is iOS 18.

iOS 18 will be available later this year, as Apple and third-party testing is completed, and as third-party apps are updated.

Do not use a beta with any iPhone you need to work.

Do not use a beta with any data you need available.

Do not use a beta with any iCloud data associated with an Apple ID you need available.

Do not expect all apps to work.

If you cannot wipe and not preserve the current iPhone and current iCloud contents, you should not be running a beta.

If you do decide to load the beta, have backups of everything.

For a casual user such as yourself, the beta is not safe.

lkrupp wrote:

Jason Snell (https://sixcolors.com) was talking about this very subject on Tuesday’s MacBreak Weekly. He reminded us that betas are usually not optimized and that the optimization takes place shortly before the RC is released. That means betas can really affect battery life negatively. So if you want to run the public beta be ready for your battery to take big hits in the early stages. He also reminds us that updates can do the same thing because so much reindexing and housekeeping is going on for hours or days.

That's really good information. I've actually never run beta software on any iPhone or Apple Watch. It sounds cool but, I really need those things to work. If I hadn't traded in my old iPad when I got my new one, I might have played around. But, it wasn't worth $440 to keep it just for that.

Jason Snell (https://sixcolors.com) was talking about this very subject on Tuesday’s MacBreak Weekly. He reminded us that betas are usually not optimized and that the optimization takes place shortly before the RC is released. That means betas can really affect battery life negatively. So if you want to run the public beta be ready for your battery to take big hits in the early stages. He also reminds us that updates can do the same thing because so much reindexing and housekeeping is going on for hours or days.

If you have to ask, you shouldn't be trying beta software.

You might want to add to that excellent post the fact that, if you have a Watch and you update it to the beta to match the phone, you're stuck. The watch can't be downgraded (at this time).

Now i understood why some products are so-called “Pro”, interesting.

newvirsoin