Anyone Can Install iOS 11 Beta Without a Developer Account, But Don’t

Jun 6, 2017 - 20 Comments

iOS 11

Every time a new fancy iOS beta surfaces, many users rush to find a way to install it and try out the latest and greatest, fanciest new features, and experience the nuisances of running beta system software. iOS 11 is no different, freshly released and carrying with it a lot of excitement. It turns out that anyone can technically install iOS 11 beta onto an iOS 11 supported device right now with minimal effort too.

But that doesn’t mean you should. Instead you should wait.


We’ve seen a fair amount of questions about this topic, and it’s worth answering and addressing:

Installing iOS 11 Beta Right Now…

Yes technically, assuming you can get your hands on a legitimate iOS 11 beta configuration profile, or if you register for the Apple Developer program, then the iOS 11 beta can be installed on a supported iPhone or iPad immediately.

That also means anyone can install iOS 11 beta without an Apple developer account and without registering a UDID either, all you need is the iOS 11 beta profile mobileconfig file from another developer or perhaps from a trusted friend.

Like many other bad ideas, just because you can do something does not mean you should, and the vast majority of iPhone and iPad owners should not bother attempting to install any beta system software, regardless of how tempting it may be. If you are not an official developer just don’t bother.

Yes you *can* install iOS 11 beta now, but you should not

First things first, literally anyone can apply to be a registered Apple developer and download and install the iOS 11 beta that way – that is most direct method to install the beta immediately.

Additionally, anyone who has access to the iOS 11 beta profile can also install iOS 11 onto a compatible iPhone or iPad, without a developer account. You just open the beta profile on the iOS device and it will allow you to download the beta release.

iOS 11 beta installing

But seriously, even if it is tempting to run early beta builds and explore new features, don’t do it if you’re a casual user, or even just curious. The vast majority of users should not run any beta system software at all, let alone an early developer beta build.

Developer betas are meant for developers only for a reason, and the iOS 11 developer beta is no different.

The developer beta of iOS 11 is very buggy, it is slow, and it is incompatible with many apps. If you install the iOS 11 beta right now, your iPhone or iPad is likely to crash more, misbehave, run hot, be unstable, and have other undesirable behavior. This is because beta system software is actively under development and is not intended for public consumption or public usage, and developer builds are intended for software developers to test their apps on and to build compatible software for.

These developer betas are not for widespread use.

You want to install and run iOS 11 beta anyway?

If you are genuinely interested in running and using iOS 11 beta on an iPhone or iPad – and understand the risks of running beta system software – the best thing you can do is enroll in the official iOS 11 public beta testing program here at apple.com.

The iOS 11 public beta, which debuts later in June, will be a later beta build and thus it should be slightly more stable and refined. It will still be a beta with beta bugs, quirks, and problems, but it will be further along, plus the public beta build is actually intended for broader public use, whereas the developer beta build is not.

Always backup an iPhone or iPad before installing any beta system software, and realize that running any beta build may lead to problems with a device, or even data loss.

I installed iOS 11 beta but I regret it, now what?

If you installed the iOS 11 beta and now wish you hadn’t, the best thing you can do is downgrade from iOS 11 beta back to iOS 10. This requires restoring the iPhone or iPad from a backup, or restoring the device as new.

Of course the best option for practically everyone remains to simply wait for iOS 11 to be released in the fall to the general public. A little patience goes a long way, and your iPhone or iPad will likely thank you too (well, if it could).

.

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Posted by: Paul Horowitz in iPad, iPhone, Tips & Tricks

20 Comments

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  1. Nabtron says:

    Is it safe to use anyone elses beta software profile on our iPhone?

  2. polo says:

    hi ive downloaded the beta on my 7 plus but its taken 3 hours to just turn on and every 30 minutes or so the lock screen comes on but for the majority the screen displays the loading circle. i can’t press any buttons when the screen does come on, what should i do?

    • Paul says:

      Beta software is unstable and problematic. That is why it is recommended to NOT install betas.

      You can downgrade the iOS 11 beta back to iOS 10, assuming you made a backup beforehand you won’t lose anything. If you don’t have an iOS 10 backup you might lose the data on the device however if a restore is required. You will need to connect the iPhone to iTunes to fix it.

      https://osxdaily.com/2017/06/07/how-downgrade-ios-11-beta-ios-10/

      Good luck.

    • Dash says:

      Same problem on iPhone 7! downloaded beta profile > software update > download and install > endless loop for last 2 hrs – asking for PIN (on a very non responsive screen) then goes to dark screen with rotating wheel.. How did others get it working?

  3. AI says:

    iOS11 beta is pretty smooth on the iPhone7+ with a slight decrease on battery life. The App Store new look is quite impressive.

  4. Jimz says:

    I too have installed the dev version on my iphone 6 plus. I have to say some things respons better than ios 10 (like the app switcher which is very smooth now). I haven’t found any major bugs at the moment and every app I use seem to work fine, however the system overall is a bit slow. Control centre is a bit slow (especially the first time) and some things are removed on which I pretty much rely (for example, quickreply when your phone is locked, this is no longer possible). Also the new notification center is extremely slow on an iphone 6 plus (the part where you can scroll down to older notifications).

    Overall, I would never recommend people to use beta’s. I myself use it on my daily driver, but that is because I genuinely want to help Apple and I can work around bugs if I have to. I have to say though, this is probably the most stable major (EG. iOS 9, 10, 11) ios beta that I have ever run.

  5. John Salvador says:

    ok guys I got the ios 11 without the imac and stuff but im just wondering does it work normaly were when a new beta comes out it will pop up in the setting or would I have to download it again(take in mind I did this not on a apple site but used another site to download ios 11)

  6. James B says:

    I would never install a beta on my iPhone 7 as I live off that thing. But I did install iOS 11 on my iPad Pro. Its been surprisingly stable. I did have a locked screen once I had to restart after… but otherwise, so far, so good.

    • Dan C says:

      I installed it on my iPhone 6 on Monday, and I haven’t regretted it too much. If anything, the only issues for me come when I’m going into and out of apps. Otherwise, it’s been rock solid for the 1st developer beta.

    • Dan C says:

      I also installed it on my iPad Mini 4, and it’s been next to perfect on there. Performance is next to perfect, and the only bugs I’m seeing are the date and time on the lock screen failing to rotate (the top indicators rotate just fine though) as well as some occasional rotation issues on the home screen. Same can be said in regards to performance with the High Sierra beta on my early 2015 MacBook Pro 13 inch.

  7. Sarper Saridal says:

    It runs really smooth on my iphone 6s plus using it as a daily driver. yes small bugs like back arrow does not work as expected in safari for example , i installed opera coast for now. Very satisfactory as the first developer version. Mac Os High sierra is really fast also the new file system rocks. safari is running like crazy. So far so good

  8. Marcos says:

    Go for it! Believe me (at least on the iPhone 7 Plus) it is running much, but MUCH BETTER than the 10!!!

    • Miguel says:

      Marcos, you might be VERY excited about the beta availability. I’ve been running it for 2 days and while the choppy transition animations, loss of 3D Touch for multitasking at the edge of the screen, various artifacts within the mail app, as well as loss of copy paste functionality in the new mailbox setup, it IS usable even as a daily driver. SO FAR it seems to be just fit and finish with the exception of that copy paste drama. All the critical stuff works (so far)

  9. Koobla Koobla says:

    Developer beta profile floating around on the internet to install on the iPhone and iPad, not sure of validity so use at your own risk but this one is popularly referenced

    http://danield3v.us/ios11/iOS_11_beta_Profile.mobileconfig

  10. Prasen Gope says:

    I’ve been using iOS 11 dev beta since the very first day! I have not found any serious issues so far. A little slow, sometimes unresponsive here and there but nothing too serious. I’m using it on my daily driver BTW. One thing I noticed though- it’s some apps with location services on sometimes get invoked automatically for no reason. For example, while driving using Apple Maps, my mile tracker app MileQ, Uber, Waze and some other apps automatically get launched though they should work in the background. It’s a definitely a bug but you should pay small price for the shiny iOS 11!

  11. Ali Sadykov says:

    I wouldn’t say the phone will have any very dreadful bugs and glitches as I’m the one of the first guys who installed the iOS without a developer account and yet my phone isn’t glitching or making weird stuff, however I would say there are unresponsive buttons

  12. Chris Adams Wilson says:

    I have a developer account and was considering installing it…. after reading the above information I will decide and wait a while.

    When do you think a good time frame would be to install it, when the beta opens up for everyone else and not just developers?

    Thanks for the good information!

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