Beta 5 of iOS 11 & macOS High Sierra Available

Apple has released the fifth developer beta versions of iOS 11, macOS High Sierra 10.13, tvOS 11, and watchOS 4 to users who are participating in the developer beta testing program. The public beta builds typically arrive shortly after a developer release.

The latest builds include a variety of bug fixes and minor adjustments to the beta releases, perhaps most notable is that Messages in iCloud has been removed from beta 5 and pushed to a future iOS 11 update.

iOS 11 developer beta 5 can be downloaded now from the iOS Settings app, macOS High Sierra 10.13 beta 5 is available as an update through the Mac App Store, and tvOS 11 beta 5 and watchOS 4 beta 5 can be downloaded through their respective software update mechanisms as well.

Anyone can install and run the developer beta builds but they must be registered as an Apple Developer to gain access to the developer releases. A better approach for users interested in the beta testing experience is to run the iOS 11 public beta or install the macOS High Sierra public beta instead, which does not require a developer beta account through Apple.

Beta system software is notoriously unreliable and less stable than a final system software build, and is thus not recommended for most users to run on primary devices. Nonetheless, running the beta operating systems can give you hands on experience with some of the better features of iOS 11 and interesting new features in MacOS High Sierra, and can be fun for not only developers, testers, and creators, but also just the curious and early adopters.

Always backup an iPhone, iPad, or Mac before installing any beta software.

The final versions of iOS 11, macOS High Sierra, and watchOS 4 are set to be released this fall.