How to Install iPadOS 27 Beta on iPad
iPadOS 27 is here, announced at WWDC 2026, with a huge emphasis on performance improvements, efficiencies, Liquid Glass adjustments and a slider, lots of little changes, and some pretty major new Apple Intelligence and Siri AI features. If you’re excited about trying out iPadOS 27 beta on your iPad, you might be wondering about installing the developer beta now and getting an early look at the changes and experience.
The typical caveats apply here, because we mostly do not recommend installing early beta system on any device. But if you’re going to ignore that caution, and want to try out iPadOS 27 beta right now anyway, and you’re comfortable with bugs, app incompatibilities, incomplete features, and other known issues that are common in beta system software, you’re in the right place. And yes, we understand the irony of installing a buggy beta of iPadOS that otherwise is focused on performance improvements, but it’s a beta!
Read along and we’ll be walking you through the steps to install iPadOS 27 developer beta onto your iPad.
iPadOS 27 Compatible iPad Models & System Requirements
While Apple was liberal with allowing iOS 27 to run on any iPhone that ran iOS 26, that is not the case with iPadOS 27. For reasons unclear, Apple has removed several iPad models from supporting iPadOS 27 that are otherwise able to run iPadOS 26.
Specifically, the iPad Pro 11″ first gen, iPad Pro 12.9″ 3rd gen, iPad Air 3rd gen, iPad Mini 4th gen, and iPad 8th gen, are not supported for iPadOS 27. Perhaps that will change during the beta development period, but don’t count on that, just assume that your older iPad has been obsoleted (never feels good, we know!).
This means the following iPad models can run iPadOS 27: iPad Pro 11″ 2nd gen and newer, iPad Pro 12.9″ 4th gen and newer, iPad Air 4th gen and newer, iPad Mini 6th gen and newer, iPad 9th gen and newer.
There are additional strict requirements for running the latest and full Siri AI and Apple Intelligence experience too, where you will need an M4 iPad or better to be able to have a customized Siri voice and run the full on-device models.
You will also need at least 30GB of free storage available on your compatible iPad to be able to install iPadOS 27 beta.
How to Download & Install iPadOS 27 Developer Beta
Downloading and installing iPadOS 27 beta is pretty easy, here’s all you have to do:
- Backup iPad to iCloud, and be sure to backup iPad to Mac as well so that you can downgrade if you wish to – DO NOT SKIP BACKUPS!
- Next, join the Apple Developer program at developer.apple.com with your Apple ID, this allows you to access the beta versions of OS 27
- Open the “Settings” app on iPad
- Go to “General” and then select “Software Update”
- Choose “Beta Updates” (you will not see “Beta Updates” if your Apple ID is not enrolled in the beta program)
- Choose”iPadOS 27 Developer Beta” from the list of betas available
- Return to the main Software Update screen and select “Update Now” to download and install iPadOS 27 beta onto your iPad
The iPad will install iPadOS 27 beta just like any other software update. Future updates to iPadOS 27 beta will arrive through Software Update too, just like any other update. Easy peasy.
You’ll soon be looking at iPadOS 27 beta, which looks mostly the same as iPadOS 26, and you’ll be presented with a Liquid Glass slider and a few other choices to make.
Is iPadOS 27 beta usable? Is it buggy? Is it stable?
While iPadOS 27 beta is currently in early developer beta status, it’s actually pretty stable in my somewhat limited experience, granted I don’t use my iPad for anything too crazy or mission critical, nor do I push it’s limits much.
For me, my M4 iPad is mostly an overpowered couch web browser, bill paying device, Fortnite playing machine, and something I read longer form articles on, and I’m not trying to engage in anything too serious or critical on it.
There are definitely beta bugs and quirks with iPadOS 27 beta however, like rotating the Lock Screen can get stuck in a weird twitchy loop that shifts the wallpaper endlessly, and Safari’s already weird color tab bar thing gets really whacky at random where it either gets stuck on a color or cycles colors, iCloud Photos seems to still do that annoying thing where it fills your entire storage space with photos and videos without a way to purge the photos, System Data and iPadOS seem to take up a comically large amount of storage capacity, and I’m not even sure the Liquid Glass slider makes a difference no matter what direction I move it, but other than all that, I have not personally run into any major showstoppers or problems yet (aside from my 128GB iPad being full all the time now, but not sure that’s unique to iPadOS 27 beta to be honest). That doesn’t mean you will have the same experience, and again, we generally do not recommend installing beta system software on any critical device, whereas my iPad is fun but not critical, so bombs away into the developer beta it is for me! Plus if I didn’t install the beta how would I write this article for you, dear reader?
What about the latest Siri AI features for iPadOS 27?
The latest Siri AI features and dedicated Siri app have a waitlist at the moment, which you can join through Settings > Siri > Join Waitlist.
But, if you are running MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta, you can use a little trick to skip the Siri waitlist.
For what it’s worth, signing up for the waitlist usually gets pretty quick approval, with most people approved within a day or few. I was approved the same day, and I’m not even a real developer, I’m just curious and have an iPad.
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Now that you have installed iPadOS 27 beta onto iPad, you might be brave enough to try other devices too. Again, we don’t recommend that (wait until the public beta at least!) but if you’re feeling impatient, you can read how to install iOS 27 dev beta onto iPhone now, and you can also install MacOS 27 beta, watchOS 27 beta, tvOS 27 beta, and visionOS 27 beta, if you’re really wanting to get the full beta OS 27 experience on every device possible.
What do you think of iPadOS 27 beta? Anything notable so far? Are you skipping the developer beta and waiting for the public beta, or final version? Let us know your experiences in the comments.
