How to Install iOS 27 Public Beta on iPhone

Now that the public beta for iOS 27 is available, even more iPhone and iPad users are going to be interested in experiencing the new operating systems while they’re under active development. And there’s good reason for this, iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 are both shaping up to be notable improvements to the operating systems, with significant performance boosts, refinements to the Liquid Glass interface experience, new Siri AI features, new Apple Intelligence features, and lots of little tweaks and adjustments throughout too.

If you’re comfortable with the beta operating system experience – meaning more bugs than usual, less stability, potentially reduced battery life, potential app incompatibilities, etc – then you might be interested in installing and running the iOS 27 public beta right now on iPhone, or the iPadOS 27 public beta on iPad. That’s what we’ll show you how to do.

iOS 27 Basic Prerequisites and System Requirements

There are some basic requirements for running the iOS 27 public beta or ipadOS 27 public beta.

First, you’ll need an iOS 27 compatible iPhone. Any iPhone that can run iOS 26 can also run iOS 27, meaning all iPhone 17 models, all iPhone 16 models, all iPhone 15 models, all iPhone 14 models, all iPhone 13 models, all iPhone 12 models, all iPhone 11 models, and iPhone SE 2nd generation or newer.

You will also need at least 30GB of free storage space available to be able to successfully download and install the iOS 27 public beta.

For iPadOS 27, the system requirements are more strict. You will need any iPad Pro 11″ 2nd gen or newer, iPad Pro 12.9″ 4th gen or newer, iPad Air 4th gen or newer, iPad 9th gen or newer, or iPad Mini 6th gen or newer. Yes that means several iPadOS 26 compatible iPad models, like the 1st gen iPad Pro 11″, are not compatible.

How to Download & Install iOS 27 Public Beta on iPhone or iPadOS 27 Public Beta on iPad

You can install the public betas pretty easily, here’s how it works:

1. First, backup the iPhone or iPad to iCloud, and backup to your Mac too, this saves your data and the local backup allows you to downgrade
2. Next register your Apple ID in the public beta program at beta.apple.com
3. Now open the “Settings” app on iPhone or iPad
4. Go to “General” and then go to “Software Update”
5. Choose “Beta Updates” and then select “iOS 27 Public Beta” or “iPadOS 27 Public Beta”



6. Back at the primary “Software Update” screen, choose to update now to the iOS 27 public beta or iPadOS 27 public beta

It can take a while to download, verify, and install the beta update onto your iPhone or iPad, so be patient and do not interrupt the process.

When finished, you’ll boot directly into iOS 27 public beta or ipadOS 27 public beta, where you’ll be presented with a Liquid Glass slider and a few other basic setup screens.

You might notice that Liquid Glass is much more refined (and it looks great on Home Screen with Clear Icons and this water droplet wallpaper, as shown here).

Initially the new beta might feel slow, but let your iPhone or iPad stay plugged in overnight as Spotlight and other tasks finish indexing, and things should be nice and snappy in a day or two.

Future iOS 27 beta updates arrive via Software Update, and yes you can update directly to final version in the fall

All future iOS 27 public beta updates will arrive as any other update through Software Update in the Settings app.

And yes, you can always update directly from the iOS 27 beta to an iOS 27 final version, when that is released in the fall.

Use the Feedback App to Report Bugs & Make Suggestions to iOS 27 / iPadOS 27

After you install any beta, you’ll find a new “Feedback” app installed on your device. This is the app you can use to report bugs to Apple, or simply provide feedback about features or changes. Make your voice heard, and use the Feedback app! You never know, your suggestion or report just might make a difference.

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Are you going to check out the iOS 27 public beta, or iPadOS 27 public beta? Are you already running the iOS 26 / iPadOS 26 developer beta? What do you think? Share your thoughts and anything else in the comments below.