A day after rolling out the iOS 16.5 public build, Apple started beta testing of iOS 16.6. This is going to be the next iOS 16 update for iPhones. Apple released the first beta soon after a public build to perfectly time the upcoming iOS 17 beta builds. Letโs find out more about the iOS 16.6 Beta 1.
iPhone users can test one more iOS 16 beta before getting their hands on iOS 17 which will be in focus after the announcement. Although we’re not expecting too much in terms of new features and changes, we’ll wait for other beta builds to be sure.
Along with the iOS 16.6 Beta 1, Apple also released iPadOS 16.6 Beta 1, watchOS 9.6 Beta 1, tvOS 16.6 Beta 1, and macOS Ventura 13.5 Beta 1. The iOS 16.6 Beta 1 comes with build number 20G5026e which is also the same for iPadOS 16.6 Beta 1. Since it is the first beta of the new iOS 16 build, it is a big update in terms of size.

As the update just released, we arenโt aware of changes and Apple is not kind enough to share all changes officially. We will update all the changes below once we find them in the iOS 16.6 Beta 1.
- New Modem update
- iMessage Contact Key Verification appears when searching for it under Settings (but not activated)
- Improvement in speed (Animations on both iPhone and iPad are faster)
- Some bug fixes
- There are still some bugs that exist in beta 1
Updating……………
The iOS 16.6 Beta 1 is currently available for developers, but soon it will be available for public beta testers. So if you have a developer account all you need to do is make sure you are signed in with your ID and you will see the option to download iOS 16.6 Beta 1. You can check for the update by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
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