It was a bit difficult to get a read on WWDC 2017 ahead of the show since almost nothing involving iOS 11 or macOS leaked ahead of Apple’s big keynote on Monday morning. In fact, things were so quiet that it almost felt like Apple’s opening keynote at WWDC 2017 wasn’t going to be very exciting at all. With the event now in full swing, however, we know that isn’t the case at all. Apple’s keynote has been positively packed full of action since Apple CEO Tim Cook first took the stage on Monday morning in Jan Jose, and there are so many big announcements that Apple fans are still trying to process.
While there is indeed a whole lot of information to take in from Apple’s WWDC 2017 keynote on Monday, there’s precious little question that iOS 11 is the star of the show. Apple showed off the future of its iOS platform on both the iPhone and iPad on Monday, and fans can’t wait to get their hands on it. Well, we have some good news: Apple will release the first iOS 11 beta today.
UPDATE: iOS 11 beta 1 is available for download right now! Learn more here.
Apple on Monday confirmed during its big WWDC 2017 keynote that iOS 11 beta 1 will be released for download later today. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this is the first pre-release version of a next-generation version of iOS, so only developers will have access to iOS 11 for the time being. Once some of the bigger wrinkles are ironed out, Apple will release its first iOS 11 public beta version sometime later this month.
Of course, anyone with a $99 developer account will have access to iOS 11 beta 1 on Monday afternoon when it’s released. In fact, as many iOS device users know quite well by now, you don’t even need a developer account since Apple no longer requires developers to register serial numbers for devices that run beta software. All you need to do is find Apple’s iOS developer beta profile and install it on your device, and you’re good to go.
Last year’s early iOS 10 betas were surprisingly stable, but there are obviously always going to be issues with early pre-release software. For that reason, we should include our obligatory disclaimers: once it’s released, you should probably only install iOS 11 beta 1 on devices that you don’t carry with you all the time. And DEFINITELY make sure you back up all your data before you upgrade.
