Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference is less than two weeks away, where we expect to get our first look at iOS 27 and the other system updates that will likely roll out in the fall. If you want a peek into a more immediate future, Apple has just released the public beta of iOS 26.6, the next version of the current iPhone system.
Also available are iPadOS 26.6, MacOS 26.6 Tahoe, WatchOS 26.6 and TVOS 26.6. Prerelease versions for developers were sent out a few days ago.
New in this release is a feature you may never run into: an alert when you’ve blocked too many contacts. Blocking is a feature for counteracting spam calls and texts, so if you’re plagued by unwanted intrusions, you may hit the system’s unspecified limit at some point.
As with all system updates like this, there are probably bug fixes included as well.
If you’re registered in Apple’s public beta program, you can go to Settings > General > Software Update on your iPhone and iPad to install this latest version. (We recommend running prerelease software on a test device, and make sure you back it up before installing.)
The last iOS release, version 26.5, brought end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging (good for texting with your Android-using friends) and ads in the Maps app (an unwanted intrusion for most people).
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