Apple Releases iOS 18.5 and macOS Sequoia 15.5 Public Betas

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Apple today seeded the first public betas of upcoming iOS 18.5, iPadOS 18.5, and macOS Sequoia 15.5 updates, allowing the public to test the updates ahead of when they see an official launch. The public betas come a day after Apple provided the second betas to developers.

iOS 18
Public beta testers can download the updates from the Settings app on each device after opting into the beta through Apple's public beta testing website.

iOS 18.5 and ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.5 are relatively minor updates, and few new features have been discovered. The iOS Mail app has options for toggling off Contact Photos and Group by Sender for a look that's more like the iOS 17 Mail app, and there are some minor changes to how AppleCare info is displayed.

Apple has also released public betas of watchOS 11.5 and tvOS 18.5.

The software likely focuses on bug fixes and security improvements that are not outward facing. We're expecting Apple to release iOS 18.5, iPadOS 18.5, ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.5, and the other software updates sometime in May.

Related Roundups: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia
Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia

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Top Rated Comments

PsykX Avatar
PsykX
20 weeks ago

A second “Snow Leopard”.
I still remember when Steve Jobs announced this as a new OS "with zero new features".
The best part is that it wasn't even true, there was quite a lot of nice refinements.
Best macOS release ever.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
con2apple Avatar
con2apple
20 weeks ago
“As a new feature, we can see that some of the most annoying bugs have been fixed.”

Call me bitter, sarcastic and defeatist. But given the current state of Apple's software control, “a few bugs less” would be a great feature.

Which, by the way, I would also like to see in the new OS this summer. A second “Snow Leopard”.
Not more concepts with lawsuits as a bonus, but 365 days of bug fixes.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
uczcret Avatar
uczcret
20 weeks ago

Sorry but the "current state of Apple’s software control” is excellent and has never been better. The has never, nor will there ever be, a piece of bug free software from anywhere or anybody, period. Windows 11 is even worse in comparison. Those waxing nostalgic for the perfect macOSs of yesteryear have faulty memories.
Two things can be true at the same time though. Windows 11 is a bloatware and ad infested mess, but Apple’s software quality has been slowly declining for years now.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dchronus Avatar
dchronus
20 weeks ago

...
On Twitter I've seen claims that the base language model has been throughly revamped, meaning that everything that relies on it, from Siri to Translation to Genmoji to features like Summarization, now works substantially better.
...
If that's true then I'd love to see some real examples of it lol
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
name99 Avatar
name99
20 weeks ago
"iOS 18.5 and ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.5 are relatively minor updates"
Maybe not.
On Twitter I've seen claims that the base language model has been throughly revamped, meaning that everything that relies on it, from Siri to Translation to Genmoji to features like Summarization, now works substantially better.

If anyone is beta testing these new releases, they might want to try those out.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tipoo Avatar
tipoo
20 weeks ago

Beware of rose-colored glasses. That is how Snow Leopard wound up, but I seem to recall there were a few bumps along the way. :)
I think people misunderstand the point here. Yeah it launched with a particularly bad finder delete bug and a few others. But the magic of Snow Leopard was that they continued working on it for the next 3 years and it got to a pinnacle of applicance like stability that has not been matched since they switch to the yearly cycle. Even if you follow some people's advice to stay on the second newest version, each OS never feels fully baked before they move on to the next. Ages old areas of slop and jank are never addressed.

So what we really want is that year of development laser focused on getting old bugs, slop, and jank down to as near minimal as possible, plus another year of it being out and getting that same treatment. Since the switch to yearly it seems like they're always chasing the next bauble at the expense of not giving as much care to their own HDI and slop and ages old dev bugs that never get fixed.

Do that and then they can move on to adding new bugs in the next one, sort of an LTS release.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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