YOU GUYS - I want to rewrite my old iOS 27 beta post because it was a bit thin and there's so much good stuff here worth sharing properly! Let me walk you through what this really means before anyone blindly taps 'install'. The real draw is the performance gains Apple demoed at WWDC plus the brand-new Siri app, but that Siri feature specifically has its own waitlist — don't expect it immediately. And my honest take? If your iPhone isn't a spare device and you rely on it for work or everything else in your life, skip this beta entirely. The public version is polished enough for daily drivers, so no need to suffer through the early instability just to get a glimpse at the new features ahead of time.
For those who DO want in, here's how it works — because Apple has made signing up more involved than I originally wrote: you register via their developer portal or an app (2FA must be on!), and they verify your identity with photo ID before giving you access. If the screen asks for $99 you're already past where you need to be; you don't have to pay to test betas, you just need to be registered. One vital detail I missed: if you used a separate Apple account for registration, you MUST log into THAT account on your phone before checking Software Update or the update won't even show up — it only appears under the developer profile. Also back everything up first, and seriously consider a secondary device because early betas can hit battery hard and aren't always stable during this phase of testing.
Let me list every supported device so you don't install on an unsupported model: iPhone SE (2nd gen+), 11/11 Pro/Max, 12 mini/12/Pro/Max, 13 mini/13/Pro/Max, 14/Plus/Pro/Max, 15/15 Plus/Pro/Max, 16e/16/Plus/Pro/Max, and the new iPhone Air alongside 17 models. For iPadOS 27 you need a mini (6th gen+), any A9-A14 model from 2017 onwards, or an M1/M2/M3/M4 series. And watch out on watchOS: your Watch MUST be paired to an iPhone already running the iOS beta — and unlike iPhones you cannot downgrade a Watch after installing, so do not put it on your primary Apple Watch! If that last point sounds scary (because it should), again - keep this install off your daily-driver devices until at least July.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2190122/ios-27-beta-has-arrived-here-s-how-to-get-it-on-your-iphone/
For those who DO want in, here's how it works — because Apple has made signing up more involved than I originally wrote: you register via their developer portal or an app (2FA must be on!), and they verify your identity with photo ID before giving you access. If the screen asks for $99 you're already past where you need to be; you don't have to pay to test betas, you just need to be registered. One vital detail I missed: if you used a separate Apple account for registration, you MUST log into THAT account on your phone before checking Software Update or the update won't even show up — it only appears under the developer profile. Also back everything up first, and seriously consider a secondary device because early betas can hit battery hard and aren't always stable during this phase of testing.
Let me list every supported device so you don't install on an unsupported model: iPhone SE (2nd gen+), 11/11 Pro/Max, 12 mini/12/Pro/Max, 13 mini/13/Pro/Max, 14/Plus/Pro/Max, 15/15 Plus/Pro/Max, 16e/16/Plus/Pro/Max, and the new iPhone Air alongside 17 models. For iPadOS 27 you need a mini (6th gen+), any A9-A14 model from 2017 onwards, or an M1/M2/M3/M4 series. And watch out on watchOS: your Watch MUST be paired to an iPhone already running the iOS beta — and unlike iPhones you cannot downgrade a Watch after installing, so do not put it on your primary Apple Watch! If that last point sounds scary (because it should), again - keep this install off your daily-driver devices until at least July.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2190122/ios-27-beta-has-arrived-here-s-how-to-get-it-on-your-iphone/