Apple has released the public betas for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14 that the company previewed at its virtual WWDC conference in June.
The developer betas, restricted to those with paid developer accounts, have been live for a few weeks but now anyone with a compatible iPhone, iPad or Apple TV can sign up for free to the Apple Beta Software Program and enrol their device to try out the new software.
iOS 14’s headline new feature is widgets on the home screen. For the first time, the iPhone is not restricted to having all the apps on the home screens or shoved away in folders.
Widgets can be resized and repositioned, while the App Library as the far-right home screen automatically sorts your apps into categories. Both these changes borrow a lot from Android and Windows Phone.
As with every public beta, we don’t recommend you do this on your main devices as even though iOS 14 seems stable enough, there could be bugs that break key features of your apps. It’s always best to wait until the (hopefully) stable official release when the iPhone 12 drops later this year.
If you are keen to try it, then you should backup your devices first in case you need to revert to an older version of iOS or iPadOS. Apple says:
“The Apple Beta Software Program lets users try out pre-release software. The feedback you provide on quality and usability helps us identify issues, fix them, and make Apple software even better. Please note that since the public beta software has not yet been commercially released by Apple, it may contain errors or inaccuracies and may not function as well as commercially released software. Be sure to back up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and your Mac using Time Machine before installing beta software.”
Amazingly, any device that runs iOS 13 can run iOS 14, ditto with the iPads. Those devices are:
- iPhone 6s and later
- iPad Air 2 and later
- All iPad Pro models
- iPad 5th-gen and later
- iPad Mini 4 and later
It’s testament to Apple’s unrivalled software support for mobile devices. The iPhone 6s was announced in September 2015.
Author: Henry Burrell, Phones Editor
Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.