This Year’s Developer Betas Are More Popular Than Ever

The timing of Q3 earnings calls, landing between WWDC and September’s public release schedule, means that Cook nearly always has something to say about Apple’s upcoming software releases. However, in this case, he had an extra tidbit to share while touting everything that’s coming in iOS 26 and the rest.

It turns out that these have been the most popular developer betas Apple has ever released. He didn’t specify any particular platform, instead referring to the three flagship versions: iOS 26, macOS 26, and iPadOS 26, collectively. He also didn’t provide any numbers or comment on the public beta program.

It’s wonderful to see great momentum building for our platforms. iOS 26, macOS 26, and iPadOS 26 are by far the most popular developer betas we’ve had.

Tim Cook

Notably, Cook also didn’t directly tie the adoption of developer betas to actual app development. Perhaps he felt that was implied, but after dropping the $99 cost of entry to the access developer betas two years ago, many more non-developers are downloading these early betas to kick the tires.