iOS 14 public beta is out — how to download it to your iPhone now
Excited for iOS 14? The iOS 14 public beta is finally live, meaning you don’t need to be an Apple Developer to take a test drive of the biggest update to Apple’s mobile operating system in years. This guide will show you how to install iOS 14 on your iPhone.
Of course, we need to preface this with the usual beta disclaimer. Pre-release software can cause serious problems. Because this is a public beta and not one intended for developers only, it should be safer, relatively speaking. But betas are often prone to weird bugs and so, be prepared for some glitches. If you’re confident enough to install this beta on an iPhone you use every day, you’ve been warned.
To use the iOS 14 public beta or the eventual final release, you’ll need an iPhone 6S or newer model. That includes the original iPhone SE and 7th-gen iPod touch.
With that out of the way, here’s how to get started.
How to download iOS 14 public beta
1. On your iPhone, go to https://beta.apple.com/profile to enroll your device into the iOS 14 public beta.
2. Tap the Download profile button.
3. You’ll be asked if you’d like to download a profile to your iPhone. Allow the request.
4. Now head over to your iPhone’s Settings app, and under your Apple ID at the top, tap the Profile Downloaded item.
5. On the next screen, tap Install at the top-right corner to install the iOS 14 Beta profile. This doesn’t install the update itself, but rather the profile that will allow Apple to send the beta to your device for over-the-air downloading. Consent to the agreement on the screen that follows.
6. After the profile is installed, the update should automatically begin downloading. When it’s finished downloading, you’ll be notified; restart your device once you receive the prompt to do so.
After this, your iPhone will restart to a screen with a progress bar. This part will take a while, so be patient. When it eventually restarts again, you’ll be running the iOS 14 public beta.
Once you’ve installed the beta software, staying up to date is easy. Just go to the Settings app, and select General, before tapping on Software Update. If there’s a new version of the beta there, you can download it just like you would a regular iOS update. However, if you’ve left Automatic Updates on, you should always be notified as soon as new updates become available. At the time of this writing, the current iOS 14 public beta release is version 2.
