Apple is making developer betas free and accesible to everyone

Apple is making it easy for everyone with an Apple ID to test developer beta versions of its different operating systems — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

Previously, developer beta releases were available to people paying a $99-a-year fee for Apple’s developer program — paying for the developer program also allows you to distribute your apps on the App Store. Now, as spotted by multiple people, Apple has updated its support page to indicate that anyone with an Apple ID can download the latest developer beta. This clarification came after multiple publications reported that Apple accidentally made the developer beta available to all users.

You can download and try the developer betas for iOS 17, iPadOS 17, or macOS Sonoma to check out new features. However, these are very early versions of the operating systems and it is not advisable to install them on your primary device as they are often buggy and can disrupt your daily work.

If you want to test some of these updates but don’t want to risk using unstable versions or potentially losing data, Apple will release public beta versions next month. Those versions are supposed to be more stable than the developer beta releases.

Apple started changing how it offers beta versions with iOS — having an Apple ID linked to a developer profile became mandatory. This move was designed to stop people from installing unauthorized profiles without registering for the developer program. But Apple is reversing its stance with today’s change as it has never been so easy to install the developer beta versions of next major operating system releases.