Apple has announced a significant change in its approach to software testing. The iPhone maker has announced that anyone, not just members of the paid Apple Developer program, can now install developer betas for free.
The move eliminates the previous cost associated with accessing pre-release software, allowing anyone, even those without a paid Apple Developer membership, to download and install the latest betas of iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS Sonoma, and watchOS 10 early ahead of their release in the fall.
By removing the financial barrier, Apple aims to allow more developers and beta testers to explore, experiment, and trial the latest software updates without any additional cost, allowing Apple to gather feedback to better the operating systems ahead of their public rollout.
Despite the developer beta being available to anyone, Apple still plans to release an official public beta for each of its new operating systems next month. These public betas are typically more reliable than developer betas, although each beta install comes with a warning that bugs and performance issues could be present.