Throughout the years, I’ve written many blog posts related to iOS update.

• Prevent users from installing iOS beta software in VMware Workspace ONE UEM by AirWatch
• Managing iOS update with Workspace ONE UEM
• Schedule iOS Update with VMware AirWatch
• Stop iOS update on its track with VMware AirWatch
• iOS 12.2 is here and how it impacts the MDM enrollment process to VMware Workspace ONE UEM by AirWatch

I then realized I have yet to touch upon the subject of Apple Beta software. With proper planning, installing and testing the Apple Beta software of both major and minor versions on a regular basis could potentially save you from many headaches before its official release.

There are many common reasons why you may want to install the Apple Beta software on your iOS devices:

• Stay ahead of any new changes, features and bug fixes
• Test application compatibility before the next OS upgrade in a large scale

Whatever your reason may be, let’s go over the steps required to kick the tires!

How to join the program

There are three different beta programs available: AppleSeed for IT, Apple Developer Program, and Apple Beta Software Program.

• AppleSeed for IT – available for those with an active Apple support account
• Apple Developer Program – available for the developers
• Apple Beta Software Program – available for the general public

For this blog post, I will show you the steps from the Apple Beta Software Program to install the iOS 15 beta on an iPhone pre-loaded with iOS 14.

First, navigate to the site and click either Sign up or Sign in with your Apple ID.

If you are signing up for the first time, you will have to read and accept the confidentiality agreement before continuing.

Afterward, select the proper platform for your device. Note that iOS is for iPhone and iPadOS, of course, is for iPad.

Scroll down on this page and click on the link enroll your iOS device under Get Started.

Scroll down on this page and review the steps to install the profile and update the OS with the beta software on your Apple device.

How to install Beta software

On your iOS device, open Safari and go to beta.apple.com/profile. Then, sign in with your Apple ID.

Whether you see the below or not depends if you have two-factor authentication set up with your Apple ID.

Tap Download profile and follow the rest of the prompts to continue.

Navigate to Settings > Profile Downloaded. Under DOWNLOADED PROFILE, tap on iOS 15 & iPad OS 15 Beta Softw…

If interested, tap More Details. Otherwise, tap Install to continue.

This is what you will see if you tap More Details.

This is what you will see if you tap Install.

After restart, navigate to Settings > General > Software Update to finish installing the beta software on your Apple device.

After another automatic reboot, the beta software is now installed!

Note that the beta profile remains visible and removable in case you wish to roll back to the previous public version (more on this later.)

How to uninstall Beta software

Technically, you can’t just roll back to the previous iOS version by un-installing the beta profile. It may work if you intend to stay within the same major version (i.e. from 14.7 to 14.8) but not from the current major version back to the previous major version (i.e. from 15.0 to 14.8.)

The steps in detail can be found via this link: How to uninstall iOS beta software

I tried by tapping Remove Profile from my iPhone.

After the restart, restore the device to previous OS version with either iTunes or Apple Configurator. You may also need to put the device in DFU mode before restoring.

Extra

Here’s what you will see in the Workspace ONE UEM by AirWatch console when a user with a corporate-dedicated device installed the beta profile from Apple. This info is generally not available on employee-owned based on default privacy setting within the console.

Stay mobile!