The iOS 18 beta is different from what we expect in the general release this fall. Beta testers are receiving a version that recently left its alpha phase, so issues and bugs are to be expected. The purpose of the beta phase is to gather user feedback to fix these bugs and resolve any UI issues before the software is distributed en masse.

Beta releases can also be incomplete and not the final product, especially in the case of iOS 18, which did not include Apple Intelligence features in the first beta release. This status means that the iOS 18 beta is more prone to bugs, glitches, and instability.

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In the general release, these bugs and issues will be fixed using user feedback collected during the beta phase, providing a more complete software that is less error-prone.

An example of this process is Apple’s release of the iOS 17 beta in 2023. In the early beta, the End button had been moved from the center to the right during a call, which was a big change for iPhone users. Disapproving feedback from beta testers led Apple to move the End button back to the center of the screen, where users were used to.