As Apple prepares iOS 27, iPadOS 27, tvOS 27, watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and macOS 27 for launch, it has rolled out the first release candidates for testing.
The first round of release candidates are here, giving Apple one more test of its upcoming iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, tvOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27 releases. It may well be the last, aside from any second or third release candidate builds, before the expected release alongside Apple's new hardware.
A release candidate is considered feature-complete, as in it's effectively what Apple intends to deliver as its finished initial public release. While it may fix bugs in future RC versions, it won't be adding new features.
The RC builds appear after the eighth developer betas, which came out on August 31. The seventh arrived on August 24, the sixth was Apple brought out on August 17, and the fifth round took place on August 10.
The fourth was distributed on July 20, the third developer builds arrived on July 6, while the second occurred on June 22 for most of the operating systems. The watchOS 27 counterparts landed later, on June 23 and June 25.
The initial developer builds of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, and watchOS 27 were made available on June 8, shortly after the WWDC keynote.
The first RC builds are:
- iOS 27 RC 1 is 24A435, replacing 24A5430a
- iPadOS 27 RC 1 24A435, replacing 24A5430a
- macOS 27 RC 1 26A5428, replacing 26A5425a
- tvOS 27 RC 1 24J360, replacing 24J5360a
- watchOS 27 RC 1 24R363, replacing 24R5360a
- visionOS 27 RC 1 24M362, replacing 24M5361a
At the same time, Apple has also issued other release candidates:
- macOS 26.7 RC 4 is 25G229, replacing 25G227
- macOS 15.8 RC 4 is 24H23, replacing 24H22
- iOS 26.7 RC is 23H24
- iPadOS 26.7 RC is 23H24
The first round included updates to the Liquid Glass UI, the long-awaited overhaul of Siri, a collection of child-protective features, and many other smaller changes.
The second iOS 27 beta included an update to Apple TV in the Home app, showing it like a connected HomePod or HomePod mini. The Apple Wallet also added an insights option.
The third included some visual tweaks, with more customization options added for Siri AI on newer iPhone models.
Round 5 expanded the Siri AI customization options to British English, a few visual tweaks to various apps, and a new Liquid Glass look for the Siri app icon.
Settings added a Before Searching option, so users can choose which apps appear as suggestions. Control Center got tweaked to remove cellular network types when you're on Wi-Fi.
The seventh round also included a change relating to Siri AI. Specifically, references to a possible waitlist for the features to become available to end users, much like the first developer beta.
At your own risk
AppleInsider regularly warns readers that people trying out beta software should do so on secondary, spare hardware instead of their mission-critical or daily driver devices. It's something that people really should take to heart.
It's because Apple's early developer betas are for an operating system that is still under active development.
There's a higher chance of buggy, broken, and potentially harmful elements being distributed in early betas. The initial builds are also intended to help developers learn about the operating system changes before the final public release later in 2026.
It's not meant to be used by consumers. Unless you have a vested interest in using them, such as app development, don't install developer betas in general.
Instead, members of the public should seek out the public betas. They are much safer alternatives if you want to try out prerelease software.
Being an almost final stage of the testing process, the RC build is practically complete, with a much smaller risk of bugs and issues.
Even so, while the public betas reduce risk to your data compared to the developer betas, there is still some risk.
Find any changes in the new builds? Reach out to us on X at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at [email protected].
