iOS 17.5 Release Date: Major iPhone Update Could Debut Any Minute Now

Did you install iOS 17.4.1 on your iPhone yet? It was a tiny, security-focused feature with bug squishes and important security fixes only, rather than new features (though some users are also reporting improved battery life since they installed it). But the next big thing is on its way already.

Full details of the iOS 17.4.1 release are here, and guidance as to whether or not you should put it on your iPhone can be found here. Oh, and if you heard there was a mysterious revised release, here are full details of what it is and how to get it.

But the world of iPhone updates never stands still, and we’re on to iOS 17.5 any minute, it seems. After all, as 9to5Mac points out, it’s been a full three weeks since the last beta came out. That’s because, as a small update, iOS 17.4.1 didn’t have any beta versions, instead launching fully-formed into the world as a general release.

The report goes on that “Apple will soon release iOS 17.5 with build number 21F5048f, according to information shared on social media by a private account with a strong track record.” That account usually announces this information just before the software goes live.

Then the report also says that there’s been growing evidence of iOS 17.5 in the publication’s Google Analytics data, which is often a very clear sign that the real thing is about to appear. All of which suggests something is imminent.

Of course, at first, it will be for developers only, though a public beta routinely follows a day or a few days later.

iOS 17.5: What To Expect

We’ll get a much better idea of what’s coming as soon as the beta lands. Top of the list are updates which will affect users in the EU, as part of the response to the Digital Markets Act. As part of the move to admitting external app marketplaces in the EU, users will be able to download apps from developers’ websites. Apple said “Web Distribution, available with a software update later this spring, will let authorized developers distribute their iOS apps to EU users directly from a website owned by the developer.”

Full details here, but I’m confident that what Apple calls later this spring almost certainly means this ground-breaking change will come in iOS 17.5.

iOS 17.5 Developer Beta Release Date

9to5Mac predicts that first beta could land as soon as “sometime this week.” Since we’re just coming out of the Easter break it’s not going to be today, and the usual Tuesday release date is likely to be bumped on by that, too.

I think the developer beta will land on Wednesday, April 3.

iOS 17.5 General Release Date

Since there are strong and increasingly loud rumors that new iPads are coming in early May, I suspect the general release will be timed for that. My best guess right now, though this may change, is we’ll see iOS 17.5 land in the first week of May, on the Tuesday or Wednesday, that is, Tuesday May 7 or Wednesday, May 8.

Stay tuned.