iOS 26.5 Beta 1 is Here: Hidden Features Apple Didn’t Mention

Apple released the first developer beta of iOS 26.5 alongside updates for other Apple OSes.

Public beta testers should see the update within 24–48 hours and the beta installer is over 8GB, suggesting a full system overwrite.

Key changes include improved Settings search, the return of RCS end-to-end encryption, Apple Maps' Suggested Places, and U.S. testing of notification forwarding for third-party wearables.

Apple Intelligence availability was expanded to China for users on iOS 26.4 or later.