You can download the watchOS 26 public beta right now. With it, you can try out the great new Liquid Glass design coming to the Apple Watch before Apple ships the update to everyone. And you can check out Workout Buddy, the AI-powered coach that gives you encouragement during your workouts.
Of course, there are a few things you should look out for. Beta software is buggy and can lead to data loss or apps that don’t work. This particular beta is a rough one, with lots of broken animations and features. A lot of apps you use probably won’t work correctly. I strongly recommend that you at least wait for the public beta — it’ll be available starting in July.
If you’re still sure you want to try it out, you’ll need to install iOS 26 on your iPhone first. I’ll show you how.
How to download the watchOS 26 public beta
Table of contents: How to download the watchOS 26 public beta
1. Install the iOS 26 public beta
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Before you download the watchOS beta, you need to install the iOS beta on the same iPhone that’s tied to your Apple Watch. You can find that article here — remember to double-check that you have a recent iCloud backup and that your Photos library is synced first.
2. Switch to allow beta software updates
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app and tap General > Software Update. After it checks for updates, you’ll see the option appear for Beta Updates. Tap that and you’ll see the options currently available: Off, watchOS 26 Public Beta, watchOS 26 Developer Beta, watchOS 11 Public Beta and watchOS 11 Developer Beta.
- The watchOS 26 Public Beta is a safer way to enjoy the prerelease software. Updates will go out at the same pace of every two to three weeks, but released about a day later to make sure there are no critical bugs in the software.
- The watchOS 26 Developer Beta is the fast track, intended for app developers to test functionality and implement new features. These betas are released a little early, but have a higher risk of bugs.
Tap watchOS 26 Public Beta to get the flashy new update with all the latest fitness features.
3. Download the watchOS 26 beta update
Swipe back and you’ll see the watchOS 26 update available. Tap Download and Install to, well, download and install the update. Going up a major release version may take longer than the usual software update.
At the end, you’ll reboot into the shiny new watchOS 26 beta! You can expect to get a new software update every few weeks until September.
We originally published this article on how to download the watchOS beta on June 11, 2024. We updated it with the latest information on June 10, 2025 and June 25, 2025.
D. Griffin Jones is a writer, podcaster and video producer for Cult of Mac. Griffin has been a passionate computer enthusiast since 2002, when he got his first PC — but since getting a Mac in 2008, he hasn’t turned back. His skills in graphic and web design, along with video and podcast editing, are self-taught over 20+ years. Griffin has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and has written several (unpublished) apps for Mac and iOS. His collection of old computers is made up of 40+ desktops, laptops, PDAs and devices, dating back to the early ’80s. He brings all of these creative and technical skills, along with a deep knowledge of Apple history, into his work for Cult of Mac.
