Will there be another watchOS 9.6 beta? Next watchOS 9.6 Release Candidate release window

The latest watchOS 9.6 beta news in one place

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There is plenty going on right now for Apple’s range of operating systems, so we’re making our next watchOS 9.6 beta release date prediction. Before the full version of watchOS 9.6 arrives. Any owner of an iPhone and Apple Watch – whether it be the Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Ultra, or a recent addition to the mainline Apple Watch Series, should be looking forward to the latest edition of watchOS.

Right now, we’re working our way towards the latter stages of the watchOS 9 life cycle. Apple’s latest watchOS 10 is on the horizon, and it’s already making its way through the developer beta versions, with a public version arriving in July. The conference focused on brand-new Apple tech, as well as their range of software and operating systems – such as iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS.

With that in mind, let’s figure out: what is the latest watchOS 9.6 beta? Alternatively: when is the next watchOS 9.6 beta? We expect to see this software update pretty soon.

Next Apple watchOS 9.6 Release Candidate release window prediction – will there be another watchOS 9.6 beta?

Beta 5 was the most recently released ‘beta’ version of watchOS 9.6, coming on July 10th. However, this was closely followed up by the first Release Candidate version – which spells the end of the watchOS 9.6 beta. As MacRumors report, the first RC version is here and represents the final version of the software for testing, before it is made available to the public. In the past, we’ve seen a couple of RC versions before the public release, but it’s entirely possible that Apple jump straight to this.

To answer the question, no, there won’t be another watchOS 9.6 beta. We expect to see either another RC update or simply the full watchOS 9.6 release date, this could be arriving around a couple of weeks time – so we predict a window of around late July or early August.

watchOS 9.6 Release Candidate out now

The latest news is that the watchOS 9.6 betas should now have come to close. That is due to the first Release Candidate version being released to developers on July 18th. The Release Candidate represents the final version of the upcoming OS update, before it goes fully public. Based on what we’ve seen in the past, there can be a couple of RC versions, but we could jump straight to the full 9.6 version – we’ll have to wait and see.

watchOS 9.6 beta 5 release date – out now

Apple watchOS 9.6 beta 5 is available to download for developers who are part of the Apple Developer Program. This latest beta version was released on July 10th, so now we wait for beta 6! Unfortunately these small beta versions don’t offer much in the form of release notes / patch notes. Many changes will be minor and simply improve performance or fix bugs that you may have not even encountered. Like we mentioned above, there is a decent chance that the beta versions will be coming to an end soon, and watchOS 9.6 finally goes public.

watchOS 9.6 beta release date history

Investigating the release date history of watchOS in recent times is a good way of understanding where we’re up to. In terms of current stable releases, we’re at watchOS 9.5.2, which arrived on June 21st, providing some security fixes. However, these watchOS 9.6 betas have been made available to developers recently.

• watchOS 9.6 beta 1 release date: May 19th, 2023
• watchOS 9.6 beta 2 release date: May 31st, 2023
• watchOS 9.6 beta 3 release date: June 15th, 2023
• watchOS 9.6 beta 4 release date: June 27th, 2023
• watchOS 9.6 beta 5 release date: July 10th, 2023
• watchOS 9.6 Release Candidate: July 18th, 2023

As you can see, Apple Developer Program members have been able to opt in to a number of watchOS 9.6 betas already. With that in mind, we can look forward to another beta in the near future. It’s possible that we jump straight from the beta phase to the full release too, especially with watchOS 10 currently in beta at the same time.

watchOS 9.6 next beta features (expected)

Beta versions themselves don’t provide a whole host of changes, instead focusing on small bug fixes. Apple do actually have release notes for their watchOS versions, though they don’t currently have much information about changes (at the time of writing) for the current beta 5.

watchOS 9 introduced a ton of new features back when it released with the latest generation of Apple Watches, so the latest beta or Release Candidate will be looking to refine these and fix any outstanding bugs. Many fixes go unspecified, so it’s hard to tell what has really changed unless you have encountered a small problem yourself. watchOS 9.5 did however give us the new Pride Celebration watch face, so another face design could arrive in 9.6 beta 5 before focus is shifted more to the watchOS 10 development.

watchOS 9.6 beta release date FAQs

How do I download the watchOS 9.6 Release Candidate?

The first Release Candidate is now available to developers so you will need to be a part of the Apple Developer Program.

Download the configuration profile on the Apple Developer Center, then it can be installed in your Apple Watch settings or the Apple Watch app on your iPhone by going to General > Software Update.

Does my Apple Watch support watchOS 9.6 beta?

If your Apple Watch currently supports watchOS 9, then it will have no problem upgrading to watchOS 9.6 beta 3. Both the Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Ultra support watchOS 9, as well as Apple Watch Series 4 or later.

You also need an iPhone 8 or later, with iOS 16 or later installed.

Apple watchOS 9.6 beta release date : Final word

Now you know all about where we’re up to for Apple’s watchOS 9.6 beta release date. Apple revealed all about the next generation of watchOS during WWDC this year. We covered all sorts of Apple reveals during the week, but you can still stay updated with the watchOS 9.6 beta versions with us here amidst the hype for watchOS 10.