Apple releases iOS 17 beta 8 to developers

The eighth developer beta of iOS 17 is now available to testers.

Following months of speculation and anticipation, iOS 17 beta 1 was released to developers during WWDC23. And as our hands-on reveals, iOS 17 is a somewhat minor update, particularly if you don't often rely on iMessage and FaceTime to communicate with your social circle. Despite that, however, there are still plenty of smaller additions across the system, and Apple continues to introduce more with every new beta version. So now that iOS 17 beta 8 is available to those enrolled in the Apple Developer Program, it's time to delve into this build and observe the changes and new features it potentially packs.

We're currently testing and digging through this build on the latest iPhones available. We will update this article if we spot new offerings and tweaks, so make sure to revisit and refresh this page every now and then. In the meantime, you may want to take a look at Apple's official release notes, where the company has highlighted the bugs and fixes included in this beta. Keep in mind, though, that we're approaching the final, public release of iOS 17. Consequently, this beta may not pack any interesting or noticeable changes.

iOS 17 beta 6 moved the End Call button from the bottom right corner to the center, but only when the keypad is hidden. iOS 17 beta 7 now streamlines this button's location when the keypad is displayed by moving it to the center of that interface. Furthermore, beta 7 restores the haptic feedback when toggling the mute switch. A bug in a previous beta had disabled it.

iOS 17 beta 6 introduces a few changes, including a new splash screen when launching the Photos app for the first time. Additionally, the End Call button has been centered again after Apple had moved it to the bottom right corner in previous releases. Lastly, when toggling the mute switch, your iPhone will no longer produce a haptic feedback. Whether this is a bug or intentional behavior is yet to be seen.

iOS 17 beta 5 brings some noticeable tweaks. These include sample data sets for the new Check In feature that demonstrate the difference between Full and Limited sharing. The samples, along with the aforementioned options, can be found in the Messages section of the Settings app. Furthermore, when viewing the State of Mind category in the Health app, you'll notice a new graphic at the very top.

When updating to iOS 17 beta 4, you will notice a new, more colorful icon for the Home Screen & App Library section in the Settings app. Prior to this update, the icon used to show a basic iPhone glyph with a blue background.

Other changes introduced in iOS 17 beta 4 include new toggles in the Settings app. There's now an option to prevent AirDrop/NameDrop from activating when bringing devices together and another to show notification previews only when tapping the screen in Standby mode.

Apart from the aforementioned changes, iOS 17 beta 4 also overhauls the iMessage app icons. They're now uniform circles rather than freeform shapes. This consequently reverts the dynamic Photos app icon that was introduced in beta 3.

Additionally, iOS 17 beta 4 tweaks the Apple TV Remote icon in the Control Center and the Pause/Play button the in actual app.

iOS 17 beta 3 introduces a dedicated button for song credits in the Apple Music app. When you tap it, you get to view a clean list of composers and songwriters, in addition to the actual lyrics and available audio quality.

iOS 17 beta 3 also includes two new splash screens in the built-in Home and Podcasts apps. When you first launch these applications after the update, you get a summarized preview of the new features included in them.

Additionally, when updating to iOS 17 beta 3, you may notice that the Photos app in iMessage now shows the thumbnail of the latest photo added to your library. This icon changes as you add more photos to your Camera Roll. Prior to this beta build, it used to show a generic, static image.

When trying to AirDrop an item on iOS 17 beta 2, the interface now mentions that you can bring two iPhones close to each other to initiate the transfer. The feature was first announced during WWDC, and it seemingly was missing in beta 1.

In the Settings app on iOS 17 beta 2, there's a new section dedicated to the Fitness app. There users get to control some of the app's permissions and view how their data is managed.

iOS 17 beta 1 first introduced Standby mode. Beta 2 now adds a new toggle in Standby settings, allowing you to optionally disable non-critical notifications. This way, regular notifications don't take over your screen when you're in this mode.

iOS 17 beta 1 introduced a Crossfade toggle in the Music settings. When enabling it, though, the Settings app would crash, and users would have no way to access the Music section again. Fortunately, iOS 17 beta 2 fixes this bug and introduces a slider, allowing you to pick the number of seconds for the crossfade feature.

When updating to iOS 17 beta 2 from beta 1, you will notice a refreshed Software Update settings page with more prominent Update Now and Update Tonight buttons.

iOS 17 focuses on upgrades to the Messages, Phone, and FaceTime apps. Through this release, users can create and set Contact Posters, exchange their contact cards more easily through NameDrop, utilize new FaceTime reactions and effects, in addition to being able to share stickers in new ways.

Apart from the communication updates, users on this version get to take advantage of Standby mode, which turns compatible iPhones to smart displays of sorts when charging in landscape orientation. That's not to mention the Apple Journal app, which will be debuting later this year through an iOS 17.x update.

If you're interested in this release, you can install iOS 17 beta on your compatible iPhone by following the steps in our guide. Alternatively, you could wait for the stable, public release, which is set to be released in the fall. Keep in mind, though, that beta builds can be buggy and unstable. So unless you're fine with this, you may want to avoid installing prerelease versions on your daily driver.

Mahmoud is a Beiruti who has always sought freedom through writing. He's been actively testing Apple products for around a decade, and he currently uses an iPhone 14 Pro, MacBook Air M2, iPad Air M1, Apple Watch Series 7, AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Max, Apple TV 4K 3, and HomePod Mini. You’ll likely find him jogging at a park, swimming in open water, brainstorming at a coffeehouse, composing poetry on a rooftop, or merely lost in nature. You can reach out to Mahmoud via Instagram or email.