In the past, Apple’s developer betas were exclusively available to developers who held a paid account costing $99 per year. However, Apple is changing this behavior. The company has changed its longstanding practice, opening up access to a broader audience beyond paying developers.
As first noted by @iSWUpdates on Twitter, “OS beta releases” are now listed as a free resource in a support page when users register for the free Apple Developer account with just their Apple ID. Other sources noted the change earlier today, which was initially thought to be a bug on Apple’s part.
As of this change, anyone can download and install the new developer betas of iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma without the need to wait for public betas, which are usually made available sometime in July.
After users register their Apple ID with Apple Developer, a new menu will appear in the Setting app under General -> Software Update -> Beta Updates, where a new “iOS 17 Developer Beta” option will be visible. Users will then be able to download and install developer betas as normal.
