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Apple Seeds watchOS 26.5, tvOS 26.5 and visionOS 26.5 Release Candidates

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Apple today provided developers with the release candidate versions of upcoming watchOS 26.5, tvOS 26.5, and visionOS 26.5 betas for testing purposes. The software comes a week after Apple released the fourth betas for each platform.

General visionOS watchOS and tvOS Betas Feature Redux
The software updates are available through the Settings app on each device, and because these are developer betas, a free developer account is required.

watchOS 26.5 adds a new Pride watch face to go along with the 2026 Pride Apple Watch band.

There's no word on what other features are in the software as of yet. watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS often get few features in each new beta, with updates primarily focusing on bug fixes and performance improvements. Nothing new was found in the betas.

watchOS 26.5, visionOS 26.5, and tvOS 26.5 are likely to see a public release next week.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, watchOS 26, watchOS 27
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy), Vision Pro (Neutral)
Related Forums: Apple TV and Home Theater, Apple Vision Pro, Apple Watch

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Top Rated Comments

xDKP Avatar
xDKP
19 weeks ago

Nothing new again...
Crazy how many .x releases that literally have almost zero news for the watch. One big update annually (that’s not even massive) is just not enough - tons of small features and updates the team could provide for the workout app, mapping and navigation while running etc.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jphall Avatar
jphall
19 weeks ago

I just said nothing new ? (other than the new watch face of course)... Look Apple this year is doing bad, only liquid ass that's most of it ! Ton of bugs that aren't fixed... come on you want me to be happy?
I've been using Apple products since 1987, so far no OS or app has ever been done, and never will be. There may not be "new features" with this update, but the whole thing continues to work better. There are no significant bugs affecting my work, and overall my production apps work better than ever, that's more important to me than new features, especially just a month before WWDC.

I understand your frustration, it is true that I don't like it all. But more important to me is that i get more done with greater ease now than with any previous OS version, and all Apple OS continue to evolve.

With that context it looks different. Look at it as a snapshot in time of things not done and it doesn't look done.

My two cents worth.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aves Avatar
Aves
19 weeks ago
Again, a whole bunch of [MEDIA=giphy]baPIkfAo0Iv5K[/MEDIA]
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
H
hidehide
19 weeks ago

I just said nothing new ? (other than the new watch face of course)... Look Apple this year is doing bad, only liquid ass that's most of it ! Ton of bugs that aren't fixed... come on you want me to be happy?
That’s the reason why Tim has to step down.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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