The sixth developer beta of iPadOS 26 is now available for download. On an M1 iPad Pro, the update comes in at about 9 GB.

This release arrives about a week after Developer Beta 5, signifying we are in the latter stages the beta cycle. Releases generally go to weekly in August with very few noticeable changes, and then at some point stop all together ahead of the Release Candidate build.

Developer Beta 5 included a number of touches to the design like a new lockscreen animation for the keypad, a new AirDrop icon.

This post will be updated with any new features or changes as they’re discovered.

New Features and Improvements

Exposé UI Update

Each app now shows its App icon at the bottom of its View in Exposé.

Glass Effect more Pronounced on Lock Screen Clock

Compare to Beta 5, the clock on the lock screen looks glassier..you can really see it where the bottom of the 3 hits the different colors of the background.

New Onboarding Carousel

When upgrading to Beta 6, you’ll be greeted with a new carousel that details the major new changes in this release.

New Variations of Default Ringtone

Under the Default section in Sounds -> Ringtone, there are a collection of new ringtone that appear to be variations of the included default tone.

Preview Launch Animation

There’s the fun little animation that plays now when opening the Preview app

Update 08-12: Shoutout to alexdornier on Threads for pointing out the loupe is interactive!

New Onboarding Screens for Photos

Resizable Sidebars

Sidebars appear to now be slightly resizable in a number of apps like Files or Settings (and presumably any app that uses the standard system control).