Apple seeds Release Candidate iOS 15.5, iPadOS 15.5, tvOS 15.5, watchOS 8.6 developer betas

Apple is now on the fifth beta round for the current roster of operating systems, with Release Candidate builds of iOS 15.5, iPadOS 15.5, tvOS 15.5, and watchOS 8.6 available to developers for testing.

The newest builds can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center for those enrolled in the test program, or as an over-the-air update on devices running beta software. Public betas usually arrive shortly after the developer counterparts, accessible through the Apple Beta Software Program website.

The Release Candidate beta follows the fourth developer beta, which arrived on May 3. The third landed on April 26. The second landed on April 19, and the first betas for iOS 15.5, iPadOS 15.5, tvOS 15.5, and watchOS 8.6 were issued on April 5.

Most major changes will probably be kept for the WWDC 2022 keynote in June, meaning the current betas will revolve around providing performance improvements and bug fixes.

The betas for iOS 15.5 so far included references to an "Apple Classical" app, along with an addition to the Home app displaying Wi-Fi signal indicators for the HomePod, and the discovery of Request and Send buttons for Apple Pay Cash in the Wallet app.

The new build number for iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5 is 19F77, taking over from 19F5070b. The tvOS 15.5 build number of 19L6570 replaces the previous 19L5569a build, and the watchOS 8.6 build number is 19T572 up from 19T5570a.

AppleInsider, and Apple itself, strongly advise users avoid installing beta software on to "mission-critical" or primary devices, due to the small possibility of data loss or other issues. Instead, testers should install betas onto secondary or non-essential devices, and to ensure there are sufficient backups of important data before updating in the first place.

Find any changes in the new betas? Reach out to us on Twitter at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at andrew@AppleInsider.com.