Many iPhone and iPad users are hotly anticipating the eventual release of iOS 12, with its notable performance improvements and optimization focus, along with dozens of refinements and new features.
iOS 12 is sure to be a nice software update to devices that will support the latest and greatest iOS ever made, but the obvious question is then this; when exactly will iOS 12 be released? What is the release date for iOS 12?
If you were hoping for a precise answer to this question, there isn’t one yet – at least one that is publicly known outside of Cupertino.
iOS 12 Release Date: Fall 2018
Currently Apple has not nailed down a precise timeline or launch date, but what Apple has said is that iOS 12 will debut in the fall of 2018.
Precisely, Apple quotes the following: “iOS 12 will be available this fall as a free software update” on their press release announcing iOS 12 at WWDC 2018.
Of course fall of 2018 is a bit vague, but the Autumn equinox and official start of fall is Saturday, September 22, suggesting that the iOS 12 release date will be sometime after that.
Historically, Apple often releases a new iOS version around the same time they launch new iPhone devices, and that can be anytime in the last week of September, the month of October, or perhaps even as late as November though the latter would be a bit unusual. Ultimately it’s all speculation at this point, as only Apple knows when exactly iOS 12 will be released, assuming they have a tight deadline to meet anyway.
The fall is obviously several months out, but if you’re impatient and want to experience iOS 12 before then there are options for the adventurous with beta versions of iOS 12 that can be run. The developer beta of iOS 12 is available to download and technically it can be installed by anyone (though it’s not recommended) and a public beta of iOS 12 will be widely available as well. If you’re interested in the beta versions, the only real requirement is tolerance to running beta software because it is buggier than normal, and you must have an iPhone or iPad on the iOS 12 supported device list. And if you happen to run the beta and decide it’s not for you, you can always downgrade iOS 12 beta back to a stable iOS build with a little effort, so long as you have backups made.
So that’s what is known for now; the iOS 12 release date is sometime in fall of this year, which also happens to be the currently known timeline for the release date of macOS Mojave too.
It’s fairly likely that Apple will eventually nail down an exact release date for iOS 12, perhaps even during the launch of a new iPhone, but until then you’ll just need to have some flexibility and acceptance that the fall timeline is what is currently known, even if it’s a bit vague for some users preferences. Be patient, it will be worth the wait!