Apple is gearing up to release iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6 to the public soon, as evidenced by the seeding of the Release Candidate (RC) versions to developers today.
What’s an RC? A Release Candidate (RC) version is essentially the final pre-release stage of a software update before it’s made available to the public. It’s like the software has graduated from the “testing” phase and is now ready for its “graduation ceremony” – the public release.
No major new features are available on iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6. Apple’s release notes remain vague, as usual, but the focus is likely on improving system stability and addressing any lingering issues.
Based on Apple’s typical release cycle, iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6 are expected to launch publicly next week. Users can expect to receive update notifications on their devices.
Alongside the iOS and iPadOS updates, Apple also seeded the RC version of macOS Sonoma 14.6 to developers. Similar to the mobile updates, macOS Sonoma 14.6 is likely centered around bug fixes and security improvements. The public release of macOS Sonoma 14.6 is also expected next week.
As with the iOS and iPadOS updates, developer accounts are required to access the macOS Sonoma 14.6 RC build.
Here are the release notes for iOS 17.6, iPadOS 17.6, and macOS 14.6.