Hi everyone, Aaron here for zolotete and iOS 26 public beta 3 and beta 6 along with beta 6 re-release released earlier this week and iOS 18.6.1 has been out a couple days as well. But there's even more to talk about since the iOS 26 beta 6 is out what's new video. We'll talk about the latest Apple news as well as some new features that have been found since the initial video and also the overall experience. Not just my experience using it on the 16 Pro Max, but your experience based off the YouTube community poll where at the time of this video there's over 12,000 votes and 116 comments. I've gone through all the comments to determine what the experience is like for everyone. So, be sure to stick around toward the end of the video where I'll read some of your comments as well. Now, Apple opened some new stores this week and one store they opened is in China. They actually gave out a free wallpaper like they typically do. You can see the store here. It's open now. And the new wallpaper looks like this. I'll link it in the description below if you want to check it out for yourself, but you can download and place this on your phone as well and use it as your background or whatever you'd like. Mac OS Tahoe has some great new screen savers as well. You can actually check them out for yourself, even if you don't have a Mac. Apple uploaded them all to servers. You can see them here posted by Mac Rumors. And if we scroll down, you'll see that we have some new things. And this is a bug here. I think when it's in reader mode, you can't scroll, but let's go ahead and scroll down. You'll see Lake Tahoe collection, Himalayan landscapes, Indian coastal and natural scenes. So, maybe we'll go to Tahoe evening. You can see it here. Play directly on your phone if you want to see what it looks like. Or again, maybe we'll go down here. And again, when it goes into reader mode, you can't scroll for some reason. But if we go down to Himalayan Peaks, you can see it here. Again, if I rotate it, you'll see what it looks like. So, if you want to check out all these screen savers, I'll link them in the description below, so you can check them out and you can install them on your phone or maybe your background as well, even if you're not using Tahoe. Quite a few people have been asking me questions about needing clarification on iOS 18.6.1 and watch OS 11.6.1 6.1 where Apple brought the blood oxygen sensor feature back to the Apple Watch on the Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the United States specifically where it was banned if you purchased it after January of 2024. So, I thought I'd go over a couple things. The first thing is if your watch already has the feature. So, prior to this, if you already had blood oxygen sensors, it was working fine, there's no change in any way. If you install iOS 18.6.1, 6.1, it'll still work the same way it always has. You'll see it in the vitals app. You'll see it on your watch and everything else. If you gain the feature with 18.6.1 and 11.6.1, it will show the test results specifically on the iPhone, not the Apple Watch, is that's sort of the workaround. The calculations are done on the iPhone and show in the health app only. The watch will still capture background measurements of blood oxygen in sleep, for example, and then again show them in the health app. We still do need a little bit of clarification on if it can display on the vitals app on the Apple Watch. However, we haven't seen any posts about that confirming it either way, and I'm still testing that. So, let me know if you're seeing it. Maybe you have the latest update, specifically on the feature update that you got it on your new watch. So, if you didn't have it before, let me know if it's showing in vitals. However, I don't believe it can show it on the watch as the workaround is to show it and calculate it on the iPhone. In the weekend follow-up videos like this one, I don't typically talk about too many future updates as far as leaks and rumors. However, it seems Apple slipped this week. Apple accidentally leaked code and software on Wednesday with new hardware identifiers pointing to new products of which many of we've heard of, some we haven't. Now, we know Apple is working on them and they should be coming soon. So, within code, it was actually identified. Mac Rumors posted about this and they're expecting a few different things such as a new HomePod mini, an updated Apple TV with an A17 Pro chip, a new iPad and iPad Mini with updated chipsets as well, a new Vision Pro with an M5 chip, Apple Studio Display 2, and updated Apple Watches. Of course, we already expect the Apple Watch in just about a month or so, but it looks like all of those things are confirmed in the code. So, those are things coming very soon as Apple seemed to slip up on that. Apple is also testing iOS 26.4 already as Mac Rumors has identified it in their visitor logs this past week as well. We expect a couple features at least that we know about the new Siri update and also iOS 26.4 will bring some new emojis complying with the latest uniode standard. So that's something they comply with. Apple doesn't come up with the emoji. They rather comply with the uniode standard. So that's what we'll expect in that update. Probably some other things as well. Now, we've been waiting for an experience like this where iOS 26 beta 6 is so much better and has made many excited for iOS 26 since it's such a better experience. We'll talk about the experience in a bit. But first, let's take a look at some more features. And the first thing has to do with messages. If we go into messages, within messages, at the top, we have our options. Tap on that and then go to photos. Under photos, we now have a new option where we can show it within the conversation. it will show us exactly where that photo was taken and where we talked about within the conversation. So if I type or tap on show in conversation, you'll see that here. And so it says all the information when it was sent and then of course within the conversation where we're talking about it. So that's a nice little update. It's been in things like WhatsApp for a while now though. If we go into the control center, you may have already seen this. If we press and hold, you'll see the icons pulse. Now, I actually like this better than the jiggle mode we have on the home screen, but this is something new. That was a little bit choppy there as well, but you'll see it has this nice pulse effect where we don't have the jiggle mode. So, I would like to see that on the home screen as well. Maybe they'll change it up in future updates. Now, preview has been updated as well. I talked about this a little bit where you can see the loop here and you can move it around in different apps, but now it actually is a little bit larger as far as the overall buttons. It has a slight redesign as well. So, you can see that here where it says new document, scan documents, and it's just a little bit larger. The loop I was talking about is on the iPad. I haven't seen it on the iPhone, though. And on the iPad, if we go into preview, you'll see the loop here. We can move it around, and this is sort of a skumorphic loop that we can move around. It shows liquid glass and shows what glass looks like as you're using a loop or what's underneath it sort of magnifies. So, it's kind of a nice little touch, something we haven't seen Apple do in a while. Another thing new in iOS 26 betas. I'm not sure if this is part of beta 6 or maybe an earlier update, but if you're using a dock kit enabled accessory, there's a new splash screen that pops up and a new option for your control center. This was sent in by a viewer, Coramier Singh. So, we'll go ahead and put this on our doc kit enabled doc from Belelin. Give it a second to sync. Now, it's synced and you'll see we have a new control here at the top. Now, the first time this opens, it actually says background mode allows a Dockit enabled accessory to keep the subject in frame by running the camera in the background while using other apps on your phone. Turn dock kit background mode off from control center. So, now we have a new option in the control center that you can add and you'll see it here. So, again, if we pair this, we'll go back home. Now, we have the control in the top here. We can tap on it. It says turn off dock kit background mode or we can disable it in the control center where we have it here. So you can turn that on or off if you're using a dock kit enabled accessory that can track you around like this as I move around. Within the camera settings down at the bottom we have the option for lens cleaning hints. This is something that many of us thought was mainly only for the rear camera, but recently someone sent in that it shows up on the front camera as well. I've also seen it posted elsewhere online, but if you've got something obstructing the camera, it will let you know that you need to clean the front or the rear camera, depending on which one has the smudge on it or needs to be cleaned. This other thing is fairly minor, but if we use Siri to maybe restart the phone, restart the phone, please, it will pop up and you'll see the Siri restart button is now red. This has been there since earlier betas, but before this, it was blue. So, I'm not sure it needs to be read or not, but they did make that change. There's also a new splash screen that shows up in the journal app the first time you open it. I don't know that I dismissed it or not. There it is. It says, "What's new in journal now on iPad and Mac? Keep multiple journals, create richer entries, and more." Now, on the iPad, there's a couple things worth mentioning. If we go into settings, we can no longer dismiss the settings sidebar. However, we can adjust the size of it. So, we can slide it larger or smaller. And you can do this in any app now. So you'll see as I make it larger, smaller, maybe we'll go to Safari, bring in the sidebar, and again, we can resize it. Just grab it here on the side. It is a little tricky to do, but you'll see there now we can resize it. And again, you can do this in any app. Now, so if you have a sidebar, maybe we'll go into TV here. Again, we can resize it there. So that's something that's a little bit different in this update. One other thing that was found in the code is that it looks like the AirPods live translation feature may come in the next beta. So 9 to5 Mac actually found this and there's kind of an odd bug here on my screen. You can see that here. I haven't seen that one before, but you'll see as I opened up the AirPods, it's making my screen bounce with the AirPods showing the charging status. So if we close that, reopen it and it's still doing it. So, I'm not sure what that bug is about, but basically, it looks like the live translation feature is coming in a future beta, maybe with iOS 26. It could be 26.1, though. Also, it seems that the Siri update is going to be receiving a major redesign next year with Apple Intelligence. Mark German is now saying that the visual design of Siri will actually change when it releases. So, maybe with iOS 26.4, it will no longer be this glow. Maybe they'll change it again to signify that it's much smarter overall. So, we'll have to wait and see if they actually do that, but don't expect that this year. That should be early next year. Now, we're getting closer and closer to iPhone 17. Just about a month or so away, we should have them in hand, I would think, or they'll be releasing within that week. And internal images of what the iPhone 17 Pro Max frame could look like were leaked by YUEX1122 this week on the neighbor blog. They actually show a metal covered battery and a mid-frame that could better dissipate heat. We've had a lot of issues with heat since the titanium frames. The aluminum or aluminium should help dissipate that heat. And the overall design could do that as well. So, I really hope we get the two-tone design though, other than these sort of matte designs that are just covering the whole back. Some of them show a two-tone design here, and that would make more sense for the placement of the Apple logo that we're seeing on the dummy models that I have here. So, maybe we'll see that. We don't really know, but I'm thinking I'm going to pick up the blue one, maybe the orange. I'm not sure yet. Releases this week were a bit odd. We had iOS 18.6.1, iOS 26 betas, then a re-release and public beta, and some others as well. However, we never received iPad OS 18.6.1, but it was available. Here's a screenshot from online where we had iPad OS 18.6.1. However, the only way to install this is with a computer. It's not available to download over the air. So, we're not really sure why Apple did this as they publicly released iOS 18.6.1, but the only way to get 18.6.1 on your iPad is to download and install it. So, I'm not sure why they did that, but they must have a reason. Now, as far as the Apple event, we do expect the iPhone 17 Apple event to be sometime in early September. That means we should see Apple event invites probably in a couple weeks at this point and then the event should probably take place on September 8th. Usually it's on a Monday and based on that I would expect the pre-orders to go live on the 12th and then it be released to everyone on the 19th of September. So that's usually what they do and that means iOS 26 would release to the public sometime around the 15th of September. So next week I would expect iOS 26 beta 7 along with public beta 4 and then beta 8 maybe the following week and then the RC and then the public release. So we're getting very close and it's much better than we anticipated. So I think many people have waited for this. It seems to be a good release and I'm pretty excited about it now that they're refining things. But that's what I would expect as far as releases. Now as far as the overall experience, first let's talk about iOS 18.6.1. iOS 18.6.1 is basically iOS 18.6. However, some people have said it's better than iOS 18.6 and fixed their bugs. There's still that wallpaper bug here, so you can see it here. It doesn't really dim on this wallpaper, but I showed it in the initial what's new video and the background would dim. Other than that, there's maybe some notification glitches from time to time, but it's a pretty stable update and it should be. It's pretty much almost done. Maybe we'll get an iOS 18.7 and some smaller security updates after that, but that's about it for iOS 18. The overall experience of iOS 26 beta 6 and public beta 3 is that it's generally incredibly fast, mostly smooth. There's been no crashing so far, at least for me, or many report online. And you'll see everything's just super fluid. Going into the camera, things open quickly. Everything is just working closer to what you would expect for a public release. So, that's great news. But there's still some bugs here and there. For example, using voice dictation causes some issues. So, I don't know if I can get it to reproduce it here, but this is a message using voice dictation. And we'll see if we can get some odd symbols that seem to appear from time to time for me. I noticed other people talked about this as well. Sometimes they would just show some odd symbols here. So, I'm not sure why that happened, but it's definitely an odd bug. Also, sometimes when you take a screenshot, it would show high contrast. So, if you go into a screenshot, you'll have that high contrast and sometimes even turning off the setting for HDR doesn't seem to fix it. So, if you go into settings, there's also some touch responsive issues you may have seen there that some others are seeing. But, if we go under screen capture, HDR is off. Some people are seeing some bugs even if it's on SDR as well. Also, YouTube still crashes, although that's an app issue and that will probably be updated before it's released. Screen flickering is completely gone, so that's great. and Siri sometimes is not activating when a YouTube video is playing. Also, there's the Apple CarPlay issues. So, some people are having Apple CarPlay issues where it just won't work at all or just crashes sometime when you're using it or every time. However, it works fine for me and quite a few others, but there's some spacing issues for me. So, it's not perfect. Again, it's a work in progress, but much much better and what we've been waiting for. When it comes to performance, well, it's mostly good. As I mentioned before, animations are fast and smooth. Scrolling using promotion is nice and smooth. It's ramping up and down like you would expect, at least on promotion devices. And even on non-promotion devices, the overall animation speed is nice and fast. Of course, you're just not going to get the smoothness of promotion with that. Going back and forth, going into different apps, going into just settings, everything just feels fluid and fast and doesn't get slow. You also have that nice reflection around everything. And I don't want to share AirDrop there, but I bumped them together with Nearby Share. But overall, it's just a great experience when it comes to performance. Heat and thermals is definitely better this time around, but still quite warm. It's still processing a lot in the background, and this phone feels warmer than last time, and that's a little bit odd for today. But let's take a look at it. Even though I run benchmarks typically in between, let's do that on the 16 Pro Max running iOS 26 beta 6 re-release. You'll see it's at about 42.8° C. On iOS 18.6.1 on the same device, we're at about 38.7° C. So, overall pretty good. Definitely an improvement on iOS 18 compared to 26, but that's to be expected. Benchmarks completed and despite it still being fairly warm, they're decent results overall. So, on iOS 18.6.1, 6.1 we scored 3542 for single core, 8,687 for multi-core. On iOS 26 beta 6 re-release, we have 3,378 for single core, 8,418 for multi-core. Both are quite good overall, well within the margin of error, and I would expect them to perform pretty good just based off of this alone. As far as battery life, iOS 18.6.1, it's still a little bit early, but overall people are saying that it's great. Most people on iOS 18.6 were getting easily through a full day if they have a newer battery and many send in their battery life getting 10 to 12 hours of screen on time if they're on a 16 Pro Max. So overall, I would not expect any difference whatsoever from iOS 18.6 when it comes to battery life. On iOS 26 beta 6 and beta 6 re-release, well, I used beta 6 initially for the week. And if we take a look at battery life, you'll see under battery health, I have 96% capacity with 296 cycles. When it comes to the overall usage, we'll go down to battery usage, and you'll see today, well, let's go back a day. I had 3 hours and 23 minutes of screen active time, 5 hours and 21 minutes of screen idle time, and used 82% of the battery. The day before, I used 96% and had 4 hours and 31 minutes of screen active time. Now, that doesn't look great, but it's better than what we had the previous week. So, it's better than beta 5 for me. Not phenomenal, but it's definitely improving for me, and I think it will once we get closer to a final release. So, if you're wondering if you should install iOS 18.6.1 or iOS 26 betas at this point, I would say definitely, if you're questioning it, stay on iOS 18.6, 18.6.1 releases. However, if you want to try out iOS 26, public beta 3 is a great option as it seems to be super stable. Just make sure that you actually have a backup beforehand in case you need to go back. But you can only go back using a computer, whether that's Mac or Windows. But generally, at this point, it feels much, much faster, much better than it was before, but you will get worse battery life. So, just keep that in mind. Now, as far as what you had to say about the experience, let's take a look at some of your comments. Luke H. E8i said, "iOIOS 26 beta 6 re-release on iPhone 16e. Battery is pretty good, about the same as beta 5. Performance is excellent other than minor bugs and slowdowns in phone and messaging where it will slow down at times." Ronald Scherk97 says, "I love iOS 26 beta 6 re-release. No noticeable bugs. I see battery is okay, not great, and super snappy and fast from iOS 18.6 daily driver 16 Pro Max." Donnie Stunt says, "Beta 6 re-release on iPhone 13 Pro Max. My phone is so buggy opening and closing apps. Just incredibly terrible." The eight travel girl said, "So far is quick. So quick that when I was trying to open one of your short videos, it got stuck and 5 minutes later it was opening more than five videos back to back. Hopefully this re-release don't drain the battery, but I love the fact the apps close real quick." 13 Shannanu says, "This is the best beta so far in any iOS versions beta ever. Super snappy, barely noticeable, barely any noticeable bugs, no resprings, topped software. Hope iOS 26 stays that way throughout. Sage Nudo 33 said, "Beta 6 is extremely snappy. It feels like they are on the polishing step." Now, as far as overall storage, let's go ahead and take a look since we didn't do that in the what's new video. So, if we go to general and then we go to iPhone storage, we'll wait for it to load and then scroll to the bottom. You'll see that iOS 18.6.1 on the left is taking up 18.66 66 GB. iOS 26 beta 6 re-release is taking up 19.77 GB. Apple Intelligence is taking up 6.27 compared to 6.28 and then 19.77 total. So overall, I would expect it to be a little bit larger, but it seems like they're refining it as well. So the majority of comments about iOS 26 beta 6 and the re-release and public beta 3 are overwhelmingly positive. Users are describing things such as performance being snappy and buttery smooth. Most say it's the most stable beta yet, with several stating it feels like it's a final GM or official release. However, I still think it needs a little bit more. This is a significant improvement over earlier betas though and a big jump over beta 5, so I can't wait to see what beta 7 is like. So, at this point, summer is flying by. We're almost at beta 7. Maybe just a couple betas left or maybe an RC is right around the corner. Let me know what your favorite feature is on iOS 26 and also if you're planning to pick up an iPhone 17 or not and which model. I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. So, that's everything with iOS 18.6.1 and iOS 26 beta 6 re-release in public beta 3. Of course, I'll link this wallpaper in the description like I normally do. And if you haven't subscribed already, please subscribe. And if you enjoyed the video, please give it a like. As always, thanks for watching. This is Aaron. I'll see you next time. [Music]