We recommend downloading a beta only on something other than your primary device. Because this isn’t the final version of iOS 17.5, these features might be buggy and battery life may be short, and it’s best to keep those troubles on a secondary device.
If you’re a developer or public beta tester, here are some of the new features you might find in iOS 17.5 beta 1. Note that the beta is not the final version of iOS 17.5, so there could be more features to land on your iPhone when iOS 17.5 is released. There’s no word on when Apple will release iOS 17.5 to the public yet.
Download apps from sites… but only for people in the EU
According to MacRumors, iOS 17.5 beta 1 introduces the ability to download apps right from a developer’s website instead of through an app store. However, this feature will only work for people in the EU. Apple announced this capability on March 12, alongside other EU-specific developer features, like the ability to choose the design of in-app promotions.
This is the latest EU-specific feature to come to iPhone users. When Apple released iOS 17.4 in March, a big part of that update was allowing people in the EU to download alternate app stores in order to comply with the Digital Markets Act.
Podcast widget changes color
With iOS 17.5 beta 1, your Podcast widget will change color depending on the artwork of whatever podcast you’re listening to at the moment. So if the podcast you’re listening to has red artwork, the widget will turn red.
This aesthetic feature was in some early iOS 17.4 betas, but Apple removed it from that update’s public release. In iOS 17.4, Apple also brought transcripts to podcasts which makes the audio media more accessible for more people.
Books app counter tool
It appears iOS 17.5 beta 1 also wants to help people achieve their reading goals. With the update, the Books app gets a counter in the top right corner of the app’s homepage. If you tap this counter, the app takes you to your Reading Goals menu. This menu shows you how much time you’ve spent reading today. There’s also a button here that reads Explore the Book Store which opens the Book Store.
At first, Books sets your daily reading goal for five minutes a day, but you can change this goal to anywhere between 1 minute or the absurd 1,440 minutes (24 hours) a day — I like to read, but that feels a little aggressive.
Those are a few of the new features some developers and beta testers will see in the first iOS 17.5 beta. That doesn’t mean these are the only features coming to the next iOS update, or that these changes will stick when iOS 17.5 is released to the public. As of now, there’s no word on when Apple will release iOS 17.5.