Apple rolls out the iOS 15 public beta for users who want to test the newest iOS 15 features on their devices which Apple announced during WWDC 2021 virtual event. If you jumping into the iOS 15 beta right now, then you must be facing some problems like app compatibility, crashes, battery draining, and more known problems.
So, because of the issues, you might want to back or downgrade to your current iOS 14 or 14.6 version from the iOS 15 beta version, but if you still want to test iOS 15 beta anyway then you can go for it, but I will give you some precautions and tips before you going to install iOS 15 beta on your personal or primary device, as well as a guide for how to install iOS 15 beta or how to downgrade from iOS 15 beta to iOS 14 in the right way.
Warning: Installing public beta for personal devices is actively discouraged by Apple and strictly your own risk endeavor. And the new data you generate from the iOS 15 beta may be incompatible with your current iOS 14.6, so if you don’t back up your device and install the iOS 15 public beta on your device it will force you to lose data when you are downgrading to iOS 14.6, so make sure use the best tool for backup.
For a solution, I have a tool in mind called iMazing which lets you save backup files externally, you can also browse these files, so when you backup your iOS 14.6 device with iMazing store it separately on external storage, and when you changed your mind to downgrade or going back I mean iOS 15 betas to iOS 14 then this tool is a very useful tool.
First thing first, make sure you have backed up your device locally, you can use free tools like Apple Finder, and iTunes on macOS or Windows, or you can use the iMazing tool that has additional features over iTunes such as iMazing optionally lets you backup your Apple device externally which may save your computer or Mac internal storage. You can also access and recover data from your backup data.
You can also use iCloud for backing up your device, just make sure you don’t have lots of data, if you exceed to iCloud storage limit then you might need extra storage from iCloud which is paid (See iCloud storage plans).
Or if you’re using Apple’s new service called Apple One, then you can use it so or have lots of storage to backup, then try to upgrade your current Apple One plan to a Family or Premier plan which is available at $19.95 per month and $29.95 per month respectively in the US that include Apple’s premium services such as Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud, and two additional services in Premier plan which is Apple News+ and new Apple Fitness+.
To back up, your device using iCloud, open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad then navigate to your Apple ID Account and tap on iCloud > iCloud Backup, there you will find the last backup of your device with a timestamp, if don’t you can back it up manually by tapping on Back Up Now.
1. How to install iOS 15 beta
To install the iOS 15 public beta, I strongly advise you to don’t install this on your personal or primary phone, if you do it anyway then it’s your risk, make sure you follow the above things which I have mentioned earlier.
To get the iOS 15 beta, open your phone browser and go to https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/ and sign up for it. Then accept the agreement of the Apple Beta Software Program and click on “enroll your iOS device” on the next page (as you can see in the below image) then read all details after enrolling.
Once you enrolled, you will find the second step which is “Download profile”, tap the Download profile button, then it will show a pop-up message, just click on “Allow” then it will show another pop-up “Profile Downloaded” tap the Close button and go to the Settings app and you will be seeing the “Profile Downloaded” menu right after your Apple profile, you can also access this from Settings > General > Profile, now tap on it and click Install which is showing in the above right corner (See image below).
Once you install this iOS 15 public beta, you will receive all iOS 15 beta updates over the air once Apple releases it for public beta testers, or you can check for updates by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
2. How to downgrade from iOS 15 to iOS 14
As I said, you will face some problems and issues after installing the iOS 15 beta on your device most of all app crashing and app compatibility, so if you want to move back or downgrade to iOS 14 or the current iOS 14.6 at this time, you can do it so, that’s why I told you to back up your iOS 14 or iOS 14.6 devices with iMazing tool because it doesn’t overwrite the backup. So this tool might be helpful to you when it comes to the downgrading process.
As I told you earlier, backing up with the iMazing tool is awesome, so downgrading from iOS 15 beta to iOS 14 or iOS 14.6 is very simple. Just connect your device to your Mac or Windows computer and click the Reinstall iOS button in the action list, see the image below:
In the following screen, you have the option to erase before installing. Try to leave it off at first, and the iMazing tool will attempt to reinstall iOS whilst preserving your data.
Click the Reinstall iOS button to confirm and let iMazing download the latest non-beta iOS version and install it on your device. You will be prompted for your passcode on the device as well, just as you were when installing the beta.
After this procedure is completed, then your device will reboot and display an Attempting data recovery message. Note: This process is normal because iOS 14 or iOS 14.6 (at this time) is dealing with data formatted with iOS 15 which it doesn’t recognize. Let iOS do its work, and when iOS has fully rebooted, check your photos, messages, calendars, contacts, notes, bookmarks, voice memos, and voicemail to make sure that everything is fine.
You can also downgrade from iOS 15 to iOS 14 with Apple’s Finder by Restoring the device, but this will wipe out all of your data, that’s why I recommended earlier to use the iMazing tool to back up your Apple devices. But anyway you can downgrade to iOS 14 with Finder if you have an option, just know that you will lose all data by using Apple Finder for the downgrading process.
Simply connect your device to your Mac and launch Apple’s Finder and tap the Restore button, and it will show a message about wipe all data (See the second image below).
After the operation completes, go through the setup assistant on your device and set it up from an iCloud backup or a local backup. Warning: you won’t be able to restore iOS 15 backups, the Finder won’t display them when restoring to a device running a lower iOS version.
