Apple

7 Things to Know About the iPhone 6s iOS 11 Beta

Published

7 years ago

08/16/2017

The sixth iPhone 6s iOS 11 beta improves on the previous versions but it’s still causing problems for us and other beta testers.

Apple’s iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are getting older but software support won’t end anytime soon. Both devices will get the bump up to iOS 11 this fall.

The company still hasn’t confirmed a specific iOS 11 release date but we expect the upgrade to arrive in September alongside new iPhones.

We’ve spent the past couple of months digging into iOS 11 and the iPhone 6s iOS 11 beta. While most iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus users should stay on iOS 10, some of you might think about giving the iPhone 6s iOS 11 update a try ahead of the official release date.

Our guide to the iPhone 6s iOS 11 beta goes over the pros and cons of using the iOS 11 beta including a look at some of the problems we’ve encountered during our time on the software.

This walkthrough will also take you through some of the other important things we think iPhone 6s users need to know about iOS 11 and its release.

If you own an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, keep these details in mind as we close in on the final release.

iPhone 6s iOS 11 Beta Review

1 / 7

Apple's iOS 11 beta might be tempting but we recommend skipping it unless you've got a spare iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus sitting around.

We've been using the iPhone 6s iOS 11 beta since launch back in June. We absolutely love some of the new features and tweaks on board the update but the software is still problematic.

We recently installed iOS 11 beta 6 (beta 5 if you're using the public beta) on our iPhone 6s. The update's pretty big and it took about three minutes to download and eight minutes to install. The phone rebooted itself once before the installation completed.

It'll probably take you about 10-15 minutes from start to finish if you're coming from beta 5 or beta 4 and much longer if you're installing the iOS 11 beta for the first time.

For more on iOS 11 beta download times, take a look at our full walkthrough.

Battery life and connectivity (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular data) continue to hold up but we're still having problems with our core applications and services which include Twitter, Spotify, Chrome, YouTube, Gmail, Slack, Asana, Soundcloud, The Weather Channel app, and Dark Sky.

We've also encountered keyboard lag, UI lag when opening Notification Center and folders, some minor graphical issues, problems with 3D Touch and Touch ID, and occasional freezes.

Mileage will vary but there's a very good chance you'll run into trouble if you install the iOS 11 beta 6 on your iPhone.

If you depend on your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus to get you through the day you probably want to stay put on iOS 10.3.3 or whatever version of iOS you're currently running. At least for now.

For more feedback on the iOS 11 beta, take a look at our list of reasons to and not to install it on your device right now.