Get your iPhone ready for iOS 13 public beta

iOS 13: A stronger battery, subscription reminders, and other features
ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes discusses the latest features that iOS 13 has to offer, including one that will help users manage digital versions of their IDs all in one place. Read more: https://zd.net/2ISS6VI

Apple is now getting ready to recruit your help to stomp out the bugs in iOS 13. But be careful you don’t sacrifice your iPhone — or the data on it — for the benefit of others.

Also: Top 10 iPhone privacy and security tips you should check today

The iOS 13 public beta is expected to land imminently. If you are interested in getting access to this, then head over to the iOS 13 beta sign-up page here.

But first, do you have a device that’s compatible with iOS 13? Here’s a complete list of compatible iPhones:

• iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone X
• iPhone 8 and 8 Plus
• iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
• iPhone 6 and 6 Plus
• iPhone SE
• iPod touch 7th-generation

I wouldn’t recommend using your daily driver iPhone because it’s likely you are going to run into problems, and you could run into a show-stopping problem — such as an app that refuses to work, or something more horrible like data loss — at the worst possible moment.

At the end of the day, it’s your iPhone and you can do what you want, but don’t say you’ve not been warned!

Note: If you don’t have an old device that can run the iOS 13 beta, the cheapest device you can pick up to do that would be the new 7th-generation iPod touch. Alternatively, you might be able to pick up a pre-owned iPhone.

Next up, you need a data backup.

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To protect your data you should create a local backup using iTunes. Yes, I know that’s old-school, but this is the way Apple recommends. You need this because if you have a backup created using the iOS 13 beta, you won’t be able to use this to recover your iPhone if you roll back to iOS 12.  

Keep this in mind as any changes you make to your iPhone while using iOS 13 beta can’t be rolled back to iOS 12 if you decide to downgrade.

There will likely be several updates to iOS 13 public beta coming down the pike over the coming weeks, so you might want to wait for the dust to settle and for any big bugs to be squashed before making the leap, especially if you rely on your iPhone.

If you don’t like dealing with bugs but still want to take iOS 13 public beta for a test drive, holding back for a few days might be the wise thing to do. If you like to live on the edge, smash that update button as soon as Apple the beta available.