As soon as iOS 16 beta 1 dropped I installed it onto my iPhone 13, it’s my only one so it’s my main device I use day to day. After a day and a half and running into a few issues that I rely on I’ve been back on iOS 15.5 and it’s made me realise how incremental iOS 16 is.

The Lock Screen changes are big but without third party support in my opinion it’s not worth the battery hit. In my testing I was about 40% down on what I would normally have, this gave me some battery anxiety I didn’t need.

If you’re anxious to try out the beta I’d hold off until the public beta is available and then you can be confident the main kinks have been worked out.

It goes without saying if you rely on banking apps and other things that keep your business running day to day you shouldn’t use a beta but for most of us it’s tolerable if you want to test the new and shiny.

In my testing so far of iOS 16 beta 1 I’ve noticed that performance is pretty much on par with the stable iOS 15. I’m not seeing any lag (on my iPhone 13) and there are no show stopping bugs.

I’m not seeing any issues in the apps that I rely on day to day.

In terms of battery life it’s definitely lower. I know I’ve not fully done a day yet but just in using it I’m noticing a drop of around 10% compared to iOS 15. This is expected with all of the background logging.

If you travel a lot and rely on battery then don’t upgrade to the beta, just wait until maybe beta 4.

I was looking to compile this list myself but Apple have done it for me.

I got one of my wishes, I can now use Fitness+ without a need for an Apple Watch!