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Installing iOS17 developer beta on my kids iPhone

O

oRBIT2002

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 17, 2011
118
31
Gothenburg/Sweden
My kid want to experiment with the iOS17 developer beta on his iPhone and since developer betas aren't limited to only developers anymore I thought I could help him.
However, he can't sign in to developer.apple.com, "sorry you can't access this page" he gets.. I suspect it's something about his young age that's causing issues but that page doesn't display any information whats wrong.
Tried some guides downloading a beta profile and installing it and restarting, but no updates! Automatic updates for iOS are off.
Anyone got any reliable (and easy) hints to solve this? Thanks.
 
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I literally did this last night after looking around a ton about how to make this work now that we're not using profiles.

Unfortunately I found that if the Apple ID for the phone isn't a developer account, the Software Update page won't show the latest iOS beta, even on the "Beta" page. The phone needs to be linked to a developer account for iOS17 to show up.

Since iOS16.4 I think, there has been an option to use a different Apple ID for Beta software updates which gets around this problem, but until you're already on the iOS17 beta track, the option to use a different Apple ID wouldn't show up, at least for me. That means I need to somehow link his phone to a developer account in order for it to be eligible for the update.

I tried a few different options:
  • I added his phone's SSID to my developer account. This didn't seem to help.
  • I updated to the latest beta version his profile would allow (16.6 I think) but the iOS17 option never appeared
  • I thought maybe if I signed my son's account up to be a developer account (I mean, he's a curious kid anyway so maybe he'd like to try writing an app someday, haha) that might give him access, but it turns out you have to be 18 or older to register as a developer, even if it's the free account
That basically left me with 2 remaining options:
  • Download the iOS17 restore image and restore the phone to iOS17 using the IPSW file. I decided not to go this route because I didn't want to deal with backing up and restoring his phone. I think this would have worked though
  • On his phone, signs out of his Apple ID and sign into mine. The downside here is that a device belonging to a child in the family isn't allowed to sign out of the account if screen time is configured. If you remove screen time, you lose all the settings you've set up once you turn it back on. This was a pain, but still seemed like the least inconvenient.
So, I disabled screen time on his account in our family settings, which gave me the option to log out of his Apple ID. I signed into my account on his phone (being careful not to merge any of my iCloud data onto his phone or we would have had a mess) and, voila, when I went into Software Update, I could see the developer beta option with iOS17 beta available.

After I updated to iOS17, I could see that my account was now signed in on the beta update screen. Even though it was already set to mine, I went ahead and set that option to use my account (this probably didn't do anything, but I just thought it might help it 'stick' for next time.)

At that point, I logged out of my Apple ID on his phone, and logged back into his. I could see that the iOS17 beta option was still available and that the beta updates were still set to use my Apple ID now instead of his. I do need to go back and set screen time up again, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I'm hoping that this will stick for future updates now that his phone is set to use my account, but we'll have to see if that resets on future beta updates.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope that helps!
 
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I have never been an Apple developer, but was previously registered for Public Beta program and I do see the iOS 17 Dev Beta in my Settings > Software Update section, alongside iOS 16 betas.

You could try signing up here and see if it makes the beta appear?

Apple Beta

beta.apple.com beta.apple.com
 
Just to clarify some things...

beta.apple.com is only for Public betas. Signing up here will not make the developer betas show up. Children 13 years or older can participate in the public betas.
Notwithstanding the foregoing restrictions in this Section 1, if You are the parent or legal guardian of individuals between the ages of 13 and the legal age of majority in the jurisdiction in which You reside, You may allow such individuals to share Your Apple ID and password for their use in connection with the Beta Program solely under Your supervision and only in accordance with this Agreement. You are responsible for such individuals’ compliance with and violations of this Agreement and any other Apple agreements. (link)
Click to expand...


You have to go to developer.apple.com and accept the agreements for the Developer betas. You also have to be 18 years or older to participate developer program, which is why the OP kid's account wasn't able to log in.
You are of the legal age of majority in the jurisdiction in which You reside (at least 18 years of age in many countries or regions) and have the right and authority to enter into this Agreement on Your own behalf, or if You are entering into this Agreement on behalf of Your company, organization, educational institution, or agency, instrumentality, or department of the federal government, that You have the right and authority to legally bind such entity or organization to the terms and obligations of this Agreement. If You are a university, Your Authorized Student Developers are of the legal age of majority in the jurisdiction in which You reside (at least 18 years of age in many countries or regions), and are currently enrolled at Your university. (link)
Click to expand...


Of course there are ways around these, such as the method dlbrown2 posted...or wait until the public beta next month (sounds like he is 13 or older since he was able to sign up there).
 
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iStorm said:
You have to go to developer.apple.com and accept the agreements for the Developer betas.
Click to expand...
Just to be extra-specific:

All that you need to do is sign into developer site with your Apple ID and then accept the first agreement that will pop up for you. Once you accept that agreement, the site tells you to proceed to the Developer app and sign into it. This is not required. As soon as I signed into the site and accepted the first EULA, Developer betas (both iOS 16 and iOS 17) showed up on my phone under Beta updates.
 
May I respectfully say that if you - the OP - are having this much trouble installing the beta, are you going to be in a position to restore the phone to iOS 16 if something goes wrong? No less a tech personage than Rosemary Orchard had to completely restore her phone to iOS 16 and then reinstall the iOS 17 beta after her phone became unresponsive. If a well-known developer had this much trouble, it's possible your child will also.
 
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I've downgraded my iPhone earlier.. However, I learned that WatchOS isn't possible to downgrade (if needed) so I halted this experimenting a bit since my kid also has an AppleWatch...
 
I’m genuinely at awe about this post.

You’re clearly new to the beta process but you’d like to try a 2nd beta of a major iOS version especially on your kid’s iPhone. That’s a terrible idea.
There’s a bit of a learning curve and a few what if scenarios that you need to familiarize yourself with like if you decide to downgrade cuz an app doesn’t work. It’s a bit more complicated if you have an Apple Watch paired and want to retain all the data in case of a downgrade.

I’d suggest you read about beta life and all the how-tos of downgrading and basic troubleshooting first. And then wait until beta 4 to even entertain the idea of running a beta on a device that’s not primary. Once you feel confident enough after a few weeks or months you can proceed to running it on your primary device. It’s quite frustrating to lose your data cuz you missed a step or two during the process and the novelty of a few new features would wear off in a week or two. Not worth the risk.
 
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