While my MacBookPro was installing Catalina, I began the process of installing iOS 13 beta on my iPhone X and iPadOS 13 beta on my iPad Pro. This turned out to be a more complicated process than installing the previous iOS 11 and 12 betas:
  1. Download the profile installer from the Apple beta tester web site
  2. Go to Settings > General > Profile
  3. Go through the usual acceptance dialogues
  4. Click on install to install the beta profile
  5. If you now have two profiles — delete the old profile. You should only have iOS 13 & iPadOS 13 Bet... profile.
  6. Go to Settings > General > Software Update
  7. When an available update is found, touch Install
Was all that worth doing? It depends on you. Do you like being on the "bleeding edge" of technology and are highly risk tolerant. Do you back up religiously, savor change, like troubleshooting, and are you patient with filling out Feedback Assistant reports. If your answer to the preceding questions is "Absolutely!", your are chomping at the bit to go, and are not working on a critical project that cannot be slipped; then make a complete backup of your system and go for it! If you have even the slightest hesitation then wait until September and get the release version.

Although I have had little time to play with iOS 13, much less iPadOS 13, I am already aware of some really cool and really useful new features and functions. Off the top of my head in no particular order the things that have grabbed my attention are...
  • Find My the merger of Find my phone and Find my friend. This is not just a rehash of the former apps it is a merger on steroids. Find My can find your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AppleTV, or Mac in many cases even when it is turned off — using triangulation from other unknown and unidentified iPhones. I tried it at breakfast this morning and watched open mouthed as it slowly but surely zeroed in on our breakfast table! It can perform this trick with any of the devices registered with your Apple ID. It works equally well with friends who have agreed to be located. Find My — friend alone will save me hours of fruitless searching for my wife at the store not to mention at Walt Disney World. 😄
  • Siri Shortcuts — Siri is getting too &%* smart for my. own good! I was preented with several Siri shortcuts derived from my activity patterns. For example say "Siri bedtime" turns off the bedroom lights, dials the bedroon fan down to low, activates the Bedtime function in Clock, and sets the iPhone, iPad, and Mac to Do Not Disturb until the alarm goes off the next day. And that is just one of many.
  • Lots of new security and control features for apps. For example apps now have to be granted specific permission to access bluetooth.
  • Battery Life iOS/iPadOS 13 has a new AI based procedure intended to slow battery aging. It watches and analyes your daily use and wlll only permit the battery to charge beyond 80% "when it is necessary". No information on what pattern or series of events will trigger 100% charging. I am guessing that would include location but other than that who knows. I would love to find more information on that algorithm.
This is just my very initial impression but so far...
  • Other than a bit baroque the installation is straight forward
  • My iPhone and iPad are both stable and no apps have had any problem so far.
  • There are a number of minor changes in the GUI whether you like them or not is a matter of personal taste and habit.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein