Apple's App Store Usage Numbers Suggest iOS 7 Adoption at 74%

proline said:

76% adoption at this time of year exceeds ios 6 and ios 5. iOS 7 has indeed been a big hit with users, Apple's most popular release of all time. A couple loudmouth whiners would love to paint a different picture of course.

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well, the funny thing is, its a FORCED adoption, I have yet to meet someone that love or even likes ios 7. There is 9 iphones 4s/ 5 in my family circle and we would love to get ios6 back, can't. I work at the hospital and between the workers not a single one like ios7, unless they've been introduced to iphone as new user.
I only meet people here that like/ love ios7, personally looking for a way to get back ios6

I suspect this data also represents the portion of iOS users more likely to upgrade in the first place - it excludes those using a company phone that has been locked down, and anyone who doesn't even have an apple ID...

Still, an impressive result - I wonder if Mavericks enjoys the same take up?

ThunderSkunk said:

Indeed. Since there's no way to go back to iOS 6 after you've gone to iOS 7, I'd be very curious to see how many people have it, and also hate it and wish they could downgrade. So far I know of no one not on Macrumors who likes it. If you google iOS 7, the fourth most commonly searched word that follows it is the word "Sucks".

After upgrading to 7, I was glad to break my display and get a replacement iPad that still came with iOS 6. I'll check back in at iOS 8, but if they don't sort their visual disaster out, I'm ditching iOS completely.

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Be our guest. No one will notice if you switch OS.

In the mean time, I personally know of 6 people that I'm aware of on iOS7 and they all love it and don't want to go back. All of them spent time with iOS6 and most of them spent time in iOS5 or before. I find your "I know no one who loves it" without saying how many people you know that hate it rather unhelpful.

Given the adoption rates and positive reviews from professionals, I'm more inclined to think that you have a very interesting set of friends that all of them want to downgrade, rather than all of my friends being weird for wanting to stay.

And as for those search results, they must be influanced by something else. My top three auto completed for "ios7" on Google are:
"...Search"
"...Search Feature"
"...Jailbreak"
There is no 4th word for me. I searched the first page of results for the word "sucks" and nothing came up.

On Bing it's:
"...Jailbreak"
"...Problem"
"...Download"
"...Release Date"

Earendil said:

I don't care whose fault it is, it's still sad.

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Then you are comparing Apples to Oranges

yourtoys7 said:

well, the funny thing is, its a FORCED adoption, I have yet to meet someone that love or even likes ios 7. There is 9 iphones 4s/ 5 in my family circle and we would love to get ios6 back, can't. I work at the hospital and between the workers not a single one like ios7, unless they've been introduced to iphone as new user.
I only meet people here that like/ love ios7, personally looking for a way to get back ios6

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What a shame. The only people I know on iOS7 (6 of them) all like it, and all came from iOS6. Perhaps you come from a genetic pool that's averse to change? You do mention that those that weren't used to iOS6 like it, right? Change is difficult, but not bad.

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Stella said:

Then you are comparing Apples to Oranges

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I don't follow. I didn't compare anything. Am I not allowed to point to a system and say that it's in a sad state in and of its self? Besides being a lover of technology, I also work in the field. Bad systems, or good systems in a bad state (and I'm not limiting this to just software) make me sad.

Earendil said:

I don't follow. The fellow was saying that people said they'd never upgrade to iOS 6, which leaves them at those 5 other versions. But according to the graph those 5 other versions make up 4%. And 4 percent is hardly "loads of people".

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What are you babbling on about? Car companies put out a new model every year as well. If someone sends their 2012 model to the dump in order to buy a 2013 that's just stupid, and not the responsibility of the car manufacturer. That's the responsibility of the consumer.

And your use of "forced" is weird too. What is forced?

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i ask the same question to you. what is so hard to grasp about this?

the difference here is your car doesnt stop getting serviced when the new model car comes out. if apple made cars and you drove a 2011 and took it into get serviced for a problem, they'd tell you you're out of luck, but guess what? the new 2014 model fixes that problem.

"forced" means that an artificial limitation is placed on the software or hardware to coax you to buy the new. its a well-documented phenomenon. You can read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

"a policy of planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time"

I feel they need to only work on iOS - iOS 7 - iOS 8. Leave the OSX redesign for later. iOS is the most important to Apple. Sense OSX future updates will be free they don't need to really worry about adding new things so people will buy it, and get it. Or even better yet have updates to OSX every two years.

samiznaetekto said:

Now the chart shows 64% iOS7, 30% iOS6, but the legend still says 74% iOS7.

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I see that, too.

Skittles. said:

Hi! Does this mean all iOS devices period? Or all iOS devices that are compatible with iOS 7?

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All iOS devices period. There are of course a number of devices in that 22% iOS6 segment, that are incompatible with iOS7, otherwise that 74% iOS7 portion could have been higher still.

Elijahg said:

But don't forget there are plenty of iPad 1 and 3GS users still using their devices and unable to upgrade to iOS 7. That chunk likely contains a fair few people unable to upgrade. iOS 7 adoption is faster than iOS 6 and 5 adoption was, according to http://www.fiksu.com/iOS-7-iPhone-5s-5c-Usage-Tracker

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Well, even looking at iOS 5 and earlier, 4% can still represent tons of people. If there are 100 million iOS users total, for example, 4% of that is 4 million--4 million people is quite a big number I would say (again, not so much in comparison to the rest of 96 million, but 4 million people is a load of people).

Plus, as there are those who can't upgrade, there are those who can't downgrade. At this point a lot of people recently got or getting new devices because any device that was able to run iOS 5 is a few years old and just on hardware specs and other features its somewhat dated in this fast moving mobile age. And the longer you use something that you use very frequently (like a mobile device) the more likely over time something can happen to it that would require you to get a new one--it breaks, the battery or some other component gets worn down, etc. So, quite a few have upgraded simply to get newer hardware, and those people, even if they wanted to stay with iOS 5, simply couldn't because the new devices don't allow for that and don't come with it. So, there's certainly that to consider in all of that as well. It's all certainly far from being as simple what percentage is running a particular iOS version, at least as far actually painting a full picture.

As for numbers of upgrades, it doesn't really mean that someone actually wanted to go to it, beyond simply seeing the update screen coming up for them and updating it without giving it much thought or even really knowing what they would be getting--which is what a typical iOS user usually does, and there are tons of these types of typical iOS users. Without a way to downgrade, anyone who upgraded, even for simplistic reasons like the update simply showed up and they did it, as they usually did with updates before, it's not really a measure of anything as far as how good or bad the update is, if people would rather downgrade, etc., etc., etc.

That's awesome !!! Everyone I know loves ios 7

proline said:

76% adoption at this time of year exceeds ios 6 and ios 5. iOS 7 has indeed been a big hit with users, Apple's most popular release of all time. A couple loudmouth whiners would love to paint a different picture of course.

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Sorry, but numbers of those running iOS 7 (especially when you factor in that new devices come with it by default, restoring your device for any reason will install it for you by default, Apple downloading the update automatically to your device and prompting you in places to install making it rather easy for a typical user who doesn't ever really think much about updates or anything like to almost automatically just tap on the install option) do not really relate to how good it is, how many people are having issues with it, how many people would switch to a previous version if they had the choice, etc.

So are the others who haven't adopted the ones here discussing the health hazards and overall travesty of iOS 7?

Last year people were bashing Apple for no visible changes in iOS 6.
This year people are bashing Apple for visible changes in iOS 7.
Classic.

Bs

7 is only at 74% because no one can uninstall it. If we could still roll back to 6 every one I know would immediately.

I do tech work on the side, every client is calling begging me to work tech magic to get 6 back on, I'm breaking hearts left and right.

This is Apple biggest scam. They act like the adoption and love for the new OS is high, when it's really not. It's only high because we cannot get it off.

I dare Apple to start signing iOS 6 again. See how fast everyone bails.

7 blows. Ive can't design software, he sucks.. "It's just, simple... simple and white with tinny lame letters most people cannot read. No details, no eye candy just a waste of a retinal screen, just siiimmmple...."

kwikdeth said:

all i can think of when i read these stories is "how many iDevices went in the landfill so people can get the new hot stuff?"

nobody ever counts forced obsolescence when factoring how "green" companies are.

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Except that Apple recycles a significant amount of old Apple products: https://www.apple.com/recycling/. I doubt all that many old iPhones are sitting in landfills given that Apple would pay you to give it back to them.

haruhiko said:

Last year people are bashing Apple for no visible changes in iOS 6.
This year people are bashing Apple for visible changes in iOS 7.
Classic.

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I didn't bash. I thought the changes to 6 were perfect, but why was 6 so good... oh wait thats right they had someone at the time who knew what they were doing....

haruhiko said:

Last year people are bashing Apple for no visible changes in iOS 6.
This year people are bashing Apple for visible changes in iOS 7.
Classic.

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Mostly different sets of people.

And now, how about a chart showing how many people who upgraded to iOS 7 wish they could go back to iOS 6, but Apple won't let them?

Nearly everyone I know who blindly upgraded to iOS 7 immediately wished they could go back. Sure, they got "used to it," but you really shouldn't have to get "used to" any new software. It should be intuitive, especially in Apple's case (since they make such a big deal about how everything "just works").

Proud member of the 22 percent.

Actually, I use iOS 7 on my iPad and iOS 6 on my iPhone. There are some great things to like about iOS 7, but I much prefer the look of iOS 6.

veebs said:

I suspect this data also represents the portion of iOS users more likely to upgrade in the first place - it excludes those using a company phone that has been locked down, and anyone who doesn't even have an apple ID...

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Or more generally, anyone who has not used the App Store within a week before 1 December, I would suspect. Probably interesting for developers, but it does not indicate the actual numbers to assess the relative popularity in comparison to iOS 6 when it came out. That's what I really want to know.

Nevertheless, that outcome was to be expected. iOS 7 has received so much media attention like no other version before and every user was made aware of it through notifications. In the absence of contrary feedback, we may never know how many users of iOS 7 are actually happy with it, let alone that we know the exact adoption rate.

haruhiko said:

Last year people were bashing Apple for no visible changes in iOS 6.
This year people are bashing Apple for visible changes in iOS 7.
Classic.

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Different sets of people can be doing the bashing. Also, even those who wanted visible changes didn't necessarily want the ones that iOS 7 brought with it.

a) low adoption of iOS 7 - "hey you see!? I've said that everybody hates iOS 7"
b) high adoption of iOS 7 - "hey all these users were forced to upgrade. No one likes it. Everyone I know hates it."


Haters always win.

haruhiko said:

a) low adoption of iOS 7 - "hey you see!? I've said that everybody hates iOS 7"
b) high adoption of iOS 7 - "hey all these users were forced to upgrade. No one likes it. Everyone I know hates it."


Haters always win.

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Could be spun either way--those kinds of numbers speak nothing of how good something is and whether or not people truly want it in the context of not being able to switch to anything else once they have it.

JPSaltzman said:

And now, how about a chart showing how many people who upgraded to iOS 7 wish they could go back to iOS 6, but Apple won't let them?

Nearly everyone I know who blindly upgraded to iOS 7 immediately wished they could go back. Sure, they got "used to it," but you really shouldn't have to get "used to" any new software. It should be intuitive, especially in Apple's case (since they make such a big deal about how everything "just works").

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iOS 7 isn't really less intuitive than iOS 6 was. The change is mostly aesthetic, not functional. People don't like change, though; it's a fact of psychology. No matter what Apple did to change the look and feel, people would be all over these boards bemoaning the terrible change. It's not to say that people's opinion aren't legitimate, however.

Users on these boards must remember that these boards are not in any way representative of Apple users as a whole. We are on the far end of the spectrum, in terms of how closely we follow Apple and the degree of magnification we apply to everything Apple does. People here go nuts over an icon change, whereas the "regular" person probably doesn't notice for a week. It's all about perspective. Considering iOS 7 adoption rates are higher than iOS 6, I would bet the new look is a net positive, despite what someone perusing these forums might think.