Apple Pushes iPhone Users Still on iOS 18 to Upgrade to iOS 26

[mjs916]

i have so many friends with automatic updates on but they are on older software. i dont understand why

I think I can explain for you:

Definition:

Automatic Updates does not equal “immediately update upon availability”.

Apple will push the update to your device and the device needs to be in a state conducive to updating (storage, power, WiFi, not in use)

The terminology they use might also be relevant:

iOS 18 to iOS 26 = Upgrade
iOS 18.0 to iOS 18.1 = Update

 

[mjs916]

iPhone Users Still on iOS 18 push Apple to Upgrade iOS 26​

I think my iPhone is glitching. It rewrites headlines from the other angle!

(FWIW I’m one of use that actually likes the visual changes, but I do take issue with the extra steps introduced in some of the redesigns such as Camera and Safari)

 

[Soonerpet]

I put iOS26 on my iPad when it first came out, hated it so much I was quick enough to restore it back to 18 before that option was taken away. All my devices are sticking with 18 at this point. On the Mac side I have had to resort to turning off ALL updates to make sure it never “accidentally” tries to update on its own, and even removed System Preferences from my dock so that little red dot will stop annoying me. I hate that MacOS has turned into Windows at this point for me, I had to do the same thing with Windows 10 to disable all updates to make sure I never wake up with Win11 one day. I really wish we could just get a good stable OS and stick with it, so tired of all the change for the sake of change.

 

[Siliconguy]

26.0 was a bit rocky but 26.1 is pretty solid and worth updating to.

Dont listen to the drama queens on here. Funny how ios18 is now seen as some kind of messiah version when those same people were probably the ones crying when 18 was released (there were plenty like there is every year).

iPadOS 18.0 was a debacle, as in multiple crashes all the way back to the start screen. However, Apple did fix it and 18.7 is running on the ninth generation iPad quite well.

I just got a A16 iPad with 26.1, and it mostly works. The vertical scroll bar is reluctant to appear sometimes. The multitasking is somewhat unpredictable. And I have having a bit of relearning to do because there is no button. I have to scroll up from the bottom just right to get rid of various open apps I want closed. There was also the usual collection of gibberish apps to delete, but that's normal. I least I can delete most of them unlike MacOS.

The tinted option really does help with Liquid Glass. Even less transparent would be better. Apple really messed up if they think that a set of goggles should have the same interface as a desktop computer. I'm not going to walk into a lamp pole while sitting at my desk just because I can't see through a dialog box.

The M1 Air is on Sonoma and will stay there a few months more. The M2 mini is on Sequoia until next year, then I'll update that to 26.3 or .4. It appears that the bugs on Sequoia that convinced me to downgrade the Air to Sonoma are fixed. The question now is can a base M1 Air handle 26 at all with only 8 GB RAM?

 

[svish]

Interesting to know. Happy with iOS 26 on my 17 Pro Max. My 15 Pro Max is still on 18. Have not yet updated. Might do so soon.

 

[ZipZilla]

iOS 26 offers my iPhone 13 nothing. No Siri updates, no RCS 3.0, no benefit to upgrading.

 

[capamac]

I've used iOS 26.01 or something at work on an ipad. I got immediately annoyed at the login ... with the "glass" buttons that move down when pressed. Ugh. no thanks. looks really dumb.

 

[matsan]

The long list of iOS 26 features not available in EU keeps my iPhone 16 on 18.x.
iPad Pro on 26.1 but the bugs when opening Settings app with keyboard attached drive me crazy. Settings app always opens with a blank screen and needs to be restarted. Original Apple keyboard.

 

[SebCohen]

Don't do it, it's a trap! and a bug filled trap at that.

EVEN if it was bug "free" it would be bad.

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

18.7.2 to be more clear

 

[JonBOY26]

I wish I had never downgraded from iOS 18 to iOS 26 😒

 

[Janichsan]

I made the mistake of upgrading my iPad to iPadOS 26. Lots of bugs aside, battery life went down by easily 10, 15%. So yeah, I'm not keen on upgrading my iPhone.

 

[Imperial926]

So many naysayers here - maybe they should just buy a Samsung!

 

[Sami13496]

What next? Will they come to my door?

 

[leifp]

Having only updated my iPad to the 26 stable I can comfortably say that I’ll skip most of my devices until WWDC27 gives me a clear indication of whether waiting solves anything…

 

[admbarry]

I regret upgrading to iOS 26. Although it's become slightly better with iOS 26.1, it's still not nearly as good as iOS 18 was. My iPhone 12 mini is not as good as it used to be.

 

[bluecoast]

I have several friends that Apple tricked into applying iOS 26, they chose the default update option and there’s no way they can go back when they called me.
Even macOS tries to trick you with the Safari update it also includes back OS 26 unless you uncheck it.

I remember the safari update for big sur that introduced Monterey’s tabbed browsing as the only tab bar UI element available (before Apple back tracked on that).

I accidentally installed it when it was released.

I had to completely reinstall big sur to get rid of it.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I regret upgrading to iOS 26. Although it's become slightly better with iOS 26.1, it's still not nearly as good as iOS 18 was. My iPhone 12 mini is not as good as it used to be.

Similar experience with my iPhone 13. Apple must not like the upgrade numbers with users apparently waiting it out with iOS 18.

 

[ypl]

If your device can update to 26, I can tell you with 90% certainty that 18.7.2 will be the last security update for you. Not the case with Sequoia thankfully.

Strange claim. All iOS devices receive security updates, except very old iOS versions. Once security patches or whatever are prepared they will be installed on all devices. That’s one of most important Apples strengths: security for their customers.

 

[ypl]

I put iOS26 on my iPad when it first came out, hated it so much I was quick enough to restore it back to 18 before that option was taken away. All my devices are sticking with 18 at this point. On the Mac side I have had to resort to turning off ALL updates to make sure it never “accidentally” tries to update on its own, and even removed System Preferences from my dock so that little red dot will stop annoying me. I hate that MacOS has turned into Windows at this point for me, I had to do the same thing with Windows 10 to disable all updates to make sure I never wake up with Win11 one day. I really wish we could just get a good stable OS and stick with it, so tired of all the change for the sake of change.

Why not changing Update stream to iOS18 beta / Sequoia beta? All announcements disappear including badge. It seems safe bet as it’s hardly possible Apple will provide new beta release for this stream, only security updates ?

 

[Volk.JP]

My wife updated her 13 Pro to iOS 26 when AirPods Pro 3 requested it and we couldn’t believe how bad it is. UI is horrendous but the biggest problem is performance and the battery. Swiping on the home screen seems to run at 20FPS, it takes up to 30 seconds for icons to appear when unlocking the phone, opening a folder takes 1 second, a ton of little bugs here and there and finally, the battery life halved from 5h to 2.5h when doing nothing.

I am happy to keep iOS 18 on my 13 Pro and would hold on the update until they return the performance of iOS26 back to iOS 18 levels.

Apple really screwed this up badly by delivering such bad OS all around…

 

[Mr_Ed]

Similar experience with my iPhone 13. Apple must not like the upgrade numbers with users apparently waiting it out with iOS 18.

I doubt they will notice. For years they convinced typical, not particularly tech-savvy users to just enable auto-update so they wouldn’t get hounded into updating. Not so bad when OS updates, even with a few bugs, did not feel like you were involuntarily beta testing it for Apple.

Look for an upcoming post from MR reporting that “XX% of iPhones and iPads are now running 26.”

 

[pinkkie]

*laughing in iOS17 on iPhone 15 Pro*

 

[filmbuff]

When I clicked on this topic to open it (on ios 26), Safari on my phone crashed. I've never had Safari just crash for no reason on older ios versions.

 

[Populus]

I regret upgrading to iOS 26. Although it's become slightly better with iOS 26.1, it's still not nearly as good as iOS 18 was. My iPhone 12 mini is not as good as it used to be.

I’m afraid of asking you about battery life… it has to be terrible, right?

Damn. I really tell you, I’d like to upgrade from 18 to 26, at the new aesthetic has grown on me, but the notably reduced battery life and the bugs where the dashboard doesn’t properly render the icons is making me stay on 18 for at least a few more months… dang Apple, why do you discourage people from upgrading this way?

By the way, my iPhone has an A15 SoC and 4GB of RAM. By no means this is an underpowered device.