Can I downgrade from iPadOS 26?

[Silly John Fatty]

If possible, I must downgrade from iPadOS 26 asap. The disutility of iPadOS 26 is too high for me. Is it possible? My iPad is set to auto-update, so I don’t even know what was installed before.

I think it may have updated up to 24 hours ago.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

no.

 

[JSDK]

If possible, I must downgrade from iPadOS 26 asap. The disutility of iPadOS 26 is too high for me. Is it possible? My iPad is set to auto-update, so I don’t even know what was installed before.

I think it may have updated up to 24 hours ago.

Apple has long since stopped signing pre-iOS 26 versions on devices that support iOS and iPadOS 26.

So no, it's not possible to downgrade. Instead, try to get to know the new version. Apart from the icons and the "glassified" interface, most things are the same, and with future updates, small errors, glitches and annoyances will be fixed.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Apple has long since stopped signing pre-iOS 26 versions on devices that support iOS and iPadOS 26.

So no, it's not possible to downgrade. Instead, try to get to know the new version. Apart from the icons and the "glassified" interface, most things are the same, and with future updates, small errors, glitches and annoyances will be fixed.

That’s so frustrating… I’ve been thinking of accepting it and getting used to it, but so many things make no sense to me or become more complicated.

This started before iPadOS 26. It’s already the case with iOS/iPadOS 18 in some cases. I like when you had to go to the settings for an app for example, let’s say Safari. You used to go to Settings, and then to Safari. Now you have one more step: Settings > Apps > Safari. They have added one more step… 😭

Why would they do that? It’s irrational by category. It’s inferior by category. It has increased disutility and reduced efficiency.

With iPadOS 26 and probably also iOS 26 (which I haven’t upgraded) these kind of irrationalities take over the entire device.

Add to that small changes of icon locations that make no sense to me. Copying and deleting a screenshot was in the top left corner. Now it’s in the top right corner. Why? 😂 Using a device like this is a very motoric thing. It’s a lot about muscle memory. Why would you change that deliberately? You are increasing disutility again and reducing efficiency.

But I think I know why they are doing that. They’re doing it because marketing 101 tells you to keep customers engaged - no matter at what cost, even if it annoys them. That’s a standard marketing textbook theory. Now we can all be engaged learning new useless stuff. We can have emotions about disliking our devices and feeling like they were ruined. Later they will do some updates and we can feel great again. And they will say something is 3x times as fast before and who knows what. Yeah, well, you made 6x slower first. 😂

They want the device to be the central thing in your life. They don’t want you to use their devices to call your grandma and do your work. They want you to work and have a grandma to be able to use their product. A good device disappears in the background. It’s seamlessly integrated into your daily life. That would suck for them and would contradict the major marketing theories, because they want you to engage more with your device. You must be occupied with it non-stop. You know it all and use your device seamlessly? That’s an issue, something new that makes no sense must be introduced so you are kept engaged and invested.

What they don’t understand is their device is just a tool for me. I don’t want to use their device, I want to get my work done, I want to call my family, I want to look up something. I’m using the device to look up something, not looking up something to spend happy time with my iPad.

They introduce a billion new features that are completely useless so you can spend hours configuring your device and making it comfy and who knows what instead of doing the things you really want in life. Do people want to spend their limited time on earth living it to its fullest, experiencing amazing things, achieving meaningful stuff, solving critical problems, experiencing mind-moving emotions? Of course not, people prefer to spend their limited time on earth moving around virtual little icons and making them one colour or the other and customising them with other little icons and colours.

Why would you want to go diving or skiing when you could simply spend your time re-learning your iPad and where all the buttons are now? That’s much greater! And when you’re done, we’ll simply mix everything up again so you can start from scratch! 🙂

With people like Trump, Musk, Thiel on one side, and the Chinese with TikTok and who knows what other garbage on the other, I’m convince Apple has entered the trash contest of the planet. The people now working at Apple had TikTok as their parent and the soul purpose in life is just to have a lot of, well, of anything, and the main thing is that there is a LOT of it, anywhere and everywhere. Just flood everything with all kinds of flashy garbage.

Oh and Liquid Glass is amazing, the graphics animations are even in real time! So it uses CPU power for nothing basically. A little bit like a Dodge RAM. It consumes more than anything else, but it’s also slower than everything else 🙂 Yeah, Apple has definitely joined this club now. They’re no rationalists anymore. Sadly I can’t turn this off either, so I have to look at the ugly design. *sigh*

 

[Mike Boreham]

These do not sound big enough reasons to me to downgrade even if you could. No actual loss of functionality or capability. In other ways it adds capability.

I actually like the change to have app settings all in the same place, unlike iOS18.

I do agree that sometimes Apple seems to make changes for no good reason.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

These do not sound big enough reasons to me to downgrade even if you could. No actual loss of functionality or capability. In other ways it adds capability.

I actually like the change to have app settings all in the same place, unlike iOS18.

I do agree that sometimes Apple seems to make changes for no good reason.

When you have more steps, efficiency and utility is reduced. And cost is increased obviously. It’s time and energy.

There’s no good reason for me to have have app settings in “Apps” now. It’s one more step to app settings now. They were all in the same place before, separated by a space in the global settings. So it’s more work now and has less utility.

In my experience people who want to use these devices as gadgets don’t get any work done. I see it at work or when I hire someone. If you want to perform, you want a good setting that’s rational and then you want to go grind on your work and not be a princess fiddling with some irrelevant settings trying to find some irrational comfort. That’s just procrastination, these people are poor and get nothing done and prefer to play with their devices as if they’re toys.

 

[I7guy]

At some point it is what is. Learn it and get that muscle memory going. I think there are some good reasons for the changes but they are irrelevant to one has to move on.

To me these posts are the procrastination you speak of when one could be learning the nuances. Even Microsoft does the same thing on windows.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

At some point it is what is. Learn it and get that muscle memory going. I think there are some good reasons for the changes but they are irrelevant to one has to move on.

To me these posts are the procrastination you speak of when one could be learning the nuances. Even Microsoft does the same thing on windows.

They are not procrastination. It’s me fuming because of efficiency losses. I’m f*cking mad right now. Just noticed another one: I do a lot of screenshots. Either I’d save the screenshot to my camera roll, or I’d copy and delete it. Saving it to the camera roll would have been pressing the side button + volume button, then the screenshot would appear in the bottom left corner of my screen, and swiping it away would save it to the camera roll. Guess what it is now? You now additionally have to click the ✔️ symbol. Then you have to click "save in photos". Come on, this is TWO MORE STEPS!

WHY?? 😭 How could they be such morons at Apple. Is there any logical reasoning behind this? None of it has any rational foundation.

At least for this thing there was a setting to revert it the way it was. Why would the update modify my settings 😭 Why would an update even make a default setting that’s less efficient and has a higher cost without increasing utility in any way.

Yes, it’s energy I’m spending here. My hope is that people protest, Apple reads this, and reacts. The problem is Americans. It depends on them, they’re the biggest market share and they’d have to protest too. But they don’t. The Americans these days don’t know what democracy is and how to integrate into it. They just accept things, they’re conformist couch potatoes. We need to get Americans protesting about iPadOS 26 and iOS 26.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

You can whinge, you can accept, or you can vote with your wallet.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I like when you had to go to the settings for an app for example, let’s say Safari. You used to go to Settings, and then to Safari. Now you have one more step: Settings > Apps > Safari. They have added one more step… 😭

They have actually simplified this a good deal in 26.
Open Safari.
Pull down menu bar.
Tap Safari in the menu bar.
And then there’s a shortcut directly to the Safari settings right there.

 

[I7guy]

They are not procrastination. It’s me fuming because of efficiency losses. I’m f*cking mad right now. Just noticed another one: I do a lot of screenshots. Either I’d save the screenshot to my camera roll, or I’d copy and delete it. Saving it to the camera roll would have been pressing the side button + volume button, then the screenshot would appear in the bottom left corner of my screen, and swiping it away would save it to the camera roll. Guess what it is now? You now additionally have to click the ✔️ symbol. Then you have to click "save in photos". Come on, this is TWO MORE STEPS!

WHY?? 😭 How could they be such morons at Apple. Is there any logical reasoning behind this? None of it has any rational foundation.

At least for this thing there was a setting to revert it the way it was. Why would the update modify my settings 😭 Why would an update even make a default setting that’s less efficient and has a higher cost without increasing utility in any way.

Yes, it’s energy I’m spending here. My hope is that people protest, Apple reads this, and reacts. The problem is Americans. It depends on them, they’re the biggest market share and they’d have to protest too. But they don’t. The Americans these days don’t know what democracy is and how to integrate into it. They just accept things, they’re conformist couch potatoes. We need to get Americans protesting about iPadOS 26 and iOS 26.

I do not understand what you are referring to. I took a screenshot and swiped left and the screenshot went into my photos. If I tab on the screenshot it opens and I get additional options.

 

[TechnoMonk]

I actually like IPad OS 26. It has come long way since initial beta. I run beta on my iad pro and the latest beta has been solid. I had to tinker few settings and it’s been to my liking.

 

[TechnoMonk]

They have actually simplified this a good deal in 26.
Open Safari.
Pull down menu bar.
Tap Safari in the menu bar.
And then there’s a shortcut directly to the Safari settings right there.

Yep. One of the things I missed was having tabs displayed directly. I had to tap on the dots and then get to it. Luckily there was a setting to change it. They added more options for sure.