iOS 26 Shows Unusually Slow Adoption Months After Release [Updated]

[Burger Thing]

With Liquid glass being on center stage as an update feature of iOS 26 Apple should not be surprised if people are adapting only slowly. It feels like a cheap Android Theme pack and iOS 18 is doing the job for most people without being visually distracting.

 

[klasma]

You have to ask why Apple is not pushing 26 more to those on 18, at this point. I think that’s telling.

There was a push at the time of the 18.7.3 update. And the latter was only made available via the beta channel, unless you had an XS/XR.

 

[FatLouie]

Probably because the masses hear about how bad it is visually. I have no issues with it.

Perhaps you do not, but apparently the 'masses' have seen 26 and have voted to stay on earlier releases. I bought an OPPO to replace my 15+ because of 26. The iPad is next; the Studio will be harder to let go of, but it will likely stay on Sequoia for years.

But in fairness to Apple, I did email them twice and let them know I would not be upgrading to anything with Liquid Glass unless LG could be entirely disabled. I never bluff.

 

[klasma]

Apple devices are 2D devices. There's no functional value in making them have a "false 3D" look.

There certainly is functional value in a 3D look, like in Windows 95 NeXTSTEP or iOS 1–6. The problem is translucency and transparency, visual effects that draw the user’s attention away from the task they want to perform, and not clearly separating UI controls from content.

 

[naturalboy]

Will Apple take these metrics as feedback, accept their failure, and change course? The market has spoken.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

There certainly is functional value in a 3D look, like in Windows-95-style UI themes, or like in iOS 1–6. The problem is translucency and transparency, visual effects that draw the user’s attention away from the task they want to perform, and not clearly separating UI controls from content.

I don't get the fascination with transparency...people don't operate in a transparent world. Paperwork isn't transparent, books aren't transparent, TVs aren't transparent, monitors aren't transparent, keyboards aren't transparent, on and on and on.

I 👏🏻 HATE 👏🏻 FAKE 👏🏻OS 👏🏻 TRANSPARANCY. It has zero meaningful advantages.

It boggles my mind.

 

[DEXTERITY]

because it is horrible and doesn't function correctly; not to mention the dumb changes to the search bar. wish I could go back without a huge headache.

 

[ifxf]

It is a step back in usability and introduces niche features that are only known by expert users.

 

[klasma]

I don't get the fascination with transparency...people don't operate in a transparent world. Paperwork isn't transparent, books aren't transparent, TVs aren't transparent, monitors aren't transparent, keyboards are not transparent, on and on and on...

Well, apparently there will be an all-glass iPhone in 2027. 😉

 

[trusso]

These numbers are far worse than even I thought.

And it’s hilarious.

One could only hope this would convince Apple to do an about-face on Liquid Glass and menu icons.

 

[klasma]

Cult of Mac has a nice article image. 😂

 

[Ursadorable]

I have two iPhones, one for personal use, and one for corporate use. The corporate one I upgraded to iOS 26, and my personal one is still on 18 (don't even get me started on the stupid decision to jump version numbers from 17 to 26). I find iOS 26 so disgustingly frustrating to use, I've forwarded my calls from my corporate phone to my personal phone, and added my corporate email to my personal phone so I don't have to use that abomination.

I still carry both phones because I have an authenticator I need to use. If it wasn't for that, it would be sitting in my desk drawer until Apple makes the OS usable again. Besides the ugliness of liquid glass, the user hostile UI changes such as floating toolbars that cover up content and floating buttons make it look like someone saw it in a fever dream after sniffing too much glue, and thought it was a good idea.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

update from 9to5Mac:

“Update: As a second reference point, TelemetryDeck has iOS 26 adoption performing much better, with around 60% of users on the latest software and about 37% still on iOS 18. Clearly, the two services have differing methodology in tracking user data.”

60% sounds way, way, way closer to the truth than 16 or 25%. Quite a bit slower than iOS 18 still, but not unrealistically slower.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I have no issues with it, runs great, and I really like the UI.

 

[Homme]

Oh man, I forgot about iOS 4 on my 3g... 😱

I rolled back to 3.1.3 and stayed there until I upgraded to the 4 about six months after it was released. You know, back when Apple actually allowed downgrades.

it was that bad that it and the 2G Touch were the only iDevices not only to get iOS 4.3 but not get a new update halfway throughout a iOS Cycle

But luckily the 2G Touch on iOS 4.0 performed far better than the 3G because of its better CPU ( and is the only iPod Touch which performed better than the iPhone of 2008 lol)

Perhaps you do not, but apparently the 'masses' have seen 26 and have voted to stay on earlier releases. I bought an OPPO to replace my 15+ because of 26. The iPad is next; the Studio will be harder to let go of, but it will likely stay on Sequoia for years.

But in fairness to Apple, I did email them twice and let them know I would not be upgrading to anything with Liquid Glass unless LG could be entirely disabled. I never bluff.

It ca be “disabled” but only on the A8/A10X Apple TV’s on OS 26 as they’re CPU’s can’t support it

 

[dave559]

I'm not at all surprised that many people (including myself) are steering well clear of iOS Vista, but I wouldn't give very much credence to any supposed statistics from StatCounter. It might have been a relatively popular thing to add by some web developers on some websites a long long time ago (think Yahoo / AltaVista / web rings era), but I use NoScript to protect my privacy and virtually never see StatCounter in the list of third-party sites when reviewing my permitted script settings on newly visited sites. StatCounter really doesn't have the broad overview of a wide range of website visitors that it likes to still try to convince people that it has, it's just trying to prop up a fading long past reputation these days…

 

[AustinIllini]

iOS 26 is definitely the worst looking iOS since iOS 7. The walk-back post Alan Dye will be great.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

These numbers are far worse than even I thought.

And apparently, incorrect, the actual number according to 9to5Mac is around 60% of users are on iOS 26, with 37% on 18.
Still quite a bit lower than last year, but not 1/4 as many which was obviously incorrect.

 

[JaydenA]

Dear Tim Apple,

Please can you let me upgrade my phone to the superior IOS 18?

Thanks,
Jay.

 

[Ursadorable]

I'm not at all surprised that many people (including myself) are steering well clear of iOS Vista

iOS Vista! 😆 How appropriate.

 

[AustinIllini]

iOS Vista! 😆 How appropriate.

the parallels between Liquid Glass and Aero are staggering.

The difference? In 2007 aero was cool looking and futuristic. Now it's just bleh.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I'm not at all surprised that many people (including myself) are steering well clear of iOS Vista, but I wouldn't give very much credence to any supposed statistics from StatCounter. It might have been a relatively popular thing to add by some web developers on some websites a long long time ago (think Yahoo / AltaVista / web rings era), but I use NoScript to protect my privacy and virtually never see StatCounter in the list of third-party sites when reviewing my permitted script settings on newly visited sites. StatCounter really doesn't have the broad overview of a wide range of website visitors that it likes to still try to convince people that it has, it's just trying to prop up a fading long past reputation these days…

Yeah, the math is not mathing here.
One source is saying 16% adoption rate, another source is saying 25% adoption rate, and a third source is saying 60% adoption rate of iOS 26.
Given that user behavior is pretty predictable, and after four months of release 18, 17, 16 and 15 were all hovering around 60%, that’s what I believe.
There is also the fact that the version number changed pretty drastically, and at least on the macOS side Apple can change the visible build number to not break compatibility going from 15 to 26, I wouldn’t be surprised if all of these stats are slightly off and we only hear the real stats during Apple‘s quarterly earnings call.
Apple has over 2 billion active iOS devices, it’s very likely most of them have never even heard of what operating system they are running let alone knowing anything about the new user interface before installing it, that’s not how regular consumers deal with technology. Usually they just let the phone do what it’s going to do itself and don’t even think about it.

 

[swester]

I also still don't understand the logic behind suddenly jumping to a totally different naming convention at this point. Going from 18 to...26 just feels strange and unsettling, especially since they revamped the whole thing in major ways that have received mixed reivews.

I know that's not the primary reason, but on a subconscious level...it's probably not helping with adoption. They made the gap sound enormous, and that's a bit scary.

 

[beltzak]

I'm not at all surprised that many people (including myself) are steering well clear of iOS Vista, but I wouldn't give very much credence to any supposed statistics from StatCounter. It might have been a relatively popular thing to add by some web developers on some websites a long long time ago (think Yahoo / AltaVista / web rings era), but I use NoScript to protect my privacy and virtually never see StatCounter in the list of third-party sites when reviewing my permitted script settings on newly visited sites. StatCounter really doesn't have the broad overview of a wide range of website visitors that it likes to still try to convince people that it has, it's just trying to prop up a fading long past reputation these days…

I also use NoScript and never in the last 10 years or so haven’t seen StatCounter asking permission to load a script.

But, there is also this: “In the first week of January last year, 89.3% of MacRumors visitors used a version of iOS 18. This year, during the same time period, only 25.7% of MacRumors readers are running a version of ‌iOS 26‌.”

So I guess MacRumors can be trusted, although being a Mac forum we may not be a realistic reflection of the average iPhone user.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I also still don't understand the logic behind suddenly jumping to a totally different naming convention at this point. Going from 18 to...26 just feels strange and unsettling, especially since they revamped the whole thing in major ways that have received mixed reivews.

I know that's not the primary reason, but on a subconscious level...it's probably not helping with adoption. They made the gap sound enormous, and that's a bit scary.

True, but the fact is that most people don’t even know what version they are running, let alone that the number jumped so dramatically.