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

[erihp]

If it was not for that they finaly sorted CarPlay, with features it should have had years ago, I'd be looking for another platform.
IOS26 is simply dreadful bloatware filled with utterly pointless features and a UI designed for god knows who.

not who, but what. new phones.

 

[DesertNomad]

I'd like an iPhone 17 but not with OS 26. I am considering an iPhone 16e but not sure it will still come with OS 18.

 

[Dog Bone Malone]

Well, I'm going to buck the trend here. I like IOS 26 LG. I'm currently running with 26.3 Beta. My 16 PM has never been so smooth and snappy. Also running with the same Beta on my AWU 3. Baddery life on both is also excellent. Looking at my wife's 16 pro running IOS 18 - it looks flat as hell in comparison.

For the naysayers, doubters and detractors - as the song goes, things can only get better!

 

[erihp]

Well, I'm going to buck the trend here. I like IOS 26 LG. I'm currently running with 26.3 Beta. My 16 PM has never been so smooth and snappy. Also running with the same Beta on my AWU 3. Baddery life on both is also excellent. Looking at my wife's 16 pro running IOS 18 - it looks flat as hell in comparison.

For the naysayers, doubters and detractors - as the song goes, things can only get better!

sorry but I lost it at baddery life 🤣

 

[carrrrrlos]

It’s just bloated. Just replaced an old iPad with a new one and it runs way hotter and battery maybe lasts half a day. Less is more Apple.

 

[Dog Bone Malone]

sorry but I lost it at baddery life 🤣

LOL. Ignore me. I'm just taking the piss out of my American friends on here! 😁

 

[macfacts]

It's time for Tim to leave.

Apple needs Jobs and Forstall.

Steve Jobs is dead. he isn't coming back

 

[okieoutwest]

I updated and the experience is bad. Not just the muscle memory stuff but Safari especially is now two or three more taps for everything I used to do. Just unpleasant at a time when I need my devices to be less friction not more.

 

[lazyrighteye]

We’re a 4-person Apple household that updates all devices on release day. As a beta installer, this has been the first upgrade I recommended the family not install.

For those keeping score at home, 3/4 of this study group has not upgraded.

 

[johannnn]

I just updated my wifes iPhone 11. It got noticably slower. And not just the first day when it's indexing. It keeps being slower.

So yea I completely understand if some people want to stay at iOS 18.

Not everyone wants useless animations and glass effects

 

[velemar1]

No wonder. It's slower, buggier, a drain on battery (particularly for older devices), and a hideous eyesore design

 

[jelly_s]

It's because Liquid Glass has low quality. I'm not criticizing the switch to Liquid Glass itself, but I do want to complain a little about how low quality it is. Making everything translucent isn't always the right choice...

 

[CalebOfReese]

We can complain about the UI choices until the cows come home, but worse than that are the seemingly endless bugs plaguing the UX: keyboard clicks not registering, certain widgets STILL crash upon opening, and spotlight JUST started working again after months of broken behavior. This is a bad, big-filled release even without the UI changes.

 

[indefinite]

Tinted Glass fixed most of the visual “features” for me. Why are people arguing about transparency?

 

[SebCohen]

If only I could switch back to 18.

I feel your pain in 8 words. 🖖

 

[SebCohen]

For all the negativity about iOS 26, iOS 7 was so much worse.

I actually don't mind iOS 26. But that's just me.

"I actually don’t mind" shouldn’t be even close to how Apple makes you feel about anything.

 

[CyberGene]

I’m not sure if this is a widespread issue or if it’s somehow related to localization (like mismatched font sizes?), but here in Bulgaria, various messengers, including iMessage, have been experiencing a problem where some messages have the last words completely missing. This issue is widespread and has been present since iOS 26 and continues to be an issue in iOS 26.2. People are actively and deliberately avoiding iOS 26 due to issues like that but they’re afraid that they might be forced to install it someday. Talk about Apple quality…

 

[bluecoast]

I think they’ve been trying pretty hard. Changing which OS (18.7.2 or 26.2) is highlighted (meaning muscle memory will tend to make one choose 26 until after it’s too late), giving owners of more recent devices no other choice but 26.2 in order to get the last malware patch… and more.

It makes it all the more concerning then for Apple that people are upgrading.

I’m not advising anyone I know to get 26 if they’re happy with 18 due to the unoptimised feeling of 26.

I know I’ve felt that battery life is not good now on my 16e, even though I have adaptive power on all the time. And performance can be sometimes a little juddery - but it’s mostly good now on 26.2.

 

[SebCohen]

People are waiting for it to be stable and I can’t blame them. I updated my iPhone to look around and maybe get used to the looks, but the amount of bugs is insane. Waited too long to downgrade, so I missed this moment.
iOS 26 is the worst updates in YEARS

I don’t think "stability" are most people’s reason for avoiding it. Its not crazy unstable, just annoyingly not better than 18. 26 should be, checking notes, 8 times better than 18.

 

[Ferrandix]

Is this even a question?
Nobody likes liquid glass

 

[CyberGene]

Just so you know, I used to really dislike Google, but then we started using Gemini at work, and I quickly changed my mind. It’s such an amazing AI assistant! Siri just doesn’t cut it for me. I know Siri will soon be powered by Gemini, but with all the other problems on iOS lately, I’m seriously thinking about switching to a Pixel.

 

[bluecoast]

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

I really wonder if Liquid Glass was in fact meant to come out in 27 to match this new phone but they accelerated its development to distract from the disasterpiece that was their AI rollout.

That might explain how unfinished things feel and the lack of optimisation.

 

[bice]

This is why Alan Dye was pushed out the door and likely why we will see some rollback for OS27.

Personally I think 26 is worth it just for the better photos app.

No need to "rollback" to 27. Can just go forward from the old branch and release a proper ios19

 

[SebCohen]

Very true. iOS 7 was light years ago.

While it seems Apple is too big to fail, it's becoming apparent that there is a distant possibility they may be reduced to a shadow of their former selves.

Trundling along offering products to the Apple Faithful and other hangers on. Remaining profitable but no longer a leader in any particular category.

A situation once unimaginable suddenly becomes reality. It’s happened before to once great companies.

In tech, all it takes to start failing is one bad year. Granted, 26 isn’t THAT big. But this year can’t be the same. Now people are on guard…

They failed miserably with Butterfly Keyboard..and famously refused to resign to the facts. That’s hubris.

The Touch Bar was rather genius, but they failed miserably with implementation.

The decades old mouse is a disgrace we’ve gotten used to…or gotten a Logitech.

Not focusing on the laptop for years was embarrassing. But boy did they make a comeback.

The M was their biggest achievement.

The Vision is rather remarkable but ridiculous for 95% of customers. Like the gold Apple Watch…

AND this 26 debacle is what effect most people the most. This degrades their standing among "people" the most. Those other things are minor compared to it.

 

[chanchowancho]

Anecdotally, I’m aware of a couple of enterprises which had to delay the adoption of 26 on all devices due to some incompatibility between the way some MDM software manages app age ratings, and iOS 26’s new categories.

In one example, the MDM was set to allow “17+” apps (ie the ios 18 highest rating) but 26 removed that rating and added a new “18” category… MDM not updated yet and (somehow) blocked all apps that should have been allowed!