iOS 8 Adoption Reaches 81% Following Apple Watch Launch

[MacRumors]

Apple's latest distribution numbers show that 81% of iOS devices are now running iOS 8 or later, less than one week after the release of the Apple Watch. 17% of devices used to access the App Store continue to run iOS 7 and the remaining 2% are running an earlier software version.

iOS 8 adoption rose 2 percentage points since Apple shared its last distribution numbers earlier this month, with the Apple Watch launch last Friday likely contributing to the marginal increase. Apple Watch must be paired with an iPhone 5 or later running iOS 8.2 or newer.

According to mobile analytics firm Mixpanel, approximately 91% of devices were running iOS 7 at this time last year, meaning that iOS 8 adoption continues to be slower, likely due to a wide range of reasons including software bugs and excessive storage space required to install updates.

Article Link: iOS 8 Adoption Reaches 81% Following Apple Watch Launch

 

[furi0usbee]

I'm sure the early Apple Watch adopters really pushed iOS installs to their limits...

 

[Costino1]

I'm sure the early Apple Watch adopters really pushed iOS installs to their limits...

All 400 of them who received their preorders? *tongue in cheek.

 

[allanfries]

Hmmm! Still wonder how many of the 81% are new devices.

 

[viperGTS]

Probably because iOS 8 (specifically, 8.2 or later) is required to use the Watch.

 

[Mike MA]

Hmmm! Still wonder how many of the 81% are new devices.

The minority. For the phones it might be close to equal, but iPades and iPods are not being newly purchased every two years.

 

[C DM]

The minority. For the phones it might be close to equal, but iPades and iPods are not being newly purchased every two years.

Considering huge new iPhone sales figures pretty much most of the time, it might not be that small of a part of it all.

 

[oliversl]

Cool, I'm the 2%! (without the money )

 

[TheRainKing]

Very slow adoption compared to iOS 6 and iOS 7.

 

[Ninja Dom]

Hmmmm, I'm not sure how adoption can be so much slower.

Apple have sold millions of iPhone 6/6+, iPad Air 2 & iPad Mini Retina 3. These devices only run iOS 8. And the iPhone 6 series is Apple's fastest selling iPhone ever. So why the slower adoption?

 

[Icaras]

The eco-system is strong with this one.

 

[HarryWarden]

I only upgraded because some new apps I wanted only work with 8 or later.

 

[2457282]

Very slow adoption compared to iOS 6 and iOS 7.

As the install base grows, we add users that just don't upgrade. Case in point -- my parents. Finally got them to trade in their 3GS for a 5c. Don't think they have updated since.

I actually have a co-worker still on the iphone 4.

The majority probably upgrades every two year, but that does not mean they upgrade the software every year. And there is a lot of older phones still working.

So the conversion rate will continue to slow with each new release IMO.

 

[AlecZ]

iOS 8, what a PoS! Some basic features that used to work perfectly from the original iPhone OS to iOS 7 are now messed up. I can't even scrub through music without it jumping around. If you haven't updated and don't need it for anything specific, don't update.

 

[SteveW928]

I'm not sure what the Apple Watch has to do with iOS adoption rates, aside from being a good thing to put in an article headline.

But, the adoption rate would be much higher if Apple had done a decent job of iOS 8. It is finally getting to a semi-reasonable state (i.e.: usable once again, but a pain) on any older device with 512K (iPad 2, iPad mini). But, I still sure wish I hadn't upgraded. And, the rest of the family devices will stay on iOS 7.

 

[manu chao]

Apple had sold its billionth iOS device last November. If we split the sales in that quarter (74.5 iPhones + 21.4 iPads/2 = 47.95) and add the last quarter sales of 61.2 iPhones + 12.6 iPads, plus a quarter of that (the June quarter will be less than the March quarter) for the last four weeks (18.45), add an estimate of 4 million iPod touch sold since then, we get an estimate of 1.144 billion iOS devices sold by now.

The only iOS devices not being able to run iOS 7 or 8 are the original iPhone, the 3G, the 3GS, the original iPad and the first four generations of iPod touch. Now, if we add up all iPhone sales until the end of Q2 2010 (when the iPhone 4 was launched), all iPad sales until the end of Q1 2011 (when the iPad 2 was launched), and all iPod touch sales since the end of Q3 2011 (when the 5th gen iPod touch was launched) we get a total of about 145 million iOS devices that cannot run iOS 7 or 8. This is about 13% of the total (and we know that those devices were still sold beyond the dates their successors were launched, ie, that is underestimating their numbers but since the sales starts never aligned perfectly with the quarterly published sales figures, there is some approximation in this anyway).

Does this chart then mean that at least two thirds of those iOS devices are no longer in use?

 

[C DM]

Hmmmm, I'm not sure how adoption can be so much slower.

Apple have sold millions of iPhone 6/6+, iPad Air 2 & iPad Mini Retina 3. These devices only run iOS 8. And the iPhone 6 series is Apple's fastest selling iPhone ever. So why the slower adoption?

Potentially quite a few more people on iPhone 4 that can't even upgrade beyond iOS 7, and quite a few on let's say 4s that might be a bit more resistant to upgrade since iOS 7 days when more and more people saw the somewhat more obvious performance issues on older devices.

 

[firewood]

Does this chart then mean that at least two thirds of those iOS devices are no longer in use?

The App Store does not allow submitting any iOS apps or even app updates that can run on an iPhone 3G (or the equivalent first few generations of iPod Touch), and hasn't for the past couple years. You can't even build apps for the iPhone 3G on a Mac running Mavericks or Yosemite. The 1st gen iPad (running 5.1.1) is barely supported by the current release of Xcode. Thus, there are very few apps compatible with such old devices currently in the App store. Any old apps still running are probably not producing analytics data using any current frameworks or protocols.

Thus those old devices won't even show up in any current iOS App store analytics.

 

[KALLT]

The App Store does not allow submitting any iOS apps or even app updates that can run on an iPhone 3G (or the equivalent first few generations of iPod Touch), and hasn't for the past couple years. You can't even build apps for the iPhone 3G on a Mac running Mavericks or Yosemite. The 1st gen iPad (running 5.1.1) is barely supported by the current release of Xcode. Thus, there are very few apps compatible with such old devices currently in the App store. Any old apps still running are probably not producing analytics data using any current frameworks or protocols.

Thus those old devices won't even show up in any current iOS App store analytics.

I would even make the assumption that owners of such old devices are not likely to use the App Store often, which would leave them out of that statistic anyway. It is what it is: a statistic based on App Store customers. Developers are only interested in their potential customers which is what this statistic is meant to show.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I really doubt the Apple Watch had much if anything to do with that. While complete anecdotal, I know six people who have ordered the Apple Watch. All have an iPhone 6 or 6+, which came with iOS 8. In order to use it at all, you need an iPhone 5 or newer. Yes, this only shuts out the 4S, but iPads and iPod touches are excluded automatically. And iPhone 4S users seem to be the most likely to have purposefully avoided iOS 8 as it was.

So the people most likely to have not updated yet are the ones who can't use the Apple Watch.

 

[Woyzeck]

Why should owners of older - still perfectly working - devices upgrade if the upgrade is in fact a usability downgrade and their devices are much slower than before?

 

[KdParker]

Why should owners of older - still perfectly working - devices upgrade if the upgrade is in fact a usability downgrade and their devices are much slower than before?

Agreed.

But there will become a time if they want any of the newer functionality they will have to upgrade. Which most people do when the need a new phone for some reason.

 

[Altis]

Why should owners of older - still perfectly working - devices upgrade if the upgrade is in fact a usability downgrade and their devices are much slower than before?

To be honest, iOS 8 hardly runs any better on my iPhone 6 than it does on my work 5C and 4S on iOS 7.

In fact, my 5, 4S, and 3GS on iOS 6 remains faster at navigating around the OS, with the 5 on iOS 6 being the fastest I have currently. I really hope Apple starts bringing back some element of speed, but they don't seem to be bothered one bit.

 

[ErikGrim]

Why should owners of older - still perfectly working - devices upgrade if the upgrade is in fact a usability downgrade and their devices are much slower than before?

iOS8.3 will be faster than any version of iOS7 on any supported device.

The problem isn’t that they don’t want to upgrade, most cases it’s that they can’t due to the space of the installation (8GB devices especially).

 

[C DM]

iOS8.3 will be faster than any version of iOS7 on any supported device.

The problem isn’t that they don’t want to upgrade, most cases it’s that they can’t due to the space of the installation (8GB devices especially).

Faster than iOS 7.1.2? Is there much that supports that?