iPadOS 26 is an Absolute Mess

[Kal Madda]

Just so you can see what I mean:

The first is a web page in reader mode with the Seravek font selected. The second is the PDF iPadOS generates from it.

View attachment 2632710

View attachment 2632711

These were done with both my extensions turned off. I have tried multiple paths to produce the PDF and the results are always the same.

I am on iPadOS 26.5.

I wonder if this could be a problem with my iPad 11: a memory shortage.

Edit to add that I get the same misbehavior on an iPad mini A17 Pro, so it’s not a memory problem ☹️

This is what I get doing the same. 🤷🏼‍♂️

In Reader Mode in Safari:

The saved PDF in Preview:

It keeps the font the same for me. Maybe it’s an issue with the iPad, or the software, sadly I can’t really help you much apart from trying to replicate it, I’ve not seen anything else about a bug like that. 👍🏻

 

[Kal Madda]

Now you have me wondering if it’s an extension I use ☹️

Yeah, that could be. 👍🏻. Perhaps try disabling some extensions and see if that fixes things? I wish I could be more helpful. 🙂👍🏻

 

[It’s always something]

Yeah, that could be. 👍🏻. Perhaps try disabling some extensions and see if that fixes things? I wish I could be more helpful. 🙂👍🏻

Sadly I did try disabling all extensions (I only use two), but it didn’t help.

I’m stumped. I am also a bit vexed that if I try printing the webpage normally (without reader mode) and save the output to a file, it sets the right margin a bit too wide and some text gets clipped all the way down the side.

Thanks for trying. I will have to live with this I guess.

 

[I7guy]

Just so you can see what I mean:

The first is a web page in reader mode with the Seravek font selected. The second is the PDF iPadOS generates from it.

View attachment 2632710

View attachment 2632711

These were done with both my extensions turned off. I have tried multiple paths to produce the PDF and the results are always the same.

I am on iPadOS 26.5.

I wonder if this could be a problem with my iPad 11: a memory shortage.

Edit to add that I get the same misbehavior on an iPad mini A17 Pro, so it’s not a memory problem ☹️

So when I tried reader mode, the font selected was Palitino and the page rendered in palitino.

 

[It’s always something]

So when I tried reader mode, the font selected was Palitino and the page rendered in palitino.

I also tried Palatino, and the New York font (the latter is similar to Times New Roman, but not nearly as ugly to my taste). I had the same problem.

Eventually I found a workaround. Using the Brave browser I can at least get a PDF that is readable. It’s not great but I can live with it.

 

[thadoggfather]

iPadOS 26.5 running quite a bit better on iPad mini 7 than previous iOS 26

But my iPad Pro m4 is staying on latest iPadOS 18

 

[I7guy]

iPadOS 26.5 running quite a bit better on iPad mini 7 than previous iOS 26

But my iPad Pro m4 is staying on latest iPadOS 18

Your IPP M4 is no longer getting any updates…is that correct?

 

[thadoggfather]

Your IPP M4 is no longer getting any updates…is that correct?

its on 18.7.8

If Apple issues more security updates, I will. Otherwise I won't. But I will keep an open mind about iPadOS 27+

Just skipping 26 on this device is all I know 😛

 

[FeliApple]

Seeing many performance complaints on the A16 iPad, which is rather sad considering it’s the latest model. Lagging when switching to the widgets tab or the App Library, when switching apps, etc. The first major update shouldn’t introduce issues like these, especially considering that I’ve tried to reproduce all of these issues on mine running iPadOS 18 and I luckily couldn’t.

There’s a pretty serious optimisation issue that goes beyond the older models, and seemingly is affecting pretty much every device.

Sure, nothing that renders it unusable, but it worsens the experience for no reason at all. In fact, I’ve seen more performance complaints on iPads than I’ve seen on iPhones.

 

[Kal Madda]

Seeing many performance complaints on the A16 iPad, which is rather sad considering it’s the latest model. Lagging when switching to the widgets tab or the App Library, when switching apps, etc. The first major update shouldn’t introduce issues like these, especially considering that I’ve tried to reproduce all of these issues on mine running iPadOS 18 and I luckily couldn’t.

There’s a pretty serious optimisation issue that goes beyond the older models, and seemingly is affecting pretty much every device.

Sure, nothing that renders it unusable, but it worsens the experience for no reason at all. In fact, I’ve seen more performance complaints on iPads than I’ve seen on iPhones.

I’ve had no such issues with my A16 iPad, and I even run the iPadOS 26 developer betas on it, which should practically guarantee I run into any such issues if they were that widespread… 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[FeliApple]

I’ve had no such issues with my A16 iPad, and I even run the iPadOS 26 developer betas on it, which should practically guarantee I run into any such issues if they were that widespread… 🤷🏼‍♂️

Swipe quickly between the widgets tab and the Home Screen, or to the App Library.

That lag is universal. People also reported general lagging while app switching.

Those issues typically happen with several iOS updates, not the first one. The iPad is the latest model and the optimization is so lacking that it doesn’t even work properly on it.

Sure, it’s not catastrophic like it might be on older devices, but it’s the latest model!

 

[Kal Madda]

Swipe quickly between the widgets tab and the Home Screen, or to the App Library.

That lag is universal. People also reported general lagging while app switching.

Those issues typically happen with several iOS updates, not the first one. The iPad is the latest model and the optimization is so lacking that it doesn’t even work properly on it.

Sure, it’s not catastrophic like it might be on older devices, but it’s the latest model!

I have, it loads perfectly fine and snappy for me. 🤷🏼‍♂️

So apparently it’s not “universal”…

No noticeable lag switching between apps either…

Also, while it is the currently sold model in that lineup, it was introduced early last year, so it’s over a year old…

 

[FeliApple]

I have, it loads perfectly fine and snappy for me. 🤷🏼‍♂️

So apparently it’s not “universal”…

No noticeable lag switching between apps either…

Also, while it is the currently sold model in that lineup, it was introduced early last year, so it’s over a year old…

Well, that’s not what most people report. There’s a noticeable delay with those actions, especially with the App Library, but okay.

One year old is old to you? I think that’s why there’s so much variation with this topic, expectations can be so different…

I’ve seen people characterize certain iOS versions as “decent” on some devices that I’d describe as nothing other than pretty much unusable by my own expectations. But then again, I’m someone who uses original iOS versions whenever I grab a device so my expectations of a device do not change with its age. There’s no “well, it works as expected for its age” for me. It either works well or it doesn’t.

 

[Luftkopf]

Well, that’s not what most people report. There’s a noticeable delay with those actions, especially with the App Library, but okay.

One year old is old to you? I think that’s why there’s so much variation with this topic, expectations can be so different…

I’ve seen people characterize certain iOS versions as “decent” on some devices that I’d describe as nothing other than pretty much unusable by my own expectations. But then again, I’m someone who uses original iOS versions whenever I grab a device so my expectations of a device do not change with its age. There’s no “well, it works as expected for its age” for me. It either works well or it doesn’t.

Who is ‘most people’? You’re the only one I’ve heard who has said it.

 

[FeliApple]

Who is ‘most people’? You’re the only one I’ve heard who has said it.

Here’s a video: https://www.reddit.com/r/iPadOS/s/ZJjsjqdgZ9

One more on the iPad Mini 7:

From the ipadmini community on Reddit: iPadOS 26 is really laggy!

Explore this post and more from the ipadmini community

www.reddit.com

Sure, not device-breaking like I said, but it’s the latest device…

I saw that issue ages ago and have tried to recreate it on iOS and iPadOS 18: it doesn’t happen there regardless of how fast or frequently I swipe back and forth.

 

[Kal Madda]

Well, that’s not what most people report. There’s a noticeable delay with those actions, especially with the App Library, but okay.

One year old is old to you? I think that’s why there’s so much variation with this topic, expectations can be so different…

I’ve seen people characterize certain iOS versions as “decent” on some devices that I’d describe as nothing other than pretty much unusable by my own expectations. But then again, I’m someone who uses original iOS versions whenever I grab a device so my expectations of a device do not change with its age. There’s no “well, it works as expected for its age” for me. It either works well or it doesn’t.

An alleged “majority” of the extreme minority of iPad users who actually post in forums and groups like this? 🤔. And I’m not sure a few Reddit posts prove a “majority” even in that regard anyways… 🤷🏼‍♂️. I’m sorry you’re encountering that issue, hopefully it’s resolved for you.

I don’t necessarily view it as “old” per se, I’m just pointing out that it’s not “this year’s model”. It is still sold, but it came out over a year ago is all I’m saying. But yeah, I do totally agree with differing expectations often explaining variations in some of these things. 👍🏻

I’ve never encountered an iOS version I found to be “unusable”. Perhaps I’ve lucked out of some of the bugs, but it is kind of ironic, since I run developer betas, yet have a very stable system usually with only occasional minor bugs. To me, I always update to the latest software I can on all of my devices. But obviously that’s a matter of personal preference, and I totally respect your approach there. 🙂👍🏻

 

[FeliApple]

An alleged “majority” of the extreme minority of iPad users who actually post in forums and groups like this? 🤔. And I’m not sure a few Reddit posts prove a “majority” even in that regard anyways… 🤷🏼‍♂️. I’m sorry you’re encountering that issue, hopefully it’s resolved for you.

I’m not, I’m running iPadOS 18 on my 11th-gen iPad (A16). It’s just sad to see people complain about their brand new iPad lagging because the first major update is this poor (barring iOS 7 and 11, this hasn’t really happened). The ones who post in forums are the only ones who care about things like these…

I don’t necessarily view it as “old” per se, I’m just pointing out that it’s not “this year’s model”. It is still sold, but it came out over a year ago is all I’m saying. But yeah, I do totally agree with differing expectations often explaining variations in some of these things. 👍🏻

I’ve never encountered an iOS version I found to be “unusable”. Perhaps I’ve lucked out of some of the bugs, but it is kind of ironic, since I run developer betas, yet have a very stable system usually with only occasional minor bugs. To me, I always update to the latest software I can on all of my devices. But obviously that’s a matter of personal preference, and I totally respect your approach there. 🙂👍🏻

If you’ve updated iOS devices to their final iOS updates and you’ve never considered them unusable relative to how original versions work, then your tolerance is infinitely higher than mine and explains everything. Unless you upgrade every year and always use the latest device in which case this conversation is pointless.

I do acknowledge that my tolerance is low: all of the devices that I use daily run original iOS versions, so I notice the difference when I don’t.

 

[It’s always something]

I don’t necessarily view it as “old” per se, I’m just pointing out that it’s not “this year’s model”.

There is no “this year’s model.” There’s only the A16, which suffered egregious performance and quality downgrades with 26 for me as well.

 

[Kal Madda]

There is no “this year’s model.” There’s only the A16, which suffered egregious performance and quality downgrades with 26 for me as well.

Well, as I said, I haven’t encountered any such performance issues. Hopefully it’s resolved for you, perhaps it was an issue with the install? Unstable WiFi connection during the update? Don’t know. I just know it’s run smooth as butter for me on the developer betas for 26, and you’re only the second person I’ve heard reporting such performance issues, so I don’t really know how to fix it other than maybe try a reinstall. 🙂👍🏻

 

[Ludatyk]

Well, as I said, I haven’t encountered any such performance issues. Hopefully it’s resolved for you, perhaps it was an issue with the install? Unstable WiFi connection during the update? Don’t know. I just know it’s run smooth as butter for me on the developer betas for 26, and you’re only the second person I’ve heard reporting such performance issues, so I don’t really know how to fix it other than maybe try a reinstall. 🙂👍🏻

I think much ado about nothing. If majority of these A16 models are running into performance issues where we are getting lags all across the OS, Apple would have no choice but to respond. I have a family member using 9th-gen iPad on iPadOS 26 (and I was trying to avoid it because I seen some folks complaining using it on older iPads)... but their iPad is running smoothly.

And look at what happened with the whole SplitView/SlideOver issue when Apple decided to remove that mode... majority complained, Apple responded. Now it's much quicker to get into SplitView than it originally was when iPadOS 26 introduced and SlideOver has returned (albeit it is not as similar as it was before).

 

[Kal Madda]

I’m not, I’m running iPadOS 18 on my 11th-gen iPad (A16). It’s just sad to see people complain about their brand new iPad lagging because the first major update is this poor (barring iOS 7 and 11, this hasn’t really happened). The ones who post in forums are the only ones who care about things like these…

If you’ve updated iOS devices to their final iOS updates and you’ve never considered them unusable relative to how original versions work, then your tolerance is infinitely higher than mine and explains everything. Unless you upgrade every year and always use the latest device in which case this conversation is pointless.

I do acknowledge that my tolerance is low: all of the devices that I use daily run original iOS versions, so I notice the difference when I don’t.

I think unfortunately there are always going to be some people who encounter bugs on their new or newish devices. It doesn’t mean the first major update is “poor”. With modern OSes as complex as they are, and so many people using them on so many different pieces of hardware, with so many different kinds of software and setting configurations, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect zero bugs. I’m not saying that’s your position, but that essentially means that with every update some people will encounter some bugs no matter how great the update is. That’s just sadly the reality of software development, especially at that large and complex of a scale… 🤷🏼‍♂️

And how do you know that people posting in forums like this are the only ones who care about things like these? I don’t know how you could possibly go about proving that claim. That seems suspiciously like a “no true Scotsman” fallacy to me, “if they really cared about x, they would come to these forums and post about it”. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding the point you’re making?

I generally find the last or later updates for my devices to be much better than the first versions, with many more features that I benefit from that weren’t there in the first updates. I’ve never encountered any performance issues on later updates. I guess we’ve just had different experiences. 🙂👍🏻. And I guess I am probably a bit more forgiving of minor bugs when I’m testing betas, so perhaps that factors into things too. 👍🏻 I can confirm though, I have definitely not noticed any notable lag when switching between stuff like the Home Screen and App Library on my iPad on the betas. 👍🏻

 

[Kal Madda]

I think much ado about nothing. If majority of these A16 models are running into performance issues where we are getting lags all across the OS, Apple would have no choice but to respond. I have a family member using 9th-gen iPad on iPadOS 26 (and I was trying to avoid it because I seen some folks complaining using it on older iPads)... but their iPad is running smoothly.

And look at what happened with the whole SplitView/SlideOver issue when Apple decided to remove that mode... majority complained, Apple responded. Now it's much quicker to get into SplitView than it originally was when iPadOS 26 introduced and SlideOver has returned (albeit it is not as similar as it was before).

Yeah, I agree, if the majority of A16 iPads were encountering such bugs, Apple absolutely would be ironing those bugs out. I highly doubt it’s a widespread common issue. I feel for those encountering it. But I don’t believe that’s the majority of people using A16 iPads.

And yeah, I have several friends and family members running iPadOS 26 on older iPads, and none of them have encountered any weird lags or performance issues when I’ve asked them.

 

[FeliApple]

I think unfortunately there are always going to be some people who encounter bugs on their new or newish devices. It doesn’t mean the first major update is “poor”. With modern OSes as complex as they are, and so many people using them on so many different pieces of hardware, with so many different kinds of software and setting configurations, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect zero bugs. I’m not saying that’s your position, but that essentially means that with every update some people will encounter some bugs no matter how great the update is. That’s just sadly the reality of software development, especially at that large and complex of a scale… 🤷🏼‍♂️

And how do you know that people posting in forums like this are the only ones who care about things like these? I don’t know how you could possibly go about proving that claim. That seems suspiciously like a “no true Scotsman” fallacy to me, “if they really cared about x, they would come to these forums and post about it”. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding the point you’re making?

Honestly I think that once a reasonable threshold of quality passes (so, when devices are affected enough to be undeniable), the entire response to that is individual.

If you don’t track battery life, correctly estimating a 20-25% drop after a certain number of updates isn’t easy. I get a drop like that on my Air 5 on iPadOS 15 with my regular use vs using it with the Apple Pencil, and it isn’t too noticeable.

Now add to that that the drop is progressive (first update drops a little, second it drops a little more, etc), and unless you track battery life you no longer have a clue how many hours you got on the original version. You get the typical forum response when people ask “I don’t track it so I don’t have a number, but it’s fine for me”.

Performance thresholds of tolerance vary, too. A very simple example. As you know, I don’t update. My music device is my iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12, one of the most optimised iOS versions ever for the latest devices that could run it.

A family member had me update an iPhone 11 from iOS 14 to 18. Battery life was fine, but performance is slightly worse. When I grabbed the 11 a couple of days later, I immediately noticed than when I tap through a couple of albums, there was a small delay to enter the album in Apple Music. Used to my iPhone Xʀ, I noticed immediately “this is wrong, this is too slow, this shouldn’t happen”. Immediately grabbed my Xʀ, and sure enough, mine was completely smooth regardless of how fast I moved through albums. Asked the owner: “it’s fine”. I grabbed both phones and showed the owner “yeah, I see it, but who cares about that?”

Hours and hours of repetition of me selecting music made it so my brain knew how that should work. When it didn’t work as expected, I noticed. Others may not. And it’s fine. But this example illustrates why it’s so difficult for me to believe anyone when they say that updates I have personally tested are “fine”. No they aren’t. You just don’t notice.

I generally find the last or later updates for my devices to be much better than the first versions, with many more features that I benefit from that weren’t there in the first updates. I’ve never encountered any performance issues on later updates. I guess we’ve just had different experiences. 🙂👍🏻. And I guess I am probably a bit more forgiving of minor bugs when I’m testing betas, so perhaps that factors into things too. 👍🏻 I can confirm though, I have definitely not noticed any notable lag when switching between stuff like the Home Screen and App Library on my iPad on the betas. 👍🏻

This last part is extremely, extremely difficult to believe. In fact, I don’t believe it at all depending on which devices you’re talking about. Early 64-bit devices fully updated have a massive difference with original versions. First and second-gen iPad Pros have been massively affected in terms of battery life and those iPhones have been, too. Also in terms of performance, with a LOT of slowdowns that significantly degrade the experience.

You can value features, but don’t tell me it has the same performance and battery life as the original. It doesn’t.

Likewise with the A16 iPad on iPadOS 26. That App Library issue was universal at one point. They might have solved it in 26.5, who knows. But it was there at least at some point.

 

[Kal Madda]

Honestly I think that once a reasonable threshold of quality passes (so, when devices are affected enough to be undeniable), the entire response to that is individual.

If you don’t track battery life, correctly estimating a 20-25% drop after a certain number of updates isn’t easy. I get a drop like that on my Air 5 on iPadOS 15 with my regular use vs using it with the Apple Pencil, and it isn’t too noticeable.

Now add to that that the drop is progressive (first update drops a little, second it drops a little more, etc), and unless you track battery life you no longer have a clue how many hours you got on the original version. You get the typical forum response when people ask “I don’t track it so I don’t have a number, but it’s fine for me”.

Battery hardware degrades over time. This isn’t due to the software, this is a hardware issue. Of course a battery used for 4+ years isn’t going to have as much capacity as the battery on day 1… That really has very little if anything to do with software…

Performance thresholds of tolerance vary, too. A very simple example. As you know, I don’t update. My music device is my iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12, one of the most optimised iOS versions ever for the latest devices that could run it.

A family member had me update an iPhone 11 from iOS 14 to 18. Battery life was fine, but performance is slightly worse. When I grabbed the 11 a couple of days later, I immediately noticed than when I tap through a couple of albums, there was a small delay to enter the album in Apple Music. Used to my iPhone Xʀ, I noticed immediately “this is wrong, this is too slow, this shouldn’t happen”. Immediately grabbed my Xʀ, and sure enough, mine was completely smooth regardless of how fast I moved through albums. Asked the owner: “it’s fine”. I grabbed both phones and showed the owner “yeah, I see it, but who cares about that?”

Hours and hours of repetition of me selecting music made it so my brain knew how that should work. When it didn’t work as expected, I noticed. Others may not. And it’s fine. But this example illustrates why it’s so difficult for me to believe anyone when they say that updates I have personally tested are “fine”. No they aren’t. You just don’t notice.

I’m pretty sure if you’re making a large leap from iOS 14 to 18, you probably stand a higher risk of a faulty install, etc. Because you’re skipping past a ton of updates the current one is built on… Perhaps that explains some bugs you and acquaintances have encountered? I don’t know, but I do think that probably raises chances of bugs and such.

And the speed of albums loading could be dependent on several variables aside from the OS version. How fast is the internet connection? How many other things are up and running in the background? What data might be indexing. A family member’s phone doesn’t probably have the same combination of settings, apps, etc. So lots of variables there beyond the OS version… 🤷🏼‍♂️

Your anecdotal experiences don’t prove the “rule”, “majority”, or really much of anything to be totally honest and blunt. Experiences differ, and it isn’t just because the people who have a different experience than you “don’t notice”. It would be like saying “my Windows computer constantly crashed, so you just don’t notice that your Windows computer also constantly crashes”…. Or “tomatoes taste awful to me, so you just don’t notice that they taste awful when you eat them.” It just doesn’t follow. It’s equally possible that you’re anecdotal experiences are merely that and not everyone shares those same experiences, not just because they “don’t notice”, but because their device doesn’t have the same issues yours does… 🤷🏼‍♂️

This last part is extremely, extremely difficult to believe. In fact, I don’t believe it at all depending on which devices you’re talking about. Early 64-bit devices fully updated have a massive difference with original versions. First and second-gen iPad Pros have been massively affected in terms of battery life and those iPhones have been, too. Also in terms of performance, with a LOT of slowdowns that significantly degrade the experience.

You don’t really have to “believe” anything, certainly nobody can force you to believe anything you don’t want to. But that doesn’t make it untrue… I have never experienced any notable performance declines on later OS versions.

For example, I had an 11” M1 iPad Pro I bought with iPadOS 15 originally on it. I used it all the way through to iPadOS 26. It still performed the same on iPadOS 26 as it did on iPadOS 15. I ended up moving up to a 13” M4 iPad Pro for the larger Tandem-OLED display (which is awesome, btw). The M1 was still performing strong just like day 1 of owning it. I was still using it for the same and larger 3D files with no lag or slow downs…

You can value features, but don’t tell me it has the same performance and battery life as the original. It doesn’t.

Well, I’m glad I have your permission to value new features… 😉👍🏻. I’m just joking, but yes, I do value new features, I and many others find software updates with new features to add value to our devices. And others don’t. That’s perfectly fine, I think that’s just a matter of preference, though I do think that most people would usually consider it an improvement or “better” if a company adds more new additional functionality to your device for free. 👍🏻

Performance? Yeah, I believe it performs the same, I can run the same benchmark tests in Geekbench and get the same scores. Everyday tasks were still just as snappy. I have a family member who is still using the iPad. I’ve asked them if they’ve encountered any issues with it. They haven’t. I’ve gotten to tinker with it myself occasionally. It still works snappy just as I remember.

Battery life? That’s moving the goalposts. As we already covered, battery life is obviously going to degrade whether you stay on the same version or not. Because battery life is tied to, well, the battery, which degrades with time and use… This will happen regardless of software…

Likewise with the A16 iPad on iPadOS 26. That App Library issue was universal at one point. They might have solved it in 26.5, who knows. But it was there at least at some point.

It was never universal. I never encountered it, nor did many others…. Just because a few people encountered a bug doesn’t mean it’s “universal”…. I feel for those who may have encountered it, but it was hardly universal…

 

[FeliApple]

Battery hardware degrades over time. This isn’t due to the software, this is a hardware issue. Of course a battery used for 4+ years isn’t going to have as much capacity as the battery on day 1… That really has very little if anything to do with software…

I’m not going to discuss this here because it isn’t the thread, but I’ll just say that after 15 years of iOS experience without ever updating (in the overwhelming majority of devices I’ve had) or replacing a battery (0 batteries replaced):

Battery health is irrelevant if the device is never updated.

If you want the full argument, go to the “does Apple install malware to slow down your iPhone?” thread on the iPhone subforum, this isn’t the thread for this.

I’m pretty sure if you’re making a large leap from iOS 14 to 18, you probably stand a higher risk of a faulty install, etc. Because you’re skipping past a ton of updates the current one is built on… Perhaps that explains some bugs you and acquaintances have encountered? I don’t know, but I do think that probably raises chances of bugs and such.

I made a full iTunes restore, if I had updated via OTA, maybe, but I don’t think this is the case here.

Your anecdotal experiences don’t prove the “rule”, “majority”, or really much of anything to be totally honest and blunt. Experiences differ, and it isn’t just because the people who have a different experience than you “don’t notice”. It would be like saying “my Windows computer constantly crashed, so you just don’t notice that your Windows computer also constantly crashes”…. Or “tomatoes taste awful to me, so you just don’t notice that they taste awful when you eat them.” It just doesn’t follow. It’s equally possible that you’re anecdotal experiences are merely that and not everyone shares those same experiences, not just because they “don’t notice”, but because their device doesn’t have the same issues yours does… 🤷🏼‍♂️

After everything I’ve tried up to an updated iPhone 11 was worsened, and after reading A16 reports, I’m inclined to believe this.

I distrust reports from people who update and keep saying everything is fine so much (because they’ve always said that and whenever I got my hands on the device they had mentioned my experience was always awful) that I will not believe them until I can test a device myself.

You don’t really have to “believe” anything, certainly nobody can force you to believe anything you don’t want to. But that doesn’t make it untrue… I have never experienced any notable performance declines on later OS versions.

For example, I had an 11” M1 iPad Pro I bought with iPadOS 15 originally on it. I used it all the way through to iPadOS 26. It still performed the same on iPadOS 26 as it did on iPadOS 15. I ended up moving up to a 13” M4 iPad Pro for the larger Tandem-OLED display (which is awesome, btw). The M1 was still performing strong just like day 1 of owning it. I was still using it for the same and larger 3D files with no lag or slow downs…

Now this is different. This I can agree with. The M1 is powerful enough to withstand updates thus far. Battery life is probably not the same, but then again, maybe it’s not enough to be truly noticeable if you don’t track it.

You probably have the bugs everyone has, even on the latest device. An M1 iPad is a whole different ballgame, because we aren’t at the end of its update life yet. Still a lot of breaking to go by Apple. Just give it some time. I was considering devices updated to their final versions.

The A16 has small issues like the ones I mentioned earlier (which may or may not have been fixed), but to be honest, I doubt I’d care that much myself about what I’ve seen. It’s not right, but it won’t change the experience.

Well, I’m glad I have your permission to value features… 😉👍🏻. I’m just joking, but yes, I do value new features, I and many others find software updates with new features to add value to our devices. And others don’t. That’s perfectly fine, I think that’s just a matter of preference, though I do think that most people would usually consider it an improvement or “better” if a company adds more new additional functionality to your device for free. 👍🏻

Performance? Yeah, I believe it performs the same, I can run the same benchmark tests in Geekbench and get the same scores. Everyday tasks were still just as snappy. I have a family member who is still using the iPad. I’ve asked them if they’ve encountered any issues with it. They haven’t. I’ve gotten to tinker with it myself occasionally. It still works snappy just as I remember.

Yeah, like I said, an M1 iPad is probably fine for now. The 9.7-inch iPad Pro was mostly fine with iOS 12 (I have one). By the time iPadOS 16 came however… whole different story.

Battery life? That’s moving the goalposts. As we already covered, battery life is obviously going to degrade whether you stay on the same version or not. Because battery life is tied to, well, the battery, which degrades with time and use… This will happen regardless of software…

I disagree with this completely, but I’ll just leave it there. I explained above.

It was never universal. I never encountered it, nor did many others…. Just because a few people encountered a bug doesn’t mean it’s “universal”…. I feel for those who may have encountered it, but it was hardly universal…

Pretty much all comments I’ve seen confirmed it. Apple might have fixed it somewhere along the way, but it was there.


I think it’s still a matter of tolerance. I think that the first major update at least must be pristine, flawless, like-new. This one, 26, clearly wasn’t, but some people may not care too much.

Still, I think it’s better for you that you’re used to running betas and have a higher tolerance. Seriously, it gives you a far better margin for error to be satisfied with how your devices work.

Since I know I would notice those details, I have to stay behind. I especially notice the battery life drops, and I never enjoyed my 9.7-inch iPad Pro the same way after apple forced it out of iOS 9 into iOS 12 and took 30% of the battery life in the process.

Based on what I’ve read, I’d feel the same with my A16 on 26, so I’m staying on iPadOS 18.

And I really dislike liquid glass, especially on the iPad. But that is totally subjective.