PSA: iOS 26.2 Turns on Automatic Software Updates for Some Users

[Evil Lair]

Went from macOS Sonoma to Sequoia yesterday and it had the same dark pattern screen, defaulting to auto updates on unless you clicked the tiny obscured text to opt out like it was previously set.

 

[Mr_Ed]

apple owns it, you only have a license to use it. you should really read the terms and conditions before clicking yes

🤣Forgot about that episode. Thank you!

 

[Mr_Ed]

Don’t like that Apple is using Dark Patterns with their updates. They also released 18.7.3 yesterday and when you go to update Apple takes you to its 26 page and you need to unintuitively click the back button to get the 18.7 update.

Thanks for the heads-up. Will be paying attention on the 18.7.3 update.

 

[goonie4life9]

Folks, it’s not that complicated. Apple is the world’s largest startup, with extremely limited resources. They were hard at work on the revolutionary OS 26. At the very last minute, LITERALLY after deploying and seeing OS 26.2 installed, Apple discovered this bug. Believe you me, nobody is more surprised than Apple. Not to worry, because Apple just discovered the secret and Engineering is hard at work fixing the issue. Stay tuned and keep your devices up to date!

 

[I7guy]

My setting for automatic installs were set to on. I just left it as I hit the update button when a new release comes out.

 

[Bazza1]

Yup. Happened here. So it's gonna become part of a list of things I check after each update to ensure it's still how I want it - not how Nanny Apple wants it. No change here with AI / Siri. Still off. And mostly disabled Liquid Glass, too.

 

[Astuces iOS]

Yes. If they want to inform the users just do a notification in the settings. If there is a need to turn on some settings for a new feature don’t turn them on automatically. Just inform the user. Like they do with access to camera for apps.

Yeah this is very important 👍

 

[turbineseaplane]

Went from macOS Sonoma to Sequoia yesterday and it had the same dark pattern screen, defaulting to auto updates on unless you clicked the tiny obscured text to opt out like it was previously set.

I just made a thread in the Sequoia area about how VERY careful you have to be.

They flat out lie to you on the front page area of Software Update and it's only discovered if you click the little "i" and dig into what they are actually about to install (Tahoe).

Even worse (if that's possible), if your manually selected Sequoia update fails for any reason and you start again, it reverts to opting you into the Tahoe upgrade you specifically un-selected.

This company is rotten to the core under Tim Cook.
I'm so excited for a major shake up at Apple.

Thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/15-7-3-be-very-careful-updating-dark-pattern-pushing-tahoe.2474649/?post=34335308#post-34335308

 

[platinumaqua]

Already on my list of things to check after updates that might have ‘mysteriously’ changed.

Like iCloud settings that keeps resetting to “on” after a major update despite it being off originally

 

[Robert.Walter]

I want neither automatic updates nor automatic downloads.

Most folks probably don’t care.

The switch to turn these off is now for you!

 

[DENZIE]

Migrating to major new releases (iOS 26 to iOS 27) is still a user decision. These automatic updates are just for the minor releases in between major releases.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

no my 12 mini went up to 26.1 the other night (from 18.7.2) even when I’d said no to the software update popup the day before

 

[Mr_Ed]

Pro Tip.

If you NEVER want Apple forcing 26 on any of your devices it’s NOT enough to turn off “Automatic Updates” in Settings. You must sign up for the “Beta Developer” account at Apple.com. Once your do that either turn off your devices and turn them on again or log out and log back in to your Apple account and go back into Settings on your devices. Go to “General”. “Software Update”. Look for “Beta Updates”. Turn that “ON”. Now you will see the options for Betas of either 26 or 18 for iOS or for “15 Sequoia” or “26 Tahoe”. Choose iOS 18 for your phone and 15 Sequoia for your MacBook. It will cycle for a second and voila !!….you will only see updates to either iOS 18 or MacOS 15 forever until Apple stops sending out updates for those versions or until YOU choose to update to 26 or higher.

Let the masses be the continual beta testers for 26. I’m not touching 26 until it’s call 27.1

So, I looked in my 15PM and 18.7.3 was not available to me at all (I’m currently on 18, automatic updates and/or downloads OFF). Only 26.2 was offered to me so I decided to try your suggestion. Turning on “iOS 18 Developer Beta” in “Beta Updates”, then hitting “Back” instantly showed 18.7.3.

At this point this is looking like a pretty underhanded thing on Apple’s part. If patching vulnerabilities is really that important, why hide 18.7.3 at all?

 

[ab2c4]

I just checked and it did it on my phone. Thanks to this article for putting the info out so I could turn that off again.

 

[jchap]

One business that I can think of that learned their lesson on this fundamental rule the hard way actually happened just last year - CrowdStrike at a mere cost of $5.4B

CrowdStrike global outage to cost US Fortune 500 companies $5.4bn

Banking and healthcare firms, major airlines expected to suffer most losses, according to insurer Parametrix

www.theguardian.com

That CrowdStrike screwup stranded me at the airport waiting in line for seven hours, and separated me from my loved ones for four days after a death in the family.

I still don't understand exactly how a simple software update process could possibly bring the U.S. airport network to its knees, but countless people were affected by this foolish oversight.

Not that this has anything to do with Apple's choice to single-mindedly disqualify a user setting for an update without their consent, but just saying.

 

[artifex]

no my 12 mini went up to 26.1 the other night (from 18.7.2) even when I’d said no to the software update popup the day before

I think they did more than just mess with checking user permissions for the update procedure, they also removed some of the security requirements for it. A few minutes ago I checked my iPad 9 and it said I had yet another dev beta update scheduled for late tonight, but when I clicked through to tell it to go ahead and do it now, it just made me agree to terms. It did not make me enter my PIN number like every previous time I've manually told it to update.

 

[An-apple-a-day]

This is slightly off-topic but certainly related... MacOS 15.7.3 update quietly enabled auto-update. Not very nice. It appears that Apple is trying hard to push the v26 OS upgrades.

 

[JaydenA]

It means little, as it's Mac not iOS, and as one was already tricked into the regressive "upgrade" to 26; but for 26.1 to 26.2 the setting remains off. There are no inter-update screens either for the .1 -> .2

 

[turbineseaplane]

iOS 26 continues to be quite "popular".

 

[Howard2k]

This is slightly off-topic but certainly related... MacOS 15.7.3 update quietly enabled auto-update. Not very nice. It appears that Apple is trying hard to push the v26 OS upgrades.

This didn't happen to me for either iOS 26.2 or MacOS 15.7.3.

 

[chrisone]

Hasn’t it been doing this for a long time? I remember having several updates where I got that screen, I don’t think this is new

Agree, this has been for years and is still annoying

 

[Alfonson]

For the moment until Apple pulls the plug on that!

It’s nice to just shout something out and to point fingers without having to proof anything, isn’t it?

 

[Max Webb]

Some people, such as myself, prefer to wait a bit before doing an update. Lots of businesses don’t want to jump on day one for obvious reasons.

Apples automatics usually wait a few weeks to a month before they actually download. Nothing happens straight away.

 

[bmark]

It’s nice to just shout something out and to point fingers without having to proof anything, isn’t it?

I guess you don't understand the point of a PSA. It's only a matter of time before Apple pushes automatic updates for security purposes.

 

[FeliApple]

I guess you don't understand the point of a PSA. It's only a matter of time before Apple pushes automatic updates for security purposes.

So in that hypothetical case it would be forced? They would update everything I have, forcefully, and there would be nothing I can do?

I’d go to Android immediately if that were the case. I update nothing. It would just make iOS pointless if that were to happen.