PSA: turn off backup after last iOS 18 backup before going to iOS 26

[thadoggfather]

If you do this, and for whatever reason you dont like or get along with iOS 26, you can restore to latest iOS 18 (for the brief window of a couple days / week or so based off recent trends while its still signed) and restore from backup with ease.

If you backup post iOS 26, you will not be able to recover your data when trying to revert to iOS 18. SOL.

..You may not need to revert to iOS 18 after upgrading, or hit any deal breaking nags, but to err on the side of caution that's what I recommend.

 

[Mike Boreham]

If you do this, and for whatever reason you dont like or get along with iOS 26, you can restore to latest iOS 18 (for the brief window of a couple days / week or so based off recent trends while its still signed) and restore from backup with ease.

If you backup post iOS 26, you will not be able to recover your data when trying to revert to iOS 18. SOL.

..You may not need to revert to iOS 18 after upgrading, or hit any deal breaking nags, but to err on the side of caution that's what I recommend.

Good thought. Or you can make a Finder backup and right-click > Archive it so that it doesn't get overwritten by the subsequent backups.