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iOS 26 is off to a shockingly slow start. Only 15–16% of iPhones worldwide are running any version of the update, according to StatCounter.
iOS 26.1 accounts for 10.6%, 26.2 for 4.6%, and the original 26.0 barely registers at 1.1%. Over 60% of devices remain on iOS 18, with iOS 18.7 and 18.6 alone accounting for the most active installs.
Four months after its release, iOS 18 had hit 63% adoption. iOS 17 was at 54%, iOS 16 topped 60%. By any measure, the adoption of iOS 26 is crawling.
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For most of the iPhone’s history, updating iOS has been a reflex. Apple releases a new version, your phone nags you about it, and you install it because that’s just how owning an iPhone works.
That habit exists for a reason. iOS updates have always come with the understanding that things might move around, some muscle memory might break, but the phone will end up better quickly enough that you won’t care.
Apple earned that trust over years of mostly boring competence, but iOS 26 breaks that pattern.
What’s striking isn’t that adoption appears slower than usual. It’s that skipping the update now feels sensible, and people are openly telling each other to do exactly that.
Parents, spouses, and friends are all telling each other the same thing: don’t update. That kind of widespread resistance is unheard of for Apple.
It’s not that people are confused or just haven’t noticed. They know the update is sitting there. They’re just looking at it and deciding to stay away.
The reason is simple: the tradeoffs aren’t obvious in Apple’s favor. The benefits are subtle and hard to pinpoint. However, the downsides show up immediately.
Text that’s harder to read. Interfaces that feel busier. Extra visual noise. Reports of battery drain. Bugs that interrupt basic tasks like typing, browsing, or using CarPlay.
Even people who like the new look often admit it takes more effort to use day-to-day. That’s a problem, because iOS updates used to feel obviously correct. You didn’t weigh them, nor debate them. You just installed them and moved on.
Now people are doing the math. And for many users, the math isn’t working out. If your phone is running iOS 18 and is stable, familiar, and does everything you need, upgrading suddenly feels unnecessary.
That alone is a big shift. Skipping an iOS update used to feel risky. Today, it feels cautious, reasonable, and even a responsible thing to do.
Once that mindset takes hold, it spreads fast. Updates stop being a default and start feeling optional. And optional is dangerous territory for a platform that relies on scale, consistency, and momentum.
It’s tempting to dismiss this as online noise. Every iOS release has complaints. But this time it goes beyond enthusiasts nitpicking screenshots.
Regular users are noticing the changes too. They might not know what Apple calls the new design language, but they know their phone feels different and not always better.
When people who usually ignore version numbers start asking how to undo an update, something has gone off the rails.
Apple has been here before. It has shipped unpopular changes, listened, and fixed them. That muscle still exists. But iOS 26 surfaces a deeper issue than bugs or taste.
Updating used to be automatic. Now it’s a conscious decision, and many people are choosing to pass. That’s a much bigger headache for Apple than a few bad reviews.
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Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Herby has a healthy obsession with all things Apple, especially the iPhone. He loves to rip things apart to see how they work. He is responsible for the editorial direction, strategy, and growth of Gotechtor.
Herby Jasmin
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