iOS 26 adoption rate is great

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RockRock8

Power User
Joined
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After reviewing TelemetryDeck and reviewing multiple developer comments online, iOS 26's unofficial adoption rate is between 55-65%, which puts it at 1.29 billion to 1.53 billion users who have downloaded iOS 26.

MacRumors isn't a friend to anyone. It has turned into a sensationalist, hysteria-driven company. They have chosen to pursue to publish clickbait driven lies instead of the truth, simply because it's easier and earns more money for them

Never trust these tech blog websites, ever. I hold out hope for one day they change. Be careful, my friends!
 
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iOS 26 has been great for me, I just assumed most people upgrade with the normal cadence of releases so TBH I'm surprised it's not higher, granted this isn't a trend I follow. 🤷‍♂️
 
RockRock8 said:
After reviewing TelemetryDeck and reviewing multiple developer comments online, iOS 26's unofficial adoption rate is between 55-65%, which puts it at 1.29 billion to 1.53 billion users who have downloaded iOS 26.

MacRumors isn't a friend to anyone. It has turned into a sensationalist, hysteria-driven company. They have chosen to pursue to publish clickbait driven lies instead of the truth, simply because it's easier and earns more money for them

Never trust these tech blog websites, ever. I hold out hope for one day they change. Be careful, my friends!
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IDK the actual adoption rate, but I read the piece on MR. Predictably, it led to hundreds of posts with people arguing about whether iOS 26 is a gift from heaven or the devil’s work. Just what the people who run the site want.

The same thing happens every time MR has a piece about the Apple Vision Pro. No matter what it says, it attracts the usual people who just love to post about how few have been sold.
 
Roller said:
IDK the actual adoption rate, but I read the piece on MR. Predictably, it led to hundreds of posts with people arguing about whether iOS 26 is a gift from heaven or the devil’s work. Just what the people who run the site want.

The same thing happens every time MR has a piece about the Apple Vision Pro. No matter what it says, it attracts the usual people who just love to post about how few have been sold.
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For a site for Apple fans there sure are a lot of people who seem to hate Apple there. The only time I visit now is to search if I need help with something.
 
Cmaier said:
Posting your first sentence is pretty much what got me banned there.
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That's happened to me around 10 times. The mods seem to be leaving me alone now. Perhaps having a shit-disturber on site is OK now and drives clicks?
 
RockRock8 said:
MacRumors isn't a friend to anyone. It has turned into a sensationalist, hysteria-driven company. They have chosen to pursue to publish clickbait driven lies instead of the truth, simply because it's easier and earns more money for them
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While this is absolutely true...

RockRock8 said:
After reviewing TelemetryDeck and reviewing multiple developer comments online, iOS 26's unofficial adoption rate is between 55-65%, which puts it at 1.29 billion to 1.53 billion users who have downloaded iOS 26.
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It's also true that this is a dip from iOS 17 and 18 adoption after the same period of time on the order of around 10% or ~235 million users (assuming the 65% adoption rate figure). It's still strong, and may be a blip, but it could also be an early signal of a change. Either people caring less about being on the latest, or caring less about the changes Apple are making.

I will be more concerned if this continues or accelerates with iOS 27.
 
Nycturne said:
While this is absolutely true...

It's also true that this is a dip from iOS 17 and 18 adoption after the same period of time on the order of around 10% or ~235 million users (assuming the 65% adoption rate figure). It's still strong, and may be a blip, but it could also be an early signal of a change. Either people caring less about being on the latest, or caring less about the changes Apple are making.

I will be more concerned if this continues or accelerates with iOS 27.
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I was going to answer about what the usual adoption rate is. This is the usual adoption rate plus or minus a few percent. Also keep in mind this is unofficial, not official numbers. It isn't behind iOS 18. Apple's first update on iOS 18 said 68% of users. We are waiting for the official numbers to come out, but safe to say it's nowhere near the 16% claimed lol (obviously, MacRumors)

Bear in mind that the active devices has since gone up from that 2.35 billion devices, which means it's a moving target for Apple.

iOS 26 was the most widely downloaded beta ever. It's illogical that somehow it's dramatically behind iOS 18 in adoption rate, such as 16% adoption rate. Any website who cited that number did not even attempt at thinking it through. (Now Macworld and Cult of Mac are joining in with equally shitty headlines).

This is why I absolutely detest MacRumors because they're simply feeding on the social media hysteria. Real life people don't have much of a problem with iOS 26 beyond usual beginning problems with new designs. Social media just isn't real
 
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RockRock8 said:
I was going to answer about what the usual adoption rate is. This is the usual adoption rate plus or minus a few percent. Also keep in mind this is unofficial, not official numbers. It isn't behind iOS 18. Apple's first update on iOS 18 said 68% of users. We are waiting for the official numbers to come out, but safe to say it's nowhere near the 16% claimed lol (obviously, MacRumors)
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It's fine to tear into the StatCounter numbers MacRumors is quoting, because there are some definite issues with methodology when "Other" is one of the biggest buckets they have, and there seem to be some obvious missing buckets that users should be on during the usage period when they break down by point releases. It's also fine to wait for official numbers before making a final call.

If we go by TelemetryDeck's 2025 data, the first week of 2025 had 18 at 77.7%, and the last week of 2025 had 26 at 54.87%. A week extra to take a sample at the same time of the year isn't going to close that gap fully. So from my perspective, if we can trust that data as an analogue while we wait for more official numbers, there is a shift. But again, I don't see this as an immediate concern, and I do agree with your original thought here.

Honestly, from my perspective, the main thing I need to know is how many versions back I need to support with new updates. And I know my data is going to be slightly off because I only supported 17 and 18 going into September, which means there is a set of users that will not show up in my own usage data at all. I also don't know how many users in my particular slice of the pie are those who are likely to just stay up to date, which is probably the more important skew in my own numbers. So I tend to not put a ton of weight on these numbers unless there is a signal saying that I should still be supporting 17 (which there currently isn't). Because that would be a stronger signal in longer-term thinking of users.

EDIT: And it's not like this is remotely like the world that Android lives in when it comes to folks being on a recent version, where 16% on the latest would be a win.
 
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RockRock8 said:
This is why I absolutely detest MacRumors because they're simply feeding on the social media hysteria. Real life people don't have much of a problem with iOS 26 beyond usual beginning problems with new designs.
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While I agree completely about MR - their mods are vile pieces of shit whose IQs would likely climb after lobotomies - I don't agree with you about iOS 26. I've been using it for a few weeks and it's really a big step down in usability. And don't even get me started on Tahoe. (Gruber's written and referred to some good pieces, if you want examples of why it's so shitty.)

Doesn't mean I didn't upgrade update. *Does* mean I'm seriously glad Dye is gone, and have great hope that they'll do a reset in 27 and get back to their roots: actually good UIs, not just a mix of bad pop art and bad behaviors.
 
Nycturne said:
If we go by TelemetryDeck's 2025 data, the first week of 2025 had 18 at 77.7%, and the last week of 2025 had 26 at 54.87%.
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Huh?

1) We are referring to unofficial numbers in the context of tech blogs claiming doom and gloom. They refused to research and find other numbers, instead blindly believing then publishing that iOS 26 has a implausible 16% adoption rate

2) Official data > unofficial data

3) TelemetryDeck is not accurate by your own stance either, then, given 77% vs Apple's official number of 68%. My broader point is to wait for Apple to release official numbers, but the fact that it was the most widely downloaded beta ever makes it seem rather unlikely that iOS 26 is far behind iOS 18 -- which for the record, was heavily criticized for bugs at launch as well. That TelemetryDeck suggests itself 55%, and developers suggesting 65%, there is very little reason to believe iOS 26 is behind in adoption rate. We also have no idea if TelemetryDeck has changed their methods since then, which could influence the results partially, but not so much that it would explain a 50 percentage Difference

Anyone's personal feelings aside, iOS 26 is not behind iOS 18 in any meaningful way, and is in fact ahead of iOS 18 or ANY iOS version when comparing developer beta downloads, which is a meaningful (but not definitive) metric of public desire.

I have nothing else to respond with other than wait for Apple if you don't believe that iOS 26 is being widely adopted
 
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NotEntirelyConfused said:
I don't agree with you about iOS 26
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That's fine, but I was referring to the masses, not anyone's individual opinion. My personal feelings aren't relevant to my analysis, even if I use them to fuel my energy to do said analysis lol.

NotEntirelyConfused said:
And don't even get me started on Tahoe. (Gruber's written and referred to some good pieces, if you want examples of why it's so shitty.)
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Eh.... I stopped listening to Gruber when I realized he has a very rigid opinion, and that his opinion is heavily influenced by social media. Oh, and the fact that he literally gets some stuff horribly, badly wrong, like literally the opposite of situation; and that he has a hard time saying he's wrong.

Social media is no longer (or ever was) a reliable indicator of how people feel, given the advancement of bots and "AI" generated text. I've personally seen multiple bot accounts pushing negative comments about iOS 26. I'm not claiming all negative comments about iOS 26 are bots, no. But we are in a profoundly different situation with this. Plus, iOS 7 was hated on release. A bunch of people now claim it's the best thing ever. Seems stupid and inconsistent, yet I expected that reaction.

Again, maybe he has some valid points, maybe he doesn't. I'm certainly not telling you that your personal, current feelings regarding iOS 26 and macOS 26 are wrong; but do the masses hate iOS 26?

Given:

1) Tim Cook said iOS 26 was the most downloaded beta of all time by far, and

2) TelemetryDeck suggests 1.3-1.5 billion people have installed it, and

3) Tim Cook said the new iPhones had record sales that "the December quarter's revenue to be the best ever for the company and the best ever for iPhone," and

4) Tim Cook said customer satisfaction for iPhone was at 97%, and

5) Software is literally the thing you interact with 24/7 100% of the time with a smartphone, then

It just seems fundamentally unlikely that the hatred online matches real life experiences and customers' opinions and feelings. People hate change, I get it, but social media is disconcordant with the facts.

Lastly, Tahoe is at 46% of the install base according to TelemetryDeck, whatever that's worth to you.

have great hope that they'll do a reset in 27 and get back to their roots: actually good UIs, not just a mix of bad pop art and bad behaviors.
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Gruber himself says that he doesn't expect any major change with iOS 27, and he says nor would he want it. He did say he expects small refinements and changes that make the UX better over time. Leadership is important, so as I've said before, I'm extremely happy Stephen Lemay is the team leader, because it teaches and enforces good teamwork and Apple's philosophy and values . But to be clear, Liquid Glass isn't going away. It's just not. Stephen Lemay and others were directly involved with Liquid Glass. Teams aren't siloed at Apple, from what I've read.

Not saying that to argue with you, but to properly set your expectations, since you explicitly said you have "great hope" they're doing a "reset."
 
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That's a lotta words, man. I'm not disagreeing with you about adoption rates- the MR article is facially ridiculous.

My "great hope" is just that, not an expectation. My expectation is that things are going to suck, but gradually suck less, over the next few years, and that eventually they'll move onto the next thing, which will (I hope) be much better.
 
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