iOS 26 adoption rate isn't as lousy as suspected, but it's still not great

"iOS 26 adoption isn't as bad as reported earlier. Not that it's great. Apple's attempt to keep online advertisers from tracking Safari users had the unintended effect of completely throwing off reporting on iOS 26 adoption. Rather than only a small percentage of iPhone users installing some version of Apple's latest operating system, iOS 26 adoption is only a bit below average."

"So it wasn't surprising when the web analytics firm StatCounter reported that iOS 26 adoption by iPhone users was at historic lows. However, StatCounter recently realized that it had been dramatically undercounting iOS 26 users. This week, it updated its system, and its count of iOS 26 adoption quickly shot up to 52.6%. After the earlier miscount, being suspicious about StatCounter's new numbers isn't unreasonable. But TelemetryDeck reports that iOS 26 adoption is at 54.8% - close enough to count as confirmation."

Adoption of iOS 26 is only slightly below average rather than at historic lows. Apple's privacy change caused devices running iOS 26 to misidentify themselves, which disrupted web analytics counting. StatCounter updated its system after undercounting and raised its estimate of iOS 26 adoption to 52.6%, while TelemetryDeck reports 54.8%, providing independent confirmation. Social media reaction includes strong negative comments about the new interface, and some outlets acknowledged earlier dissemination of inaccurate adoption figures. Historical comparisons show iOS 18 at about 63% in January 2025, iOS 17 at 54% in January 2024, and iOS 16 at 62% a year earlier. Apple intentionally misidentifies iOS 26 as iOS 16 to hinder device fingerprinting.

Read at Cult of Mac