Fewer iPhone owners are upgrading to iOS 17 than for the iOS 16 update

AppleInsider

Apple's adoption rates for iOS 17 show it is lagging behind iOS 16, with only 76% of iPhones from the last four years using the operating system.

iOS 17

The February release of iOS and iPadOS usage figures, based on apps interacting with the App Store directly, is an opportunity to see how many people update to Apple's latest mobile operating systems a few months after launch. Monday's results indicate that, compared to the year-ago figures, iOS 17 has some catching up to do.

According to the numbers, as of February 4 2024, 76% of iPhone models introduced in the last four years use iOS 17, with 20% still on iOS 16, and 4% on earlier releases. This is down from the 2023 figures, which showed 81% of devices introduced in the last four years used iOS 16 at the time, with 15% left on iOS 15, and 4% on earlier versions.

In terms of all devices that interact with the App Store, the 2024 figures show 66% of iPhones use iOS 17, with 23% on iOS 16, and 11% used earlier releases. This too is down from the year-ago numbers, which put iOS 16 on 72% of all devices, with 20% on iOS 15.

Apple's iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 adoption rates [Apple]

The figures indicate that there are slightly fewer users updating their iPhones from iOS 16 to iOS 17 in the four months after its introduction than people who upgraded from iOS 15 to iOS 16 within a similar time period.

For iPadOS, Apple says that in February 2024, 61% of all iPad models introduced in the last four years use the latest iOS 17, with 29% on iPadOS 16, and 10% on earlier releases. This is an improvement from the year-ago figures of 53% for iPadOS 16, 39% for iPadOS 15, and 8% for earlier versions.

When counting all iPads that interact with the App Store, the 2024 figures detail that 53% use iPadOS 17, 29% use iPadOS 16, and 18% use earlier releases. Again, this is an improvement on the 2023 results of 50% on iPadOS 16, 37% on iPadOS 15, and 13% on previous software versions.




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kmarei

i've learnt that lesson a long time ago
i don't jump versions on my devices, if i get it with 15, i will update to the latest 15 and not go to 16
already ruined 2 devices when i upgraded iOS to the next number up and the devices became unusable
had to basically throw an ipad away that worked great the night before on the older iOS
even browsing to a website would take like 2-3 minutes on the new one

plus i have rarely noticed the difference between iOS versions
ok i get a few more emojies, big whoopie

jbdragon

Back with my first iPhone, the iPhone 4, upgrading it every year, well it got slower and slower over the years to where in the 4th year, I wanted to throw in against the wall at times.  That was with Apple's first CPU, the A4.   Then I got the iPhone 6, which when new was faster, and 4 years of that was a better experience.  I now have the iPhone Xs, and I'm into the 6th year of using it now.  I was going to Upgrade, but decided to wait yet another year.  This phone was more than fast enough NEW that even with iOS 17 running on it, it still runs just fine.

So will I upgrade to a new iPhone later in the year?  Normally I upgrade phones every 4 years.  Yet this one, I let it slide for a 5th year as all was fine, and here I am into the 6th year now.  Will it be time after the end of 6 years???  You never know, I could start a 7th year.  My phone still looks like new.  I'm running iOS17.4 currently.

mpantone

As Apple software QA has steadily declined over the years, I have postponed upgrading to the newest release. At first it was a month, six weeks, or so but over the years my adoption has been pushed back farther and farther. The last couple of years, I have upgraded in Q2, usually early April.

This year, I will probably upgrade when iOS/iPadOS 17.6.1 comes out. That should ensure that pretty much all of the features have been released and the most egregious bugs have been dealt with. I'll upgrade my Mac a couple of days earlier.

This is pretty much the only way in the mid-2020s that will result in a relatively bug free user experience since Apple software QA has such low standards these days.

Because of my delayed upgrade, I rarely know what the new features are since tech media has long since moved onto other topics by the following spring. Clearly I could go back and read some old articles or check out the operating system's page on the Apple corporate site for the highlights. But there's rarely much worth writing home about. I watch the keynotes so I see some of the new features. I'm sure at some point I'll be upgrading a week before WWDC.

By April I've forgotten what super great things I can't live without are.

  

dewme

I think Apple got in the habit of upgrading iOS and iPadOS one version too much in the past. Maybe they were trying to impress their customers with how long those products could support the latest and greatest operating system. Unfortunately it created a situation where the devices that had one-too-many upgrades became unusable because the performance went in the crapper. That coupled with no longer signing the last version that worked reasonably well resulted in fairly useless devices. Been there and done that. 

Over the last few years I think Apple has been more aggressive in dropping support for older products sooner. All of my devices that no longer receive operating system updates are humming along quite well on their final version OS and apps. I think the current philosophy is a better one. On the Mac you can use hacks to get around the limitations, but I don’t feel compelled to play around with them. I’ll just buy a new Mac. 

iOSDevSWE

kmarei said:

i've learnt that lesson a long time ago
i don't jump versions on my devices, if i get it with 15, i will update to the latest 15 and not go to 16
already ruined 2 devices when i upgraded iOS to the next number up and the devices became unusable
had to basically throw an ipad away that worked great the night before on the older iOS
even browsing to a website would take like 2-3 minutes on the new one

plus i have rarely noticed the difference between iOS versions
ok i get a few more emojies, big whoopie

Wow so many things to comment in just one post, so I’ll explain why this is a really bad behaviour:
1. What used to work “a long time ago” does not work anymore. The hardware in the newer phones doesn’t behave like the one in an iPhone 6, 8 or X.
2. You can’t throw away a device the day after its update to a newer iOS version because it’s getting slower: it takes maybe a week depending on your usage, to optimise the OS after an upgrade. This is why the battery is getting worse after each upgrade and although it is a known fact, you can hear each year people complaining about it 😔. Just plug your device to a socket and leave it there, it will get fixed faster.
3. even if YOU can’t see what’s new with a new iOS version, we, the developers, see a huge difference: Apple does a fantastic work each year in improving the SDK so that things get more performant and/or takes much less code to perform an action. This has a huge impact on both security within apps and code quality leading to fewer bugs. Basically having to take care of several iOS versions for an app can be extremely time consuming and requires having devices on all those versions too.  It is often not justified economically to support old iOS version just because some few % of the user base doesn’t care upgrading there device to the latest version. This is why I force my users to upgrade through information about deprecation of support of there old iOS version quickly: they have time to update so they don’t lose functionality. Furthermore with newer iOS versions, the improvements lead to better battery management hence it is not smart to stay on an old iOS version.

But of course, if you don’t use apps on your iPhone and just use it to ring, you can go on doing what you do. The majority of us are doing the opposite: we mostly use apps and don’t call hence security and latest SDK features are the greatest concern. (And also newer emojis 😂)

beowulfschmidt

And here is me, with all of my devices on the latest version, and all of them working just fine.  I don't know what people did to get the crap behaviour, but I'm glad I avoided it.

kiowavt

The latest upgrade , 17.3, really messed with my phone, 13 mini. Took photos but camera app crashed and no photos taken.  Camera app especially.  But sometimes it would just jam up and frozen screens. So those talking about it will be better as it optimizes, what do I do when I cannot answer a client call or needed a photo and thought I had taken it, or cannot initiate a call?  Was fine on 17.2 and 17.1.  Now I will wait longer to update.  

BamaMac

Like others I waited until after the first or second update to iOS 17.

I regret that I did and in retrospect I probably should have stayed with 16. 

I have had several issues with 17/17.3 that the updates to 17 resolved. However there is one that still has me sorry that I upgraded.

Upgrading to 17 resulted in the loss of audible (tones) notifications for messages. This included one that I had been using since 2009! On a variety of occasions I would get the audible for one message but not for any others. Going to settings, turning off notifications for messages, shutting down the phone then restarting and turning message notifications back on resulted in the same behavior. 

Two sessions with Apple support—one via text the other via phone—have not found a solution. Neither has a visit to the Genius Bar in the nearest Apple Store (200 mile round trip).

The new features of 17.3 and its unintended consequences (being charitable and keeping it clean) doesn’t encourage me towards further upgrades in the near future. Sorry I can’t go back to 16!!!

BamaMac

Just a quick addendum: I am using a 14 ProMax. The audible notification tone I referred has worked on all the iPhones I have upgraded to since 2009. 

bonobob

kiowavt said:

The latest upgrade , 17.3, really messed with my phone, 13 mini. Took photos but camera app crashed and no photos taken.  Camera app especially.  But sometimes it would just jam up and frozen screens. So those talking about it will be better as it optimizes, what do I do when I cannot answer a client call or needed a photo and thought I had taken it, or cannot initiate a call?  Was fine on 17.2 and 17.1.  Now I will wait longer to update.  

Given the problems you are having with 17.3, it would make more sense not to wait when 17.4 is published.