I haven’t updated my iPhone from iOS 18, and Apple is to blame

I haven’t updated my iPhone from iOS 18, and Apple is to blame

I haven’t updated my iPhone from iOS 18, and Apple is to blame

https://www.stuff.tv/features/i-havent-updated-my-iphone-from-ios-18-and-apple-is-to-blame/

Publish Date: 2026-06-06 06:00:00

Source Domain: www.stuff.tv

With operating systems, I don’t live at the bleeding edge. Some friends install beta versions the second they arrive, because they must experience shiny new toys the instant they’re available. Me? I like my gear continuing to function, rather than an errant bug causing my iPhone to restart precisely every 42 minutes, or my Mac to inexplicably start playing Return of the Mack on a loop, oblivious to the fact ‘Mack’ has a K in it. But this isn’t why I’m still clinging to iOS 18 on my iPhone, even though iOS 26 was released last September and iOS 27 is imminent.

The reason iOS 18 remains on my iPhone is because I’m… not a fan of iOS 26. And because I’m consistent, I haven’t installed iPadOS 26 on my iPad and macOS 26 on my iMac either. This is, I should note, deeply unusual. While I am risk-averse, I have never before lagged to this degree in installing operating systems on Apple gear. Usually, I wait until a ‘x.1’ release before committing to a new OS (given that Apple makes it a horrible nightmare to downgrade). Historically, much of that has been about ensuring apps I rely on will continue to work.

The biggest error I made with an update was iOS 7. It made me physically ill. Animations blasting towards my eyes at the speed of a bullet combined with vomit-inducing parallax and general wobbliness made me dizzy. Fortunately, I recognised this, having found Mac OS X Lion had done the same. By iOS 7, I knew what was happening. Unfortunately, I was stuck with an unusable operating system (quite literally closing my eyes when performing certain actions) for months.

Liquid pass

iPhone with iOS 18, having not been updated to iOS 26Yes, I’m being stubborn. Also, yes, I want to finally update iOS in September.

Last year’s iOS update wasn’t that bad. But it did feel like Apple drag and dropped some of its accessibility team elsewhere. Too many vestibular accessibility triggers remain – and with iOS 27 barreling towards us, they’re not getting fixed.

Really, though, it’s……

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