Back in mid-September, two days after iOS 15 was released to the public, it was reported that users were taking longer to update to iOS 15 than they did with iOS 14. Two weeks later, iOS 15 adoption remains slower compared to last year’s numbers.
Based on data from analytics company Mixpanel, only 8.59% of users updated their devices to iOS 15 within 48 hours of the release. For comparison, that number was 14.68% in the same period last year when iOS 14 was released. Nearly 15 days later, iOS 15 adoption remains slower than its predecessor.
Mixpanel now shows that iOS 15 adoption is at 22.22% on Tuesday, October 5, 2021. Looking back at October 5, 2020, 41.97% of users had already installed iOS 14. It’s worth noting that Mixpanel measures iOS adoption based on data gathered from apps and websites that use its analytics API. So far, Apple hasn’t released official iOS 15 adoption numbers.
Of course, there are some reasons why iOS 15 is having slower adoption, but none of them are discussed by Apple. This year’s update is more incremental than last year’s, as iOS 14 brought widgets on the home screen for the first time, Picture-in-Picture for iPhone users, redesigned call and Siri interfaces, App Library, Spatial Audio, and more.
Another point is that some of the major new iOS 15 features like SharePlay in FaceTime and Universal Control for iPad users have been delayed until later this year. There’s also a new option that, for the first time, will let users stay on iOS 14 and still receive important security updates.
It’s hard to say which of these reasons has had the biggest impact on iOS 15 adoption, but definitely the combination of all of them is making fewer users interested in the latest version of Apple’s operating system. In a poll conducted by 9to5Mac, more than 12% of our readers told us that they’re waiting for iOS 15.1 or a future update with more features, while 5% decided to stay on iOS 14 longer.
While this is not a problem in terms of security as iOS 14 is still being updated, a slower adoption may result in app developers having to wait longer to push features that require iOS 15.
What about you? Have you updated your devices to iOS 15? Let us know in the comments below.
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