Forced Update to iOS 26

David Smith, colloquially known as _, has compared iOS 18 with iOS 26 adoption.

Today, he tooted that someone at Apple has hit a switch to update everyone.

Anecdotally, I saw this forced update pattern with my wife’s phone (a 14 Pro). She got it replaced by Apple (through Apple Care) and to restore her iOS 18 backup into the replacement 14 Pro, she had to update to iOS 26.

I don’t know how many phones get replaced each month, but this pattern contributes to the uptick in adoption David is seeing, as we were not planning to update to iOS 26 anytime soon!