iOS 12 now on 75 percent of compatible devices, hit mark faster than iOS 11

Third-party analytics data suggests the adoption of iOS 12 on active iPhones and iPads has reached 75 percent, continuing a trend where the latest milestone release of Apple's mobile operating system continues to outpace iOS 11.

According to data from analytics firm Mixpanel, iOS 12 achieved 75.01 percent penetration of active iOS devices on November 26, marking the first time it was seen to be used on three quarters of compatible devices. The data also reveals the level has continued to increase slowly since then, reaching 75.06 percent on November 28.

By contrast, iOS 11 is shown to be going down at a similar rate. On November 26, iOS 11 was used on 19.58 percent of compatible devices, with the remainder consisting of older iOS releases.

The results show that, at least by the measuring mechanisms used by the firm, iOS 12's adoption rate is continuing to outpace that of iOS 11 last year, by a considerable margin. In 2017, iOS 11 reached the 75 percent barrier on December 18, with the release taking a few weeks longer.

Initial data for the first 48 hours of iOS 12's release suggested it was actually lagging behind iOS 11 by a few percentage points, though later results showed growth of iOS 12 had improved.

While the adoption data is useful, the firm acquires the information via indirect means, such as by acquiring analytics data from various sources, rather than from Apple directly. This does make the results potentially inaccurate, but the changes in adoption over time is still a good indicator of where iOS 12 is heading in terms of usage.

Apple does issue its own adoption rates, based on data collected by iPhones contacting the App Store and its other services, but those releases are sporadic. According to the current charts, dated for October 29, iOS 12 was used on 63 percent of all compatible devices introduced since September 2014, and 60 percent of all iOS devices.