iOS 15 picking up fewer upgraders two days after launch than iOS 14 did

Adoption of Apple's new iOS 15 appears to be slower than the previous iOS 14, with 8.5% of users having downloaded the update two days after its launch.

The new data, which was released by Mixpanel, indicates that 8.5% of iPhone users have installed iOS 15 on their devices as of Wednesday, Sept. 22.

That appears to be about half the speed as iOS 14's adoption two days after its launch. By day two of the iOS 14 initial availability, 14.5% of users had downloaded the iOS 14 update. As of writing, iOS 14 has an 85.92% share of the iPhone installed base, with 5.53% of users running an older software version.

When Apple announced iOS 15, it said that it wouldn't force users to download the update and would continue to provide critical security updates for iOS 14. Apple released iOS 14.8 and a batch of other software updates on Sept. 13.

Apple released iOS 15 on Monday, Sept. 20. The update packs new features like Live Text, Private Relay, Safari updates, Notes improvements, and more.

The company is also already working on iOS 15.1, which is currently on its first beta version. That software update is set to feature verifiable Covid-19 vaccination card support in Apple Wallet.

24 Comments

skipdeedy 15 comments · 11 Years

About 3 years ago

It has a lot to do with the way the update now appears in System Preferences. Feels optional. Also, many people are a little nervous about fresh releases due to some of the bugs we’ve seen in past updates. I’m waiting for 15.0.1. Normally I’d be a day one upgrader.

mknelson 1147 comments · 9 Years

skipdeedy said:

It has a lot to do with the way the update now appears in System Preferences. Feels optional. Also, many people are a little nervous about fresh releases due to some of the bugs we’ve seen in past updates. I’m waiting for 15.0.1. Normally I’d be a day one upgrader.

I was wondering if it was the day of the week - many people might not want to/have time to backup and upgrade on a Monday. iOS 14 was released on a Wednesday. Two days later, end of the work week - time to upgrade!

mike1 3432 comments · 10 Years

mknelson said:

skipdeedy said:

It has a lot to do with the way the update now appears in System Preferences. Feels optional. Also, many people are a little nervous about fresh releases due to some of the bugs we’ve seen in past updates. I’m waiting for 15.0.1. Normally I’d be a day one upgrader.

I was wondering if it was the day of the week - many people might not want to/have time to backup and upgrade on a Monday. iOS 14 was released on a Wednesday. Two days later, end of the work week - time to upgrade!

Yep. Two days is a horrible metric for just about anything. So many variables in those two days a year apart.
Maybe two weeks, certainly a month would provide useful data, not just noise.

multimedia 1030 comments · 23 Years

I upgraded both my iPad Pros (9.7” A9X and 12.9” M1) and my iPhone Xs Max launch day morning with no problems. All went smooth, fast and easy.

skippingrock 199 comments · 19 Years

Have it installed, but frankly can’t really tell the difference from the previous version. Some subtle differences but what’s the big wow feature that I seen to be missing?

Some weird bugs though, especially with the camera flip button not always working in FaceTime if you answer a call on a locked iPhone.