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According to Apple, people have all but stopped upgrading to iOS 8

Apple’s iOS share numbers as tabulated by App Store visits are out for the first week of October and they are a “head scratcher”. iOS 8 gained only 1 point from 46% to 47%  since September 21st which should have well exceeded 1% gain by the millions of new iPhone 6/Plus shipments alone – even if not one person had updated their iPhone 5/s/c. Even more confusing is that the “Earlier” category of iOS 6 and before devices actually grew in percentage from 5% to 6% over the previous two week period.

It is possible some people downgraded to iOS 7 (which was an option until just after 8.0.2 was released) while others have stayed put on their current iOS version because of a succession of errors in rolling out iOS 8. Combined with the large amount of space required to do an over the air update, it appears that iOS users have all but stopped upgrading iOS –a marked departure from years past.

 

 

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Comments

  1. iJonni - 9 years ago

    What’s more likely is that these numbers are dependent on people using the App Store over a two week period. Quite possible that people haven’t visited?

    • Seriously? With all the app updates that have been pushed in the last two weeks, you think that people aren’t going on the App Store? Cmon.

      • iJonni - 9 years ago

        Not with automatic downloads. I don’t need to visit the store unless I want something new. And nothing new has called my attention lately.
        I’ve seen LOTS of iOS 8 devices lately. Both successful and failed installs. Trust me. These numbers (at least in my area) are not adding up and are skewed by the measurement standard.

    • Ario (@ArioYazdan) - 9 years ago

      i think you are rationalizing Apple’s failure with launching of iOS 8. Unless you have no internet connection in a lot of places, it’s very unlikely for this many people not to check the app store.

      • Edison Wrzosek - 9 years ago

        It’s quite amusing to hear your statement “Apple’s failure with launching of iOS 8”. You surmised this based on these unusual statistics? Did you not read about how many iPhone 6/+ devices have been sold, which makes this stat confusing? Also, you jumped to that conclusion based on an article that has no substance to back up said conclusion?

        How about we do the rational thing (I know it’s tough around here), and wait for some more information before we jump the gun, OK? I’m on vacation right now, and have actually started seeing a LOT of iPhone 6’s in use, so something is missing from this chart…

      • standardpull - 9 years ago

        It is clear that iOS 8 is a tremendous success, being extremely capable and reliable. And iOS 8 is one of the many reasons why the iPhone platform far exceeds the performance of the mutli-core devices made by other manufacturers.

        It is also very clear that iOS 7 was a tremendous success, and that users see no reason to leave an otherwise excellent operating system. iOS8 already far exceeds Android KitKat in terms of percentage of in-the-field deployments… and KitKat has been in the market for over a year.

        Will iOS7 users ever upgrade? Absolutely. As more software takes advantage of the capabilities of iOS 8, there will be even more reasons for users to upgrade.

    • I think you’re being generous there.. It’s a possibility but i wouldn’t rank it as “more likely” with the best will in the world.

      I know of 2 friends, both with iPhone 5s’s who refuse point blank to update their phones as they read in the national media that 8.01 caused problems. They say ” i read i shouldn’t update” said one. Now, firstly it never affected the 5s but hey, and secondly that issue is resolved with .02, but the point is not facts: it’s perception, either through bad journalism and irrational fear, but the fact is i bet those two that i happen to know aren’t the only ones.

      • jerryfromcan - 9 years ago

        We also need to keep in mind as the iphone goes more mainstream that some people don’t know or care about the update.

    • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

      It’s probably because people hated what Jony Ive did to iOS 7 and don’t want to see anymore of his desecration.

  2. BMWTwisty - 9 years ago

    The space requirement is definitely a deal-breaker for a lot of folks. If you have a 16GB device, there’s a really good chance you don’t have anywhere near the required amount of space for an update. I have a ton of apps and data and the only reason I didn’t update my 32GB iPhone 5S was because I was getting a new iPhone 6. I had to delete a bunch of stuff from my 32GB iPad and am replacing some of that media. Forget it if you have an 8GB phone.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if this space issue remains a reason for other people updating. And, of course, the stock will take a hit tomorrow as a result ;-)

    • taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

      Apple should included a note that users could connect to iTunes to instal iOS 8 at not have to erase data to make room for the update.

      I think the size of the downloads and iOS 7 being such a visual overhaul and iOS 8 being mainly under the hood changes and new api’s is a big reason for the slower adoption rate.

      The App Store analytics make zero sense with iPhone 6 rolling out to over 20 new countries and have the percentage of iOS 8 users drop. Couldn’t been that many people that downgraded to iOS 7.

      • Yes, but they have talked about cutting the cord for so long that people don’t even think about iTunes on the computer. #BigFail

      • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

        @Austin Malherbe (@austinmalherbe) The cord cutters are the same idiots that dopily use their computers without a backup. Now they’re crying about not enough room to upgrade.

      • John McAllister - 9 years ago

        Hey, @mpias3785 you’re quite the jackarse for insulting all cord cutters. Your disdain is quite apparent, now go stick your head back up your arse (where it obviously resides most of the time).

      • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

        @John McAllister, While I appreciate your thoughtful commentary, you seem to be missing the fact that these devices aren’t ready for cord cutting. People were complaining that it took many hours to download the update and many files had to be deleted in order to install the update. Many people pointed out that updating through iTunes was much faster I required far less room. This was completely ignored by all those complaining. These devices need to be connected to a computer occasionally, for instance when loading audiobooks or loading content not purchased from Apple.

        I realize that and iPhone or an iPad may be a person’s only computing device, but if that is the case they’re not making full use of its capabilities. To make full use of an iPhone, iPad or iPod they do need to be occasionally plugged into a computer. It’s simple reality. If people wish to never plug their devices into a computer that’s their prerogative but then they should not complain when the OTA update take a tremendous amount of time and effort on their part or worse yet fails and leaves the phone unusable.

        When iOS 7 (or one of its updates) came out I tried doing the update OTA, it failed and left the phone in DFU mode. Since I normally connect and sync my phone to the computer, and save my backups to the computer and not the cloud, reviving my phone was an easy job. Without a computer the phone would have had to be taken in for service.

        Using an iDevice in conjunction with a computer is good advice that people are free to ignore.

    • You do realize that if you use iTunes on your desktop to perform the upgrade, it only take 1GB (roughly) to do the upgrade? You don’t even have to sync afterwards.

    • And yet they continue to sell 16gb phones. it’s insane really. This problem is only going to get worse with time. Unless of course with iCloud photos people stop storing full local copies on their phones and actually use Match. I just don’t see it..

      • nickdeangelis - 9 years ago

        I love my iphone 6 16GB. It’s more than enough for me. If they cut the cord on the 16 then I wouldn’t buy anymore. It’s foolish to say that it’s insane that they still sell 16GB. But I may say in debate to you that why should I have to spend 100 dollars more on space that I’m never going to use. I use iTunes match so I don’t sync any music. That allows me to keep all my storage. I have 8 GB left out of my 16.

      • It’s basically impossible to upgrade any 16 GB device without connecting it to a computer, since you need to have about 2GB available to do the install direct to the device. I know you can do it by freeing up space, but typical users won’t free the space up, nor will they know that they can or need to connect it to a computer and do it via iTunes. Its just lack of user knowledge that iPhones are really designed to be functioning along with iTunes in some capacity. Apple has indeed dropped the ball in this regard, over the past several years. We are using our iPhones independently of iTunes, with greater frequency, but still need to know that it is helpful at times to connect them to a computer from time to time. I’d say this is why the adoption rate has been so poor.

  3. lordrootman - 9 years ago

    Videos on Safari are still not playing on my iPhone 6 plus IOS 8.0.2

    • irelandjnr - 9 years ago

      Call  that’s not normal.

    • Lee (@leemahi) - 9 years ago

      You have to jam the shit of of the embedded YouTube video I found. Just jam it 10 times at different lengths of presses all over the video box, and it eventually plays. If that doesn’t work, try reseting all settings.

  4. chuckisbusy - 9 years ago

    How the hell does the “earlier iOS” percentages increase? That doesn’t make any sense. We all know that we can’t downgrade once on the official/latest build.

  5. iSRS - 9 years ago

    I think the non stop bad press has something to do with it. 8.1 should help.

  6. rettun1 - 9 years ago

    I’ll never understand how “all but” and “everything but” could have opposite meanings…

    • Emanuel Bender - 9 years ago

      german here, i was wondering the same thing… they did all the things but – meaning except for – stop upgrading. so: they didn’t do anything else then to upgrade. whaT? how does this make any sense?! my brain hurts

  7. jer0mie - 9 years ago

    Three facts:
    1) Most people don’t plug in their iPhone to update it
    2) The upgrade takes ~5.7GB of free space to install, and
    3) By far the majority of iPhones sold ship with 8GB of space,

    These graphs seem totally reasonable. And I think once you get to the level of the average person, the value of the upgrade will never seem to be worth the effort.

  8. MGhostSoft - 9 years ago

    1. People who are running on the latest iOS on their iPhones are more likely to visit App Store than those who are not.
    2. People who manually upgraded their old iPhone to iOS 8 are more likely to visit App Store than those who purchased a new iPhone which comes with iOS 8.
    3. People who just upgraded their phone to iOS 8 are more likely to visit App Store than those who upgraded two weeks ago.

    Based on these assumption, the data is no longer hard to explain.

    • Too bad these assumptions are just plain ridiculous, not to mention that points 1 and 3 are redundant, and they each contradict point 2. Furthermore, you’re positing that people that buy iPhones don’t go on the App Store as often as upgraders? That doesn’t even make sense for reasons that should be incredibly apparent. How many people walk around with new iPhones and only stock apps? Lolol.

      • MGhostSoft - 9 years ago

        Hey friend, if you need to improve your comprehension ability, I’m willing to help.

    • South Jersey Droid - 9 years ago

      Are you that much of a fanboy, that you will try and defend this through any means of being ridiculous??? Evertone who uses Apple’s iOS goes to the App Store, without question! The only thing that’s hard to explain is your theory of being a ridiculous fanboy

      • MGhostSoft - 9 years ago

        Do you know any adjectives other than ridiculous and nouns other than fanboy? You are just repeating the same statements without giving reasons. I see three lines of words here and zero valuable argument. Poor guy.

  9. patstar5 - 9 years ago

    I upgraded my IPad 2 but can’t use it. Digitizer is cracked, so it randomly touches the screen and l can’t get pass the pass code. How easy is it to buy one off of eBay and replace it?
    Also when is the next version of os x coming and will it run on my mid 2010 MacBook pro with Intel core 2 duo?

    • yepperoni - 9 years ago

      If you can run 10.8 or 10.9, you can run the upcoming 10.10. No changes to compatibility there.

      Not sure about the digitizer issue though.

      • patstar5 - 9 years ago

        I need to do something with my Mac, it is running super slow. Only has 20gb free out of 250. My iPhoto library is on an external hard drive. I actually havn’t used my Mac in awhile. I always use my windows laptop since it is much faster. It is ready to use in a minute while my Mac takes 5 minutes to start up and for application to open and work.
        I was thinking about replacing it with ssd but that would be expensive. I saw this thing where you can take your cd drive out and put in a hard drive. I just thought 2 hard drives spinning would be bad battery life. I figure I might just wait and get ssd or buy a new MacBook

      • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

        @patstar5, I’d upgrade to a Mac with a core i processor. BIG improvement over C2D. I had a 2009 17″ MacBook Pro with a 3.06 GHz C2D. I picked up an 11″ 2011 1.8GHz dual core i7 MacBook Air. Blew the 17″ away. I sold the 17″ and replaced it with a 2012 2.7GHz quad core i7 Retina MacBook Pro. Wow! What an improvement! The SSD just sweetens the deal.

      • Edison Wrzosek - 9 years ago

        @patstar5,

        My advice would be to just go purchase a new MacBook. The C2D version of the MBP you have is past its prime, and even though it can handle the upcoming Yosemite, you won’t be happy with the performance. An SSD upgrade would definitely give it more oomph, but at the parts cost to machine value ratio, it’s not a worthwhile investment.

        A good upgrade path is to get into the MacBook Pro w/ Retina 13″ (if that’s the size you currently own) and get the higher-end version with a Core i7 and 16GB of RAM, to guarantee longer life out of the unit.

      • patstar5 - 9 years ago

        Ok, well I might get a new max next year. When does the 12 inch one with new design come out? Will it have touchscreen? I really like window’s now but I could always install it with parallels.

  10. EB IPig - 9 years ago

    Can you really blame them?!! This has got to be the worst ever iOS release, ever!! Apple really dropped the ball this time. Even after upgrading to 8.0.2, I am still have issue on my 6 plus. Apple needs to get it together already..

    • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

      Wait until you see the Yosemite release, that’ll be Apple dropping the ball. Apple’s only stupid move with iOS 8 was to support OTA updates. Too many stupid people trying that with low capacity phones and not understanding it won’t work with low capacity phones.

  11. That’s because you need to delete everything from your iPhone or iPad to get the update. Nobody knows how to do that and they are to scared that it won’t restore from iCloud correctly (Which is a gamble at times as we all know). People don’t have an extra 4.6 GB on the device to do an update. Get real Apple! Over the Air Cut the Cord has still not happened with you.

  12. kpom1 - 9 years ago

    It’s possible the 46% figure from 2 weeks ago was overstated. Also, I think the space requirements have affected adoption rates. Most people don’t know they can connect to iTunes to install it if they don’t have 6GB free.

  13. PMZanetti - 9 years ago

    Those numbers are meaningless. Even if they weren’t, 47% is somewhere around 352 million iOS devices.

    47% of iOS devices running iOS 7 this time last year would have been barely 235 million.

    9to5 is going down hill. Crap article after crap article.

    • beta382 - 9 years ago

      These numbers are current and exceptionally meaningful. Out of ALL devices **right now** that visited the App Store recently, 47% are on iOS 7, and 47% are on iOS 8. Not “Three weeks after launch iOS 7 had 47% adoption”, but “right now ~47% of devices are running iOS 7 and ~47% are running iOS 8”, as in “the same number of devices are running iOS 7 and iOS 8”.

      • laboliapis - 9 years ago

        Question though…when you say visited recently, isn’t it possible that iOS 7 users were looking into the apps for iOS 8 in the app store prior to updating to iOS 8 for whatever reason and this being double counted as ios7and device visit and iOS 8 in these numbers?

    • Seth Weintraub - 9 years ago

      Wow, talk about killing the messenger here. These are Apple’s stats?

    • Why would the total amounts matter more than the proportion in this context?

  14. 1. iOS 8 has a large number of bugs, especially compared to other OS releases
    2. There have been media reports of these issues that are making a big impact on the average joe population.
    3. Many people’s perception of he buggy state of iOS8 is grossly exaggerated – see #2

    THAT’s why.

    • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

      What bugs? I’ve seen a few minor glitches in 8.0.0, but 8.0.2 is as stable as 7.1.2.

      • Jimmy Song - 9 years ago

        What bugs?!? Have you not heard of the debacle otherwise known as iOS 8.0.1? The one that renders your phone useless as a phone? Certainly, very few people actually installed it (I was one), but it was widely reported.

        Also, having one of your marquee features (Healthkit) non-functional in 8.0 is rather significant, don’t you think? All in all, there have been quite a few high-profile issues with bugs in iOS 8.

      • beta382 - 9 years ago

        Bugs are hugely present on iOS 8, more so than iOS 7 (which is saying something, although iOS 7 had a small pass due to it being a complete UI overhaul). Especially on the dev end. Extensions are a development nightmare. It’s downright awful.

      • On my 4S and my wife’s 4S, about 50% of the time I hit the home button it opens the multitasking view instead. I would assume it was bad hardware, but this is new in iOS8, and other people are reporting the same thing.

        Lots of bugs.

      • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

        Have you tried a full reinstall?

    • To be fair, do you think the average person, who hasn’t already installed iOS 8, knows about the various bugs? I mean, they know about the botched 8.01 update as that was (sometimes hysterically) reported by the general media, but otherwise..

  15. Kevin Bassett - 9 years ago

    To do the update my iPhone required a little over 5 gigs to update a 16 gig phone. I then plug it into iTunes which I think I have done once in the past and it started to load every app ever installed. Im sure that is “user error” but that is why I stopped loading it.

    • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

      I think what you were seeing was “transferring purchases”. Not just what you buy from iTunes or the app store, but every app that was updated on your phone and not in your library gets copied too. Next time do the upgrades in the library first and the app transfers will be quick and painless.

  16. Kristine Slaughter - 9 years ago

    I had an Apple phone rep tell me that IOS 8 might solve a very minor problem with the camera. Instead downloading it made a mess of my phone. The data all came back, but now has the pictures in a different part of the phone, which makes it impossible to develop pictures when I take the phone to Costco. The spell check was better at first, but then the phone reverted back to doing the old one for no reason. I got a lot of hassle with the download and no benefit. I feel like the rep was just mindlessly telling everyone to get IOS 8 without really listening to the customer’s needs. And BTW, the very minor problem with the camera is not only unsolved but is worse! I will say this for Apple: the senior advisors seem to know what they are doing. I talked with several of them last week. I will ask for them in the future or use I-Yogi or my local computer service person. Apple should worry less about hype, mystique, and cult with their new products and take better care of their existing customers.

  17. mpias3785 - 9 years ago

    There could be a few reasons, iOS 7 being one of them. Aside from its overall ugliness, it was the buggiest iOS update since the first version and didn’t settle down until 7.1.1. That’s more than half its year long expected life. Many people suffered through the iOS 7 glitches and don’t want a repeat of last year, plus the goofballs that insist OTA or nothing.

    I like iOS 8.0.2 (8.0.1 wasn’t up long enough for me to notice) but it seems that even with the few enhancements that don’t depend on Yosemite (yuk) it just seems like 7.2.

    I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to a 5/5c/5s user and have 4s users do their homework.

    Maybe when Yosemite comes out and Apple works the bugs out, iOS 8 will gain more popularity.

  18. Avenged110 - 9 years ago

    Woo go us 6%ers

  19. ashtraywasp - 9 years ago

    I think the main reason is the space required. Needing 6GB free is a real pain.

    I had to delete stuff on my 16GB iPad Air that was pretty bare to begin with. They should include a note emphasising that you don’t need the space if you install from a Mac or PC.

    • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

      The updater should direct the user to update via iTunes rather than complaining of lack of space.

  20. Tamal (@tamalm) - 9 years ago

    Apple should decouple iOS with new hardware release. They should follow their Mac model. iOS 8 wasn’t ready for the prime time. Also they should stop yearly OS update. This is just nonsense. The QA team didn’t get enough time to test the binaries. Apple didn’t learn from MapGate.

    • beta382 - 9 years ago

      Or rather, they put the mapgate guy in charge of iOS QA, and thus caused 8.0.1gate. Cause that’s literally what happened.

    • iphone6splus - 9 years ago

      I don’t want to wait.

      • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

        I’d rather wait for a stable release than deal with a boatload of bugs. The yearly update cycle is a very big mistake. I really dread the official release of Yosemite. When that happens the shit is really going to hit the fan.

  21. laboliapis - 9 years ago

    Perhaps an increase in sales of the now discounted 5S running iOS 7 has contributed to the numbers by offsetting iOS 8 iPhone 6 sales combined with people reverting back to iOS 7 from 8 who updated on their 5S

  22. Sanjay (@sanjaymamin) - 9 years ago

    Apple is fast loosing its entitlement for premium price. It is certainly missing Steve Jobs. Fast deterioreting quality control. Problems with hardware, problem with software, which they are not able to fix. Don’t these guys test software before they release to public and if they do than quality of that department is becoming like some chinese manufacturer.

    It seems by the time they make iOS 8 functional, it will be time for iOS 9 and the same story continues.
    Apple, stop charging premium price for all you sell, as you no longer deserve it, or give the quality of the products worth their price.

    • Edison Wrzosek - 9 years ago

      Excuse me? entitlement for premium price? Where the hell do you get off saying (to quote John Legere) horseshit like that?

      Compared to some of the “competition” (if they can even be called that), Apple gear is LEAPS AND BOUNDS ahead of them, both in the hardware and software department.

      Now, before you jump on me for that statement, I will fault them for the recent iOS 8.0.1 debacle (and a bit to the 8.0.2 for the BT issues on iP6 devices), but stand back and think about the iOS 8 release for a moment… It was a MASSIVE release for them, with so many new under-the-hood technologies, and even new philosophies (opening iOS to Extensions for example), that they were bound to overlook things. Do I really have to point out all the botched updates that Microsoft, arguably one of the largest software companies in the world, with the most popular (unfortunately) OS on the market, has put out, causing massive grief to countless millions of users? Or the buttload of bugs in Android that have yet to be fixed?

      Apple is venturing down a new path in their history, and so far, I love where they are heading. But like all new endeavours, there will be screw-up’s along the way. And yes, I think it was a mistake of them to hire the same QA manager from Apple Maps to lead the iOS QA team, because it’s now showing, but one thing about Apple is they do learn and improve.

      So based on this, I think they have every right to charge a non-existent premium for their hardware (have you seen how much flagship Android devices sell for?) as it’s far superior to the competition, and should just ignore people like you making such ludicrous suggestions, and instead keep their laser focus on fixing any issues there are, and continue doing the best they can without listen to the noise.

      • You quote Windows screw ups and your exactly right – the thing is though, when you buy a Windows PC/Android phone you know there is a very high chance that it’s going to crash somewhere along the line Doesn’t make it right, but you make the choice, you take the risk – both Windows and Android aren’t sold on the strength of their 100% reliability and that’s the nature of the beast.

        The thing is though, with Apple you buy the Macs and iPhones because “they just work”. That phrase is a major selling point – a virtue which is extolled by Apple to everyone who will listen. It’s what makes Apple Apple and is why people do pay a premium price for a premium product. So whenever ANYTHING goes wrong people are understandably going to get upset – if they start releasing updates which break things then they will lose a major part of what distinguishes them from their Windows/Android brethren.

      • vandiced - 9 years ago

        Always had iphone and love apple. But damn iOS 8 on iPhone 6 plus restarts iPhone about two to three times a week. Quick reply is soooooo buggy. Noticed orientation lock problems. Just yesterday cropping a picture cropped it the wrong way every time. To me this is so unlike iOS versions past.

      • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

        Have you tried any troubleshooting? Have you called AppleCare?

      • South Jersey Droid - 9 years ago

        Since Job’s death, Apple has been working hard to be like Android in every sense. They are releasing more models of devices (which Job’s never wanted), just like Android OEMs, they are building bigger phones (copying Samsung and HTC), which Jobs said anything bigger than a 3.5″ screen was too big, and they are copying parts of the Android OS (can you say Notification Bar, NFC (although Apple keeps it broken), Touch ID, etc…). And let’s not forget most of the parts of all the iDevices are made by Samsung.

        Tim Cook is the most awful CEO ever. He has no clue what he’s doing, and he is shitting all over Jobs’ dream by trying to compete with Android. Just look at all the Keynotes since Jobs’ death. The Stock Market has fallen after each one, and each announcement.

        The Apple Watch??? I literally thought I was watching a Youtube parody. There are some cool things, but overall, it’s ridiculous. Google’s Android Wear is so much more advanced than what Apple did, and we will never have to try and find a single picture inside a monstrous compilation of images on a teensy little screen, using a knob. That knob is hysterical on every level.

        Lastly, Cortana makes Siri look like a preschooler trying to go on the potty. Even MS is passing Apple by. If you are paying anything more than $350-$400 off contract, you’re being robbed.

      • Edison Wrzosek - 9 years ago

        South Jersey Droid,

        Didn’t think anyone could pack in any more horseshit vitriol into a single post, until I realized your nickname, and figured out you were just on a trolling binge.

        Feel better about yourself now that you spouted all that crap? Head back to 9to5Google, they miss their warrior princess over there.

      • Nycko Heimberg - 9 years ago

        IPhone 4 sold till the end of August 2013, and February 2014 in China.
        IPhone 4 with 8Go sold now
        IPhone 5c with 8Go sold now
        How to make an update of 6Go, without computer, with a full memory?
        Apple made big errors.

    • > Apple, stop charging premium price for all you sell, as you no longer deserve it…

      Apple doesn’t charge a premium because of a quality of products. Apple charges what the market will bear, what people will pay.

      People are clearly paying, and apple “deserving it” -whatever that means- has nothing to do with it.

    • Also quit dragging out the corpse of Steve Jobs. he was a great salesman, but he shipped a lot of shit too. Remember OS9? OS X 10.1-3? The G4 cube? the fat iPod mini, or the buttonless iPod nano? The Motorola Rockr? Game Center, iCal and Contact App’s bizarre skeuomorphism?

      Jobs wasn’t king midas, stop pretending he was.

  23. Leo Chul Song Jr - 9 years ago

    I can’t upgrade to IOS8 because my 32Gb phone is full. Many of us may be in the same boat- imagine being stuck with a 16 Gb phone- new upgrade req’t
    for my wife’s 5S is 5 Gb!!

    • paulywalnuts23 - 9 years ago

      Plug it into a computer… It that really that hard to do… Really it is a more reliable way of updating anyway…

  24. It’s really not that difficult, people.

    Has it been a bumpy 2 weeks for Apple? The answer is, indisputably, yes.

    Are potential upgraders wrong for feeling wary, considering the many issues surrounding the initial release of iOS 8? No.

    Does this data suggest that iOS 8 sucks? No.

    It’s okay to ease off of the Apple praise for two seconds. Apple’s greatness as a company is not a zero-sum game; they can make mistakes and STILL be a great company.

  25. coinaphrase - 9 years ago

    I’m not surprised. The early numbers seemed overstated to me, especially considering the stats from other sources. I also wondered if those were US numbers.
    Aside from that, IOS 8 is a less compelling upgrade for many users. There was a pent-up feeling with ios7 that drove rapid adoption to get those features. Now, iOS 8 has solid improvements, but lacks the Wow factors. It’s still a work in progress. Particularly when you consider that the biggest new features (HealthKit and home kit) are off to a very slow start.

    • WaveMedia (@WaveMedia) - 9 years ago

      It kind of annoys me how people don’t consider something a big upgrade unless there’s some kind of visual overhaul involved. You can rewrite the entire OS from top to bottom but if it looks the same then according to the average person absolutely nothing changed. Even among the geek community this is a somewhat common view, which is baffling to me.

  26. I’m still using iOS 7.0.4

    At least the camera roll is coming back in 8.1, but I would like to see the return of the rectangle buttons (on the call dialer for accepting/rejecting calls) the current circle and red/green dots are ugly

  27. selenarichard - 9 years ago

    An OS takes over near 50% of the install base in 3 weeks and you call that a failure? You guys are way too spoiled lol. Anyhow, i believe 2 key factors will help boost iOS 8 adoption: app upgrades demanding the latest OS, and  watch. I do agree that iOS 8 was way too “heavy”. I have no idea how Cupertino decided to stick to 16GB instead of starting at 32GB for the new iPhones, that was a big fuck up IMO. See http://goo.gl/pH3G7L

  28. You have to agree with me that iOS 8 is not as polished as previous releases of the operating system. I hope Apple reacts accordingly since it has always been a premium brand.

    • airmanchairman - 9 years ago

      Responding from my iPhone 5: one can only speak for oneself in these matters, as personal and maybe anecdotal 3rd party uncorroborated evidence is all one person can go by. I’m loving the experience of 8.0.2 so far, even typing into this blog is noticeably better due to the auto-suggestion feature.
      I’ve seriously over-cluttered the Notification Centre with weather, sports, note-taking and transportation widgets and absolutely love it. Email management is now a breeze.

      I know it’ll all be boring in a month or three, but for those who haven’t upgraded, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT. YOU’RE FREAKING MISSING!

    • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

      @Ramiro Oliva, I spent the first 6 months of iOS 7 doing a full restore every two weeks, when 7.1 came out my battery life dropped to 12.5% of normal. I fixed that but 7 didn’t start to behave normally until 7.1.1 Aside from 8.0.1 which was only up for a few hours, 8 has been mostly problem free. I had a problem syncing audiobooks but that eventually cleared up. For most of its existence 7 has been such a pain that I called Applecare so many times I have my 5s’s serial number memorized!

  29. Maybe people are afraid of updating to iOS because they think that their phone might bend :-D

  30. Raido Orumets - 9 years ago

    iOS 8 is boring, there nothing that interesting over iOS 7. I am using iOS 8 over week now and actually use only 2 new features: 1) iMessage overview function 2) camera lightness feature. Other functions are useless for me :) At least tight now or next 6 months. All the other function get useful after iWatch launch and OSX Yosemite launch.

  31. Wes - 9 years ago

    I have multiple friends who got the insufficient space error and just gave up, because they didn’t know what to do about it. I tried to explain, but it just isn’t that important to them. “Whatever. I guess I don’t need it.”
    These are the same people that no longer back up their phone on icloud because they ran out of space there as well. With the same response.
    Apple really needs to do something about all those people that are missing out on essential services just because they don’t understand/it isn’t easy enough to execute.

  32. Steven Moore (@Stniuk) - 9 years ago

    Found a serious copy & paste bug, documented on a apple discussions thread.
    When you copy text or copy a url it doesn’t copy and pastes a previous copy.
    Two restores hasn’t fixed it.

  33. SteveJay27 - 9 years ago

    The space issue absolutely is the main reason. While I have a 64 gig 5S and have upgraded to IOS 8, my daughter has a 16 gig 5S, does not have enough room to upgrade without deleting some files and programs, and will not upgrade now, but will just wait until she gets a new iPhone 6 next month.

  34. Landy (@Soydepr) - 9 years ago

    well iOS 8 is really buggy, takes away the fun out of the 6 plus

  35. aromedia - 9 years ago

    Personally, I pissed from having upgraded to iOS 8. Usually, I always the first to upgrade in my family (wife, daughters and the rest of the family), testing the upgrade and advising everybody to do so. Its the first time that I just can,t advise anybody to pull on the upgrade. Really bad move, Apple! Now fix it and fast, please.

  36. Tim Lathrop - 9 years ago

    I upgraded my IPAD 2 then went back to IOS 7. Until I hear it works on the IPAD 2 I will stay with IOS 7. We did not upgrade my wife’s 4s either

  37. I haven’t. You gotta have like 7 Gigs free. Now I gotta go and delete 7 Gigs worth of shit off 4 devices? Yeah, right. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

  38. Denko Mancheski - 9 years ago

    Thats where jailbreak comes in

  39. I bought the iPhone 6 with iOS 8 and then did the iOS 8.0.2 update and the Bluetooth phone functionality in my 2014 Honda Civic is totally screwed up. I have been a long time Apple user but this is by far the worst iOS update in Apple history. Steve would NEVER have tolerated this level of incompetence. Enough already and fist the damn software!!!

  40. g0bez - 9 years ago

    Between the large number of 16GB phones that are more than 69% full, and those who are jailbroken and wanting to keep their jailbreak, this is not surprising. Once we see Yosemite come out we’ll see even incentive to get upgraded for those integration features. Or, at least I know it is going to be harder for me to justify keeping my jailbreak once those features are available.

  41. leifashley - 9 years ago

    Love Apple, but this is the worst OS launch I’ve seen them do by far. Even 802 is buggy.

    This is far below the quality standard I’d expect from Apple. Makes me sad.

  42. Aaron Earls - 9 years ago

    iOS 8 is anything but a success as some have claimed on these boards. Personally, my phone has connectivity issues, batter drain issues, email issues, freezing issues, etc. It’s been a disaster! My phone worked great before. There needs to be another update. For the first time ever, I’ve considered moving away from the iPhone to another brand.

  43. Though I love iOS 8 on my iPhone 6, it have deemed it not worth upgrading my 3rd Gen iPad to it. The deal breaker for me is the inclusion of iBooks as a built in application. I still have iBooks 3.1.3 (the last skeuomorphic version if iBooks) and iBooks is [to me] perfect and I do not want to lose that. I do think that iOS looks good “flat” but I still think iBooks should be skeuomorphic.

  44. mcshively - 9 years ago

    Reason #98732487 why it’s time to do away with 16gb iPhones. People aren’t going to delete stuff from their phones (music, photos, videos, etc) to upgrade. It completely baffles me that 16gb iPhones are still being produced.

  45. I like this ” Apple Iphone 6 4.7 Inch 16GB Unlocked (T-Mobile) Silver ” on amazon click here http://goo.gl/RGQpsk

  46. clayperreault - 9 years ago

    Memory constraints on 16gb devices probably one reason it’s slowing. People don’t see the extra value to have to delete half their apps just to upgrade then download and reset up all their apps again afterward . OS 8 also has some significant features not yet useful such as NFC payments or device synchronization with OS X until later this month. When these become useful people will see greater utility in upgrading. Clay Perreault

  47. Marc Morales - 9 years ago

    If apple put half the effort into QA testing their products as they do in shilling coversations on articles like this, these articles wouldn’t exist. Nor would the countless complaint posts on their own forums which “mysteriously” become unsearchable from apple’s site after a few days. Can’t keep Google from indexing them though! Fail again, apple.

  48. Thanks for the numbers Seth – good stuff. I think couple reasons for this are that recent iOS 8 bugs were around the time people were going to update and they didn’t because of silly mistakes by Apple. The other is that people haven’t been fully convinced its really worth going to the new software.

    Vince @ http://veloxity.us

  49. broblk - 9 years ago

    They had better NOT or they will be drummed out of the iCult… comply and buy JOBS 23:13.5

  50. Daniel Rosenbaum - 9 years ago

    I’ll say. Ipad 2 lost cellular service as a result of the upgrade to ios 8. The Verizon Wireless technocrat screwed up my ipad further and then put me on the line for another interminable hold while he contacted Apple. Apple never came on line, and I gave up. IOS 8 also drains the battery of the ipad 2 very fast.

  51. luxlamf - 9 years ago

    OS4 killed my 3S iPhone so I always wait several weeks before updating anything from Apple seeing they don’t Allow you to revert back to the previous OS because……… Because they can. Now I hear that this OS will indeed make my 4G turn into a slug so NO, no updating for me anymore.

  52. Phillip Jolliffe - 9 years ago

    I have IPad 2 and mini, both slow as molasses in winter since iOS 8.02, good job I haven’t downgraded to it on my wife’s iPad 2

  53. mcspankytanky - 9 years ago

    I read these comments and just have to laugh. iOS 8.x sucks so hard. I installed it yesterday on my iPhone 5. Now I just have a brick. More dropped phone calls in 36 hours than in previous year. More dropped wifi connections today than I can count. It took me an hour to sign up for a wordpress account tonight using my iphone. 2 minutes on a laptop, same wifi network.

    Feature rich doesn’t mean crap if the software doesn’t work. Frankly I would prefer windows 8 to iOS 8; at least I could use Skype on win 8.

    Like everyone else I know, I’m going to reload 7 asap

  54. ledsteplin - 9 years ago

    So how much space is needed for the iOS 8.1 update?

  55. cerniuk - 9 years ago

    Many apps require 8.0 which will foster downloads, now of 8.1. This data is too early to predict “end of updates”. My household was waiting for 8.1

  56. Soonbin Ng (@soonbin8) - 9 years ago

    ios 8 sucks. i m having problem with wifi connections

  57. Patricia Anne Clarkson - 9 years ago

    ios 8 is HORRIBLE!!! I will never buy another ipad again! I am now looking for another mini tablet with Android. Apple needs to put out ios 7 for people to downgrade. Every single update to ios 8 gets worse and worse. I will update no more. I want a downgrade or I will never go back to anything Apple again. Whoever devised ios8 is incompetent. My ipad does something different every time I use it…can’t zoom, can’t close windows, can’t get online…wireless doesn’t work…passwords not accepted, print is extremely small..it goes on and on! I have already restored it once and it was good for about a night..that is it! Just loaded an update that was supposed to fix problems and all it did was create more problems! I want to go back to ios7 and can’t understand why Apple doesn’t allow it. I hate ios 8 and will not ever trust another update from Apple again.

    • mpias3785 - 9 years ago

      Have you tried restoring as new and then adding back your apps and media? I’m running iOS 8.1.1 on a 3rd third generation iPad which came out prior to any mini and it runs fine. A little slow at times but barely noticeable. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are problem free and using it to answer the phone works like a champ. Using the Amazon prime app I’m able to watch television shows and movies and send them to my Apple TV via AirPlay.

      • Patricia Anne Clarkson - 9 years ago

        I have restored it. Not since this last update. I will try it once more. However, updates shouldn’t make the device unusable. The fact that I can’t roll back bad updates makes me want to scrap Apple. This is ridiculous.

  58. mpias3785 - 9 years ago

    Isn’t it about time to update this article?

  59. Cathy Anderson - 9 years ago

    That’s because it’s a piece of cr ap. Made my ipad USELESS. And it’s getting worse. DO NOT UPGRADE TO 8.0.2.

  60. Robert Gerus - 9 years ago

    Mymother own’s an ios 6 ipad what a piece of shit, how she claims they won’t let her on because she said that when I was playing with it that I downloaded an app without her permission, true I did it was a game called something smash where everytime you touched the screen ballbearnsing would go flying into glass pains and you would get tons of points. ok her credit card was on her ipad and I did tell her I spent $2 bucks big deal, but now Apple is saying that there charging her for some movies, what the fuck!!! I had netflix on her system but I own the rights I have an account with netflix. like what the fuck Apple. I don’t like Apple at all because of there always charging for app’s always wanting to know your bussiness, so now they won’t let my mom online till she pays and I’m back in Canada and she lives in Florida. what a fuck up/.

  61. Everett Durst III - 9 years ago

    I tried to update, and the process is impossible to follow. It says to enter a password on my phone, but my phone gives me nowhere to do it. It locks up my computer and gives impossible instructions.

    Gee, nobody is updating, should we check to see if our system is working, or our messages actually make sense? No, just complain about how stupid our customers are.

    For the record, I know I’m stupid, which is why I pay for this fancy crap that should be smart enough to update without locking up my computer and phone.

  62. Kristine Slaughter - 9 years ago

    In recent months I have had an increasingly positive view of Apple’s customer service. If you ask for an iPhoto specialist, they put your calls into the Apps Dept. cue. These people are very knowledgeable about managing your pictures from your computer. Many of them have their own projects outside of work, and so they thoroughly understand what you are trying to do and how best and most efficiently to do it. Sometimes the regular reps know the answer too, or will suggest themselves, that I let them put me on hold for someone in Apps.

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