After more than two months of availability, Apple's newest mobile operating system, iOS 8, is now installed on 63 percent of iOS, according to new numbers posted on Apple's App Store support page for developers.
iOS 8's installation numbers have increased approximately seven percent over the course of the last month, and installation numbers are up 11 percent since October 27. iOS 7 usage, meanwhile, has dropped from 43 percent in October to 33 percent as of December 8.
Apple's own iOS 8 adoption estimates are based on App Store usage and are mirrored closely by data from analytics service MixPanel, which puts iOS 8 adoption at 63.94 percent as of today.
The number of users installing iOS 8 initially stagnated at 47 percent just three weeks after the software was first released to the public, but installation numbers have been climbing steadily since then due to a number of bug fixes and an email campaign from Apple encouraging users to upgrade.
iOS 8's low adoption rates were likely due to several major bugs the software faced in its early days and a lack of space on 16GB devices for installing the OS. Apple's recent email campaign attempted to alleviate the latter issue, informing users with little space on their devices that they could upgrade through iTunes.
iOS 8.1, iOS 8.1.1, and iOS 8.1.2, introduced today, all brought bug fixes for several major issues, repairing problems and improving the stability of iOS 8. Apple is also working on iOS 8.2, which is expected to bring additional bug fixes and has been seeded to developers for testing purposes.
Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you.
Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by Juli Clover
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products.
Here's what's supposedly coming:
An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found.
Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker.
According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 12:22 pm PST by Juli Clover
The next-generation low-cost iPad will use Apple's A19 chip, according to a report from Macworld. Macworld claims to have seen an "internal Apple code document" with information about the 2026 iPad lineup.
Prior documentation discovered by MacRumors suggested that the iPad 12 would be equipped with an A18 chip, not an A19 chip. The A19 chip was just released this year in the iPhone 17, and...
Thursday December 11, 2025 4:19 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's next-generation Studio Display is expected to arrive early next year, and a new report allegedly provides a couple more details on the external monitor's capabilities.
According to internal Apple code seen by Macworld, the new external display will feature a variable refresh rate capable of up to 120Hz – aka ProMotion – as well as support for HDR content. The current Studio...
Still proudly on iOS 7, and iOS 6 on one of my iPads. iOS 6 is much faster than iOS 7.
I'll use iOS 8 when I buy the iPhone 6 Plus, but won't be installing it on any of my current devices.
Will stick with iOS 6 on my iPad till it breaks and then no more iPads for me.I can't stand iOS 7/8 on my iPad just boring and flat with blinding white and Hello kitty icons:)
I never could understand this metric. Since all new iphones have come with ios8 preinstalled, and they're selling millions, the number is gonna climb since people have NO CHOICE but to use ios 8. Nor do those who upgraded to ios 8 from 7 have the CHOICE to downgrade if they decided they didnt like 8 (at least not without a huge complicated process).
The only real metric of ios 8's popularity would be people who chose to upgrade and were actually glad they did. So these numbers seem irrelevant to me.
