iOS 8 Adoption Reaches 81% Following Apple Watch Launch

Apple's latest distribution numbers show that 81% of iOS devices are now running iOS 8 or later, less than one week after the release of the Apple Watch. 17% of devices used to access the App Store continue to run iOS 7 and the remaining 2% are running an earlier software version.

iOS 8 adoption rose 2 percentage points since Apple shared its last distribution numbers earlier this month, with the Apple Watch launch last Friday likely contributing to the marginal increase. Apple Watch must be paired with an iPhone 5 or later running iOS 8.2 or newer.

According to mobile analytics firm Mixpanel, approximately 91% of devices were running iOS 7 at this time last year, meaning that iOS 8 adoption continues to be slower, likely due to a wide range of reasons including software bugs and excessive storage space required to install updates.

Tag: iOS 8 adoption

Top Rated Comments

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oliversl

50 months ago

Cool, I'm the 2%! (without the money ;) )

Rating: 4 Votes

Costino1

50 months ago

I'm sure the early Apple Watch adopters really pushed iOS installs to their limits...

All 400 of them who received their preorders? *tongue in cheek.

Rating: 4 Votes

allanfries

50 months ago

Hmmm! Still wonder how many of the 81% are new devices.

Rating: 3 Votes

furi0usbee

50 months ago

I'm sure the early Apple Watch adopters really pushed iOS installs to their limits...

Rating: 3 Votes

Altis

50 months ago

Why should owners of older - still perfectly working - devices upgrade if the upgrade is in fact a usability downgrade and their devices are much slower than before?

To be honest, iOS 8 hardly runs any better on my iPhone 6 than it does on my work 5C and 4S on iOS 7.

In fact, my 5, 4S, and 3GS on iOS 6 remains faster at navigating around the OS, with the 5 on iOS 6 being the fastest I have currently. I really hope Apple starts bringing back some element of speed, but they don't seem to be bothered one bit.

Rating: 3 Votes

C DM

50 months ago

The minority. For the phones it might be close to equal, but iPades and iPods are not being newly purchased every two years.

Considering huge new iPhone sales figures pretty much most of the time, it might not be that small of a part of it all.

Rating: 2 Votes

AlecZ

50 months ago

iOS 8, what a PoS! Some basic features that used to work perfectly from the original iPhone OS to iOS 7 are now messed up. I can't even scrub through music without it jumping around. If you haven't updated and don't need it for anything specific, don't update.

Rating: 2 Votes

Woyzeck

50 months ago

Why should owners of older - still perfectly working - devices upgrade if the upgrade is in fact a usability downgrade and their devices are much slower than before?

Rating: 2 Votes

SteveW928

50 months ago

iOS8.3 will be faster than any version of iOS7 on any supported device.

Not even close. I'm running 8.3 on my iPad 2 and it's a total dog.

And be careful about benchmarks... the stuff I care about is how quickly the keyboard responds, switching between apps, etc. That stuff is all horrible under iOS 8. It has improved a bit, but is still pretty bad in comparison.

Rating: 2 Votes