Early iOS 9 Adoption Rate in Line With iOS 8 Adoption - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Early iOS 9 Adoption Rate in Line With iOS 8 Adoption

iOS users are installing Apple's latest operating system at roughly the same pace iOS 8 was installed last year, according to multiple analytics companies that are tracking iOS 9 adoption rates. iOS 9 has now been available for download for just over 24 hours.

Mixpanel's live iOS 9 tracking site suggests iOS 9 is now installed on approximately 12.60 percent of devices, which is in line with iOS 8 adoption rates in 2014.

mixpanelios9adoption

"iOS 9 has received 12% adoption in the last 24 hours and is being adopted similar to iOS 8 last year. This kind of adoption took Android's latest operating system, Lollipop, in comparison 5 months to achieve. One huge advantage Apple got right this year over last year was that the update is much smaller than last year (3.5x smaller) < Apple has empathy for its users who have nearly maxed out the space on their phones. However, one issue for it being substantially slow compared to iOS 7 is that servers are having trouble keeping up right now as people update."

Because each analytics site tracks a different selection of iOS users based on app installs, iOS 9 installation numbers vary quite a bit across platforms. All of the sites tracking iOS 9 adoption agree that it is on pace with adoption numbers seen after iOS 8 was released last year, however. Tapjoy is seeing adoption rates spanning from 4 percent to 7 percent, based on device, while Fiksu is seeing 6 percent of its users running iOS 9.

tapjoyios9adoption
According to GoSquared, iOS 9 users now represent 12 percent of total iOS traffic, a number that's on par with both Mixpanel's count and an 11.84 percent measurement from analytics company Paddle.

Two years ago, iOS 7 saw much quicker adoption rates than we're seeing with iOS 9, but that is not surprising as iOS 7 marked the last major design update to the operating system. iOS 8 and iOS 9 brought many new features, but few visual changes.

What is surprising is that iOS 9 adoption is not outpacing iOS 8 adoption because iOS 9 has a much smaller installation size. While iOS 8 required 4.58 GB to install, iOS 9 only requires 1.3 GB, making it much more accessible to users who have little space open on their devices.

Related Forum: iOS 9

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple to Release These 15 New Products Later This Year

Friday June 12, 2026 7:45 am PDT by
Apple's annual WWDC developers conference is drawing to a close, but there is still a lot to look forward to in the second half of the year. Apple is expected to release at least 15 more products later this year. Now that the more intelligent and personal version of Siri has finally arrived in beta, a full two years after Apple first previewed it at WWDC 2024, we should begin to see some new ...
Apple Lists 250 Changes Across iOS 27 and More Feature

Apple Shares List of 250 Changes Across iOS 27, macOS Golden Gate, and More

Wednesday June 10, 2026 1:34 pm PDT by
During its WWDC 2026 keynote on Monday, Apple briefly showed a slide with hundreds of new features and enhancements coming across iOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27. All of the software updates are currently available as developer betas, and they are expected to be released to all users in September. We already highlighted some of the key new features from the ...
Apple Logo Top Half

Have One of These 16 Apple Devices? Software Support Ends This Fall

Saturday June 13, 2026 8:00 am PDT by
Apple will end software support for 16 devices this fall across four product lines, with the Apple Watch seeing the most sweeping cull in the product's history. The full extent of this year's software drops became clear with the announcements of macOS 27 Golden Gate, iPadOS 27, tvOS 27, and watchOS 27 at WWDC this week. The one bright spot is that iOS 27 features identical device support to...

Top Rated Comments

140 months ago
I am still honored to be running iOS 6.1.4 on my iPhone 5; enjoying fluidity, smoothness, and a classic look.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Saucesome2000 Avatar
140 months ago
Most people I know are waiting until the weekend because they are phones they use for work. I expect this number to grow a lot by Monday. I updated the moment it was released and it's been running great so far.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiRez Avatar
140 months ago
Easily explained because of people's horrific upgrade experiences with iOS8. That screw-up is going to take a long time to forget.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
140 months ago
Dropped 9 on my old ipod 5. I am getting way more battery life now. Once the word gets out on the battery life it's going to take off...
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
140 months ago
Hm... so you're tell us that Apple should cut off products early and not offer software upgrades. Ok. Advice taken. One iOS upgrade is fine, I mean, anything more then that is just going to cause problems. Everyone should be updating every other year, anyway. It is DECREED by or dear leader Tim Cook.
Or get an Android phone so you can be certain that you'll be stuck with whatever version of the OS it originally came with.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
140 months ago
This is the first time I've actually passed on updating my iOS on all my devices. I learned my lesson last time. I won't touch iOS 9 until I get my iPhone 6s. I plan to leave all my other devices on 8.4.1until 9.1 comes out or I hear improvements.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)