iOS 9 Adoption Rate Stalls at 77% of Active Devices

Five months after launching to the public, iOS 9 has now been installed on 77 percent of active iOS devices as of February 22, according to the newest chart shared by Apple on the App Store support page.

That adoption rate has remained static at 77 percent since the last update on iOS numbers occurred on February 8. Compared to the first adoption rate status update of the year on January 11, iOS 9 has climbed a total of 2 percentage points from 75 percent of active device installations.


Although adoption has stagnated right now, the numbers are expected to increase in the coming months with new device launches and activations surrounding the rumored mid-March media event. In a similar period last year, iOS 8 sat at 72 percent in early February, and rose to 81 percent in April thanks to the Apple Watch. Later in September, a few days ahead of the launch of the new iPhones and iOS 9, iOS 8 hit an adoption rate of 87 percent.

In the numbers posted this week, iOS 8 still holds a 17 percent share of device activations, dropping from 19 percent in January. Earlier versions of Apple's operating system now sit at 6 percent of the chart, down from 7 percent in the January 11 numbers.

Earlier in the week, Apple seeded the fourth beta for iOS 9.3 to public testers and developers. The incremental update will still be a notable one, with additions including a Night Shift mode, updates to 3D Touch's Quick Actions, the ability to pair with more than one Apple Watch, and a bunch of other all-new features.