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Literally every change made in iOS 26 feels like a downgrade to me. This is the first time I have ever considered downgrading iOS.

by mfro 1y ago

noname120 1y ago
Is it even possible?
- MBCook 1y ago
  Only for a very limited time after the release. And you can’t strictly “downgrade“ it, you have to restore it from factory with the older OS and then reload your back up.
  - flykespice 1y ago
    Then you would be forced to upgrade after factory reset (basically digital sisyphus)?
    - whycome 1y ago
      Apple is pretty good in not forcing upgrades as far as I remember. You can stay on an older OS until you personally run into app compatibility issues
      - MBCook 1y ago
        They’re getting bolder about pushing you to upgrade with badges on settings and push notifications and defaulting people into automatic updates. But you can turn that stuff off. They may try to trick you so you have to remain somewhat vigilant. But I don’t think they ever absolutely force you to upgrade.
        doublerabbit 1y ago
        Even with updates turned off I get nagging notification in the messaging app and on the lock screen as well as the appstore. Still on 17.7.2.
    - MBCook 1y ago
      No, you can go back for a while. They’ll certainly ask you, but you can say no. At a certain part they stop signing the OS. At that point because it doesn’t have the cryptographic signature you can’t install it at all and your only choice is something newer. With point releases or security updates that tends to be pretty fast because they don’t want people downgrading to something vulnerable. When going from iOS X to iOS X + 1 grace period is usually longer before they stop that. And, of course, if you try and install an iOS 26 backup on the phone that you just moved back to 18… you’re just gonna be on 26 again. So you better make sure you have the right back up.
- apazzolini 1y ago
  It was, but Apple is no longer signing the old releases. (https://ipsw.me/iPhone14,4 https://ipsw.me/iPhone14,4). I downgraded about 10 minutes after trying iOS 26. Sorry to all who missed the window.
  - mfro 1y ago
    Wow, didn’t know that. Really ticks me off.
  - doublerabbit 1y ago
    I'm still on 17.7.2, hoping for a jailbreak one day...
    - layer8 1y ago
      You can still upgrade to 18 using delayed OTA (which extends the deadline by up to 90 days): https://dhinakg.github.io/delayed-otas.html https://dhinakg.github.io/delayed-otas.html It’s only when you’re already on iOS 26 that you can’t downgrade anymore.
MBCook 1y ago
I think there are a few nice changes in 26, but they’re small things. They are certainly overwhelmed by the problems caused by the terrible visual design, which does not accomplish its stated goals and usually is a very large setback compared to what we had previously.
- shinycode 1y ago
  Yeah it grew on me over the beta phase, now when I hold an iPhone not updated it feels old and I really don’t like previous versions. Regardless of places where it’s not ideal implementations yet, I can’t see myself coming back to the previous style. Liquid Glass will get better and I really like it. I got wow moments sometimes when it shines on some occasions
  - MBCook 1y ago
    I think the idea of a new design of some sort was a good one. We’ve been in the same world since iOS 7, 12 years ago. The glass effects are fancy, but in a HUGE percentage of places the transparency makes things worse. A lot of the animation/liviness, the “liquid” part of “Liquid Glass”, is very nice and welcome. My problems are almost all from: 1. difficulty reading/using things since the background shows through unnecessarily and makes things hard to read 2. iOS fighting to change the color of things to keep up with the background during scrolling, all for the stupid effect I just complained about 3. far more wasted space by pulling away from the edges of the screen leaving less useful area I’ve seen people theorize it will all be great and make sense when some future iPhone with a true edge to edge screen launches. Great. My new phone was made manifestly worse to help the experience of a phone that I can’t even buy yet. If it exists at all. And that’s why this design is the way it is. I don’t know how they saved this. Other than just getting rid of some of the fundamental concepts. But they’re gonna have to tone a lot of stuff WAY down in the next few years to try and get this back to usable.
    - shinycode 1y ago
      I completely agree with you. And sometimes depending on the content it’s unreadable that’s for sure. But they must have an endgame. Maybe they get us used to the UI, users will complain and in 6 months will get used to it and in a year it’s forgotten & updated. Because if they have a new paradigm then it’s easier for them if people are already used to the UX I guess ?
toomuchtodo 1y ago
Agreed, it’s pretty bad. It causes my 16 pro max to lag in some apps, Siri is broken, etc. Very surprised this made it through QA to GA.
- mfro 1y ago
  Re: performance, I disabled Apple Intelligence (it’s useless anyways) and noticed a big perf improvement on my 16 plus.
  - toomuchtodo 1y ago
    Appreciate the suggestion, unfortunately, I have it off already :(
- sotix 1y ago
  Any specific apps? I'm not having performance issues on an iPhone SE 3, which should be a lot less powerful, but perhaps I haven't bumped into them. Or maybe apps use different resources on a less powerful phone? Siri was broken for me for the first few days but suddenly began working again! That was frustrating, but I'm happy it's back. I have no clue what fixed it because it wasn't a software update.
98codes 1y ago
Settings -> Accessibility -> Display & Text Size -> enable Reduce Transparency That made a world of difference for me.
- donmcronald 1y ago
  I did this on all my Apple devices about 60 seconds after the update. I don't know how people can use things like iMessage with the defaults.
- curiousguy 1y ago
  I tried that, but this completely removes the transparency, and some apps look even worse and harder to visualise as it’s not designed to not have the transparency on iOS 26. This could be significant improvement if Apple let us choose the transparency percentage.
- kimos 1y ago
  It makes some things better. But it also replaces transparency in some apps with just a solid block of colour. Photos you lose like 10-20% of the screen. The UI used to fit and work well and they just broke it. Maddening.
geuis 1y ago
I certainly won't be upgrading to this version. I already don't really like the current version and see no reason to inflict a Windows Vista-like experience on myself.
barnabee 1y ago
It’s garbage. I’m done. I’ve used only iPhones as my main devices since the iPhone 3G but instead of getting a 17 Pro I’ve bought a Pixel 9 Pro and will switch my main mobile to GrapheneOS.

Literally every change made in iOS 26 feels like a downgrade to me. This is the first time I have ever considered downgrading iOS.

by mfro 1y ago

Literally every change made in iOS 26 feels like a downgrade to me. This is the first time I have ever considered downgrading iOS.

noname120 1y ago

Is it even possible?

MBCook 1y ago
Only for a very limited time after the release. And you can’t strictly “downgrade“ it, you have to restore it from factory with the older OS and then reload your back up.
- flykespice 1y ago
  Then you would be forced to upgrade after factory reset (basically digital sisyphus)?
  - whycome 1y ago
    Apple is pretty good in not forcing upgrades as far as I remember. You can stay on an older OS until you personally run into app compatibility issues
    - MBCook 1y ago
      They’re getting bolder about pushing you to upgrade with badges on settings and push notifications and defaulting people into automatic updates. But you can turn that stuff off. They may try to trick you so you have to remain somewhat vigilant. But I don’t think they ever absolutely force you to upgrade.
      - doublerabbit 1y ago
        Even with updates turned off I get nagging notification in the messaging app and on the lock screen as well as the appstore. Still on 17.7.2.
  - MBCook 1y ago
    No, you can go back for a while. They’ll certainly ask you, but you can say no. At a certain part they stop signing the OS. At that point because it doesn’t have the cryptographic signature you can’t install it at all and your only choice is something newer. With point releases or security updates that tends to be pretty fast because they don’t want people downgrading to something vulnerable. When going from iOS X to iOS X + 1 grace period is usually longer before they stop that. And, of course, if you try and install an iOS 26 backup on the phone that you just moved back to 18… you’re just gonna be on 26 again. So you better make sure you have the right back up.
apazzolini 1y ago
It was, but Apple is no longer signing the old releases. (https://ipsw.me/iPhone14,4 https://ipsw.me/iPhone14,4). I downgraded about 10 minutes after trying iOS 26. Sorry to all who missed the window.
- mfro 1y ago
  Wow, didn’t know that. Really ticks me off.
- doublerabbit 1y ago
  I'm still on 17.7.2, hoping for a jailbreak one day...
  - layer8 1y ago
    You can still upgrade to 18 using delayed OTA (which extends the deadline by up to 90 days): https://dhinakg.github.io/delayed-otas.html https://dhinakg.github.io/delayed-otas.html It’s only when you’re already on iOS 26 that you can’t downgrade anymore.

MBCook 1y ago

I think there are a few nice changes in 26, but they’re small things. They are certainly overwhelmed by the problems caused by the terrible visual design, which does not accomplish its stated goals and usually is a very large setback compared to what we had previously.

shinycode 1y ago
Yeah it grew on me over the beta phase, now when I hold an iPhone not updated it feels old and I really don’t like previous versions. Regardless of places where it’s not ideal implementations yet, I can’t see myself coming back to the previous style. Liquid Glass will get better and I really like it. I got wow moments sometimes when it shines on some occasions
- MBCook 1y ago
  I think the idea of a new design of some sort was a good one. We’ve been in the same world since iOS 7, 12 years ago. The glass effects are fancy, but in a HUGE percentage of places the transparency makes things worse. A lot of the animation/liviness, the “liquid” part of “Liquid Glass”, is very nice and welcome. My problems are almost all from: 1. difficulty reading/using things since the background shows through unnecessarily and makes things hard to read 2. iOS fighting to change the color of things to keep up with the background during scrolling, all for the stupid effect I just complained about 3. far more wasted space by pulling away from the edges of the screen leaving less useful area I’ve seen people theorize it will all be great and make sense when some future iPhone with a true edge to edge screen launches. Great. My new phone was made manifestly worse to help the experience of a phone that I can’t even buy yet. If it exists at all. And that’s why this design is the way it is. I don’t know how they saved this. Other than just getting rid of some of the fundamental concepts. But they’re gonna have to tone a lot of stuff WAY down in the next few years to try and get this back to usable.
  - shinycode 1y ago
    I completely agree with you. And sometimes depending on the content it’s unreadable that’s for sure. But they must have an endgame. Maybe they get us used to the UI, users will complain and in 6 months will get used to it and in a year it’s forgotten & updated. Because if they have a new paradigm then it’s easier for them if people are already used to the UX I guess ?

toomuchtodo 1y ago

Agreed, it’s pretty bad. It causes my 16 pro max to lag in some apps, Siri is broken, etc. Very surprised this made it through QA to GA.

mfro 1y ago
Re: performance, I disabled Apple Intelligence (it’s useless anyways) and noticed a big perf improvement on my 16 plus.
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  Appreciate the suggestion, unfortunately, I have it off already :(
sotix 1y ago
Any specific apps? I'm not having performance issues on an iPhone SE 3, which should be a lot less powerful, but perhaps I haven't bumped into them. Or maybe apps use different resources on a less powerful phone? Siri was broken for me for the first few days but suddenly began working again! That was frustrating, but I'm happy it's back. I have no clue what fixed it because it wasn't a software update.

98codes 1y ago

Settings -> Accessibility -> Display & Text Size -> enable Reduce Transparency That made a world of difference for me.

donmcronald 1y ago
I did this on all my Apple devices about 60 seconds after the update. I don't know how people can use things like iMessage with the defaults.
curiousguy 1y ago
I tried that, but this completely removes the transparency, and some apps look even worse and harder to visualise as it’s not designed to not have the transparency on iOS 26. This could be significant improvement if Apple let us choose the transparency percentage.
kimos 1y ago
It makes some things better. But it also replaces transparency in some apps with just a solid block of colour. Photos you lose like 10-20% of the screen. The UI used to fit and work well and they just broke it. Maddening.

geuis 1y ago

I certainly won't be upgrading to this version. I already don't really like the current version and see no reason to inflict a Windows Vista-like experience on myself.

barnabee 1y ago

It’s garbage. I’m done. I’ve used only iPhones as my main devices since the iPhone 3G but instead of getting a 17 Pro I’ve bought a Pixel 9 Pro and will switch my main mobile to GrapheneOS.