Skip to main content

More than half of Apple users are now running iOS 9 on their devices

more than half of apple users are now running ios 9 on their devices compatibilty
The majority of iOS device owners have upgraded to the latest version of the operating system, according to a new report from third-party analysts Localytics. The final public version of Apple’s mobile OS was pushed out to the world almost exactly a month ago, on Sept. 16.

Apple says 50 percent of “active” users were on iOS 9 after just five days, though it appears they may have been somewhat optimistic in their claims — it looks as though Apple was only counting people who visited the App Store during that time frame, so those users who weren’t desperate to install some new software apps during the first week would’ve been excluded.

Recommended Videos

Now Localytics says the figure stands at 55 percent, with adoption rates faster than those for iOS 8 but still way behind iOS 7. In the last two weeks, the analytics firm says, adoption has slowed significantly — perhaps indicating that a lot of users are waiting for the early bugs to get ironed out. Since Sept. 16, Apple has released iOS 9.0.1 and iOS 9.0.2 to squash some of the bugs reported by users.

Localytics, which studied data from around 50 million iOS devices to come up with its figures, says adoption has been slowest in China, where only 36 percent of users have upgraded. Germany is top of the pile, with 64 percent of users in that country installing the new software (the figure for the U.S. stands at 57 percent).

Apple is always keen to point how fragmented the Android OS market is when compared with iOS, though of course it doesn’t have to deal with multiple handset models and manufacturer skins added by the likes of Samsung and HTC. It seems that while iOS 9 has proved more tempting to users than iOS 8, there are still plenty of people taking their time.

David Nield
Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…
Apple finally fixed my biggest problem with the iPhone 14 Pro Max
apple fixed my biggest problem with iphone 14 pro max 1443

Good battery life is a well-known trait of the iPhone. As a battery-anxious person, it's one of the reasons why I shifted to iOS. The iPhone 13 Pro Max took it to the next level with excellent battery optimization that would see the phone last me an entire day with ease – no matter how heavy the usage. The same didn’t happen when I shifted to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. And it was primarily due to iOS 16. The initial versions, up until iOS 16.4, were buggy and bad with battery optimization.

I was about to move back to Android, but iOS 16.5 has me hooked. The update is one of the best in the recent past from Apple. While I’ve been testing iOS 17 for the past week on another iPhone, I installed iOS 16.5 in late May on my primary phone – the iPhone 14 Pro Max — and I’m extremely happy with what Apple has done with this version.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max's battery problem has finally been fixed
The chart shows 50% battery left after using the iPhone 14 Pro Max for 5 hours and 43 minutes. Prakhar Khanna/Digital Trends

Read more
iOS 17: Apple didn’t add the one feature I’ve been waiting for
Multiwindow on Galaxy S23 Ultra (on left) and multiwindow with popup window on Oppo Find X6 Pro (on right).

Multiwindow on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (left) and multiwindow with pop-up window on the Oppo Find X6 Pro (right). Prakhar Khanna/Digital Trends

I’m a big-screen phone advocate. While I like the comfort of holding a compact phone (such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 with a 6.1-inch display), I prefer using devices like the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Oppo Find X6 Pro, Xiaomi 13 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Read more
iOS 17 isn’t the iPhone update I was hoping for
iMessage stickers in iOS 17

Apple gave us a jam-packed WWDC 2023 keynote, and it was one of the most significant ones in years. After all, it introduced a brand new product category for Apple with the Vision Pro mixed reality headset. It’s basically as significant as when Steve Jobs revealed the iPhone in 2007, then the iPad in 2010, and when Tim Cook showed off the Apple Watch in 2014.

But the headset isn’t the only thing we got in the WWDC keynote. Since it’s a developer conference, it’s also about the software for all of our devices. This includes iOS 17 for the iPhone, along with iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS 14 Sonoma.

Read more