iOS 8 Adoption Stalls Just Shy Of 50% (Or Even Less) After Two Weeks

According to AppAdvice.com, during the nearly three weeks since Apple released iOS 8, fewer users have updated to the new iOS version compared to past releases. AppAdvice cites data from analytics firm Fiksu indicating that during its first 19 days of release, the iOS 8 adoption rate stands at 37.45 percent, compared with over the same interval following their releases, adoption rates for iOS 7 and iOS 6 having been 57.98 percent and 57.37 percent, respectively.

Fiksu tracks data from millions of iPhones and iPads running Fiksu client apps, as they happen, in real time, and posts a map that updates every ten seconds.

Another independent study from Mixpanel is more optimistic, saying iOS 8 uptake is closer to 50 percent.

Not surprisingly, Apple agrees with Mixpanel’s assessment, acknowledging on its app developer portal that after two weeks of iOS 8 general release, (Oct. 5), 47 percent of iOS mobile devices are using iOS 8, in a dead heat tie with iOS 7. That indicates that iOS uptake has gone stagnant, up just a vestigial one percent over the past two weeks. On September 21, iOS 8 was installed on 46 percent of devices.

Whichever metrics are objectively accurate, OS 8 uptake is relatively sluggish compared with its ultimate and penultimate predecessors. Why? The botched and quickly pulled iOS 8.0.1 update, or for that matter the bugs it had been intended to fix, didn’t help, and there’ve been reports that the 8.0.2 update Apple hustled out to replace it has not been successful at addressing what is shaping up to be the buggiest iOS version yet. Then there are reports of sluggish performance on older supported devices powered by Apple’s A5 and A5X SoCs, making some users of these machines (me for instance) leery of taking the iOS 8 upgrade plunge, especially since Apple pulled the plug on potential for downgrading to iOS 7.1.2 if one is underwhelmed by how IOS8 performs on their older hardware.