The rate of iOS 16 adoption continues to surprise a week after release

(Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore)

Just a little more than a week after its release, new numbers show that iOS 16 continues to prove popular with iPhone owners. One developer has shared figures that show almost half of their app's users are already running the update, while an analytics company has adoption at around 22%.

According to data shared by Christian Selig, developer of the popular Reddit client Apollo, 49.3% of the app's user base is already running iOS 16. That's more than the 49.1% running iOS 15 while 1.6% are using something older.

Upgrade time

Apple released iOS 16 on September 12 and the installation number shave been increasing ever since. Analytics firm Mixpanel reports that around 22% of iPhones currently have iOS 16 installed, with around 68% running iOS 15.

While Apple's iOS 16 update was released a week ago, all iPHone 14 models that went on sale on September 16 also have the update installed and it's possible that new iPhone buyers are responsible for an increase in adoption figures. However, it's clear that iOS 16's features are driving people to update their existing devices with people keen to test out the new iMessage editing feature, new Lock Screen customization options, and Lock Screen widgets.

Notably, Selig confirmed via tweet that around 7% of Apollo users as of September 19 were using iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max models during the two days prior.

Dang that did not take long, iOS 16 usage has already surpassed iOS 15 usage in Apollo. iOS 14 usage fell in half too. pic.twitter.com/RgeLFdyA5CSeptember 18, 2022

We learned last week that people were already downloading iOS 16 faster than they did iOS 15 this time last year, and that trend looks likely to continue.

Apple's iPhone 14 lineup has proven popular so far, although the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max haven't been without their issues. So far Apple has confirmed that a fix is in the works for a nasty camera bug, while the launch day saw buyers experience problems getting devices activated.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.