So Few iOS Users Have Upgraded to Improve Messaging Experience

[kenorian]

Not a scientific study, but I'm estimating that only 10 to 20 percent of my Apple using friends have upgraded their OS so that we can mutually enjoy a better texting experience.

What are you finding with your Apple friends? Thoughts why so many haven't upgraded?

 

[Bkdodger1]

I'm pretty sure most people upgraded their OS, I know all my friends including myself upgrade as soon as the update is available

 

[SeeBeeEss]

Not a scientific study, but I'm estimating that only 10 to 20 percent of my Apple using friends have upgraded their OS so that we can mutually enjoy a better texting experience.

What are you finding with your Apple friends? Thoughts why so many haven't upgraded?

My guess would be around 25% for my contacts. However, in all fairness, I did ask some iOS user contacts to enable RCS and had to explain how and why they might want to do so (did someone disable it?). One contact I had to explain how to update their phone to iOS 18 (they had auto updates turned off) so they could then enable RCS. If I hadn't done the leg work with some of my contacts (including one Android user), my experience would be closer to yours.

My guess as to why RCS isn't enabled on all iPhones, is that many of my iPhone contacts live in an Apple-centric world and, being an Android user, I am an outlier in many of their circles. Many of them don't think much or know much about Android or RCS. Many of them aren't really interested in tech in the broader sense and they just want their iPhone to work and are happy that it does so. I also believe that, just like those in the Android world, there are many less technically inclined users who have burned by an automatic update/upgrade and either they, a friend or a family member have turned off automatic updates so they haven't received iOS 18 yet.

 

[mustang7757]

Most of my friends and family have updated but I do tell them there is a new iOS update lol the tech in me

 

[kenworthysonpartor]

Only about 10–20% of Apple users seem to upgrade their OS quickly, likely due to fear of bugs or satisfaction with their current setup. Many avoid updates until necessary. As Ali Ubaid notes, staying updated ensures better performance, security, and overall user experience.

 

[belodion]

staying updated ensures better performance, security, and overall user experience.

You will find many users in iPhone forums who state that updating to the latest version of iOS has worsened performance and overall user experience. Some find themselves unable to revert to the previous version because Apple makes that possible for only a short time.