What is the difference between ios 18.6 and ios 26

LD150 wrote:

Let me start - hey everything is great with iOS26.x

...and as part of testing i have restored and reactivated my phone several times without incident, including two recovery mode restores.on sequoia.

It is essential to follow the instructions exactly though.

I too am "hey, everything is GREAT!"

This article explains the differences very nicely. Hope it helps.

https://www.macworld.com/article/2808143/ios-26-vs-18-whats-different-whats-new-update.html

kakuna_ wrote:

i dont know if its too late but NO, DONT DO IT

too late for several hundred million happy users, and any stragglers will find it increasingly difficult to avoid it.

The decision to upgrade is yours.

MANY are running it worldwide w/o issue.

There IS a “normal” learning curve as there is with any major OS upgrade.

Keep in-mind that any major OS upgrade also incurs risks of “growing-pain” problems w/ 3rd party apps.

If you have apps which are critical to you, recommend ensuring that those apps are “26-ready” before upgrading.

Also note that iOS 18.7.1 is now “current” …

… if you choose to delay moving to iOS 26 for now, you should definitely be on 18.7.1

YanW wrote:

1. An update to my previous reply.

iOS 26 has been so bad on my iPhone that I called Apple Support again yesterday.

Their guidance/instructions were :

Make sure I have a local backup (yes, on my Mac Studio)

2. Using a different Mac (in my case, my MBP Pro M3) restore the iPhone - this will ensure that a completely clean version of iOS 26 is installed

3. After iOS 26 has installed, unmount and disconnect the iPhone from the MBP and restore the phone from the local backup on the Studio

This process failed.

My MBP is now displaying the message "The iPhone "iPhone": could not be updated. An unknown error has occurred (75). 067E.004B"

I called Support - they instructed that I perform a hardware reset (+ volume, - volume, press/hold power), and then re-run the Restore process to install iOS 26 again.

This process failed and the same error message is displayed again.

My phone is completely unable to be used - in effect it's been bricked.

Support is now stating that my phone has to be sent in for repair. Support has stated that the phone is, as of now, completely unusable.

Support is now advising that I either have to go to an Apple Store or to send the phone via postal mail for a repair.

EXACTLY the same thing happened when I bought an iPhone 14 for my mother about a month ago. Bought an iPhone 14 directly from Apple; followed the setup instructions to update the phone using my Mac; the update failed; called Support; Support advised that the phone was no longer able to be used and had to be returned; the phone was replaced with a new like-for-like handset.

It seems to me that there are fundamental problems with iOS 26. It's bricking phones. Simple as that.

The only recommendation I can make is to avoid iOS 26 for as long as possible.

I'm sorry your experience hasn't been great. But to advise everyone to avoid updating to iOS 26 because you have experienced issues isn't good advice. There are millions upon millions upon millions of people roaming around with iOS 26, iPad OS 26, WatchOS 26, MacOS 26, with ZERO issues. I have updated every device in our home to the current 26.1 update and there have been NO issues at all. No one I know personally is having issues.

So again, I'm sorry you've had issues, but it's just not good advice to advise others to avoid using the new update because you have had issues.