![\"Apple](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764845174_592_0x0.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDid you upgrade your iPhone to iOS 26 yet? It\u2019s available for all models from the iPhone 11 onwards. But until now, Apple has also readied a version of last year\u2019s iOS 18 so that users reluctant to move to the new OS just yet can stay protected. It looks like that\u2019s just ended. <\/p>\n
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Apple iPhone 16 – are you ready to update to iOS 26?<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cApple is encouraging iPhone users who are still running iOS 18 to upgrade to iOS 26 by making the \u200ciOS 26\u200c software upgrade option more prominent,\u201d MacRumors<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n ForbesiOS 26.2 Release Date: What To Expect And When From The Next Critical iPhone UpdateBy David Phelan<\/a><\/p>\n Until this week, iOS 18 updates have been the default choice, with iOS 26 offered further down the page in Settings. <\/p>\n \u201cStarting today, that’s changing. iOS 18 users who have not upgraded to \u200ciOS 26\u200c will now see iOS 26.1 as the recommended iOS update in the Settings app. iOS 18 updates are still an option, but are now displayed at the bottom of the app,\u201d the report goes on.<\/p>\n While that\u2019s not the same as forcing users to move to iOS 26, the writing is clearly on the wall. <\/p>\n Each iOS 26 update has been accompanied by one for iOS 18, so far. However, while the first two of these were released pretty much at the same time, the latest iOS 18 option, 18.7.2, came several days later, perhaps as a way for Apple to quietly nudge people to iOS 26. <\/p>\n While this doesn\u2019t mean that there won\u2019t be an iOS 18.7.3 release soon after iOS 26.2 goes live later this month (read this<\/a> for exactly when that will be), it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if iOS 26.2 is the only option offered. <\/p>\n This move to encourage people to iOS 26 now suggests to me that the iOS 18 option at the bottom of the page is likely to disappear soon. <\/p>\n Of course, there will be iOS 18 security updates coming in the future, but they may only be offered to users of the three phones which can run iOS 18 but not iOS 26, that is, the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR. Owners of the latest models, iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air, have no choice in the matter: iOS 26 came pre-installed. <\/p>\n