More than six months after Apple launched the latest iPhone software cycle, iOS 26, there are still millions of users who have opted to stay on iOS 18. But Apple’s latest releases show that the company is eager for everyone who can to move to iOS 26. That includes the new iOS 26.5, full details of which you can read here .

iPhone Compatibility And Software Support

Apple iOS 26 is supported by every iPhone from the iPhone 11 series onwards, and while those phones could also run iOS 18, Apple stopped making iOS 18 updates available to any phones apart from three which couldn’t also run iOS 26: iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Apple made two recent updates, iOS 18.7.7 and iOS 18.7.8, available to more recent models, too — the security content was so crucial that Apple didn’t want to risk iOS 26 refuseniks being left vulnerable to attacks.

When iOS 26.5 was released on Monday, May 11, those still on iOS 18 wanted to know, would Apple have something they could use as well? The news is that iOS 18.7.9, released at the same time as iOS 26.5, is only compatible with the older trio of phones mentioned above.

Security Risks And The DarkSword Exploit

In other words, Apple’s policy is clear: if you can upgrade to iOS 26, you should. The two surprising releases were in response to particular security threats such as the recent DarkSword exploit.

Though there are more than 60 security holes plugged with the latest releases, Apple seems to have decided that as they are not as severe as DarkSword, that the determination to encourage everyone to move to the latest software pronto.

To be fair, it’s less than a month before Apple unveils the next cycle, iOS 27, at WWDC on June 8, before it’s released in September. In other words, maybe it’s about time to upgrade. Some users had resisted because of a reluctance to embrace the Liquid Glass design of iOS 26. Though the vast majority of users is now on iOS 26, there are still a lot of iPhones that aren’t. For security issues, plus the cool new features such as encrypted messaging between Android and iPhone which just went live, it’s time to upgrade.