Well over half of users have now upgraded to iOS 8

iOS 8 adoption rates have been a bit of a disappointment for Apple up until now. Things may be starting to turn around, however, with the company’s latest figures showing that its latest mobile operating system is now running on 56% of active iOS devices.

True, that’s still less than the adoption rate of last year’s iOS 7, but the gap is narrowing.

iOS 7, meanwhile, is running on a reported 40% of devices, while earlier iOS versions account for just 5%.

When Tim Cook announced iOS 8 adoption figures at last month’s iPad event, he noted that iOS 8 was installed on 48% of devices. One month later and that figure in now 8% higher — or 2% increase per week. By comparison, in December 2013, iOS 7 was stealing 1 percentage point away from iOS 6 every seven days.

While there’s little chance that iOS 8 will be able to match the 78% adoption rate of iOS 7 devices seen at the end of last year, iOS 8’s recent addition of Apple Pay, combined with unprecedented new iPhone sales, means that iOS 8 adoption isn’t looking quite as stagnant as it did a few weeks back.

Not bad for a mobile OS that scared away many users with early bugs, while also making older iPhones move as if they were stuck in treacle.

Have you upgraded all your devices to iOS 8 yet?

Luke Dormehl

Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.