So, is it better (faster, stronger, etc) than iOS 18? Everyone says iOS 26 was not good at all and iOS 27 is much better, but it seems like it's fairly simple to make something that's better than iOS 26. A more interesting question is whether it's better than iOS 18? Does anyone have any experience switching from iOS 18 to, say, some beta of iOS 27?
It's "better" if you like eye candy, animations are more drawn out and deliberate. Otherwise they're functionally identical (and has ever been since iPhone X).
For me 26 absolutely chews through battery compared to 18 (I have the last gen iPhone SE). Hopefully 27 doesn't make that worse, but i'm holding off on upgrading. Really took me by surprise.
Definitely made it worse for me. I'm on 15 pro, and when I have anything intensive open (ranging from youtube video ~ games), the phone starts burning through my hand and the battery in it. I would've kept 18 forever, except the camera on the old one died out and replacement came with 26 :(
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You can always read a review:
> The promise of iOS 27 is that it’ll not only unlock new capabilities but also make your existing workflows smoother and quicker.
https://sixcolors.com/post/2026/09/ios-27-review-little-thin...
An update that improves performance on even the oldest supported device is a win.
That's a nice overview, but it seems to compare iOS 27 to iOS 26. Isn't iOS 26 known to be terrible, though? I'd like a comparison to a "known-good" iOS version. Basically I skipped iOS 26 (so I have zero experience with it) and am now wondering whether iOS 27 is any good
> The good news is there are some places where things are just better across the board. In general, iOS 27 feels peppy. I know, we always talk about snappiness, but given the time Apple has spent on improving performance and removing bugs with this release, it’s reassuring to see that it’s borne out by my experience. Apps launch quickly, photos sync faster via iCloud, AirDrop transfers are especially rapid, browsing my NAS via the Files app was downright speedy compared to earlier versions.
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That's dramatically overstating it. iOS 26 was just... alright. It wasn't great. It also wasn't the devil incarnate in a phone. iOS 27 has been legimately good since the early public betas.
I skipped macOS 26 (except on my work laptop, where it’s crap), but I don’t think iOS 26 is significantly worse overall than iOS 18.
Why would I read reviews for "the promise"? So after reading the review, how much has performance improved over 18?
"Better" is subjective. I've been using iOS 27 beta and other than a few bugs it hasn't been that bad. I only had some minor downgrades in Safari UI, but those are minor and personal.
One thing I hated was a downgrade in Photos app on iOS 26 though, that hasn't improved in 27. Unfortunately it seems I was the only one loving Photos on iOS 18.
I did jump from macOS 18 to macOS 27 beta though and Safari's UI is abhorrent.
Did you see 26? Is it even worse than on 26? It is so bad it got me off from binge browsing... so Nice work Apple I guess.
”it seems like it's fairly simple to make something that's better than iOS 26”
Regression to the mean
It improves performance on the oldest iOS device that is supported.
Compared to iOS 18? Or just compared to 26? how so?
> The good news is there are some places where things are just better across the board. In general, iOS 27 feels peppy. I know, we always talk about snappiness, but given the time Apple has spent on improving performance and removing bugs with this release, it’s reassuring to see that it’s borne out by my experience. Apps launch quickly, photos sync faster via iCloud, AirDrop transfers are especially rapid, browsing my NAS via the Files app was downright speedy compared to earlier versions.
https://sixcolors.com/post/2026/09/ios-27-review-little-thin...
I didn't see a single reference to iOS 18 in that article. So while I understand it would be faster than 26, those of us wondering about the comparison to iOS 18 are still in the dark.
most likely they compare it to 26. It is an easy fix then, because they messed it up already compared to 18.