After using iOS 26 extensively, John Gruber discovered that returning to iOS 18 felt surprisingly slower. The Daring Fireball editor spent two full days using an iPhone 16 Pro running iOS 18.7.7 as his primary device, documenting his experience in a recent post.

Gruber noted that Apple had accelerated numerous system-level animations during the iOS 26 beta cycle, particularly the swipe-up gesture to return to the Home Screen. While these changes initially went unnoticed by many users, the speed difference became glaringly obvious when comparing the two operating systems side by side. The app launching animation received a significant boost in iOS 26 beta 6, making the overall experience feel notably faster.

This speed enhancement proved particularly beneficial for older iPhone models, helping iOS 26 maintain smooth performance across various hardware generations. While some aspects of iOS 26.0 may have caused performance issues, the current iOS 26.4 appears to deliver a consistently faster experience than its predecessor. Gruber's experiment highlights how subtle animation changes can dramatically impact perceived performance.