How to prevent iOS 26 from installing on my iPhone

With iOS 26 rolling out, ...

26 rolled out in September.

You can do Settings > General > Software Update and turn OFF "Automatic updates."

That may turn off the "red dot." Or not.

I had “do not automatically install updates” selected because I like to have bugs ironed out first. Unfortunately, Apple forced me to update anyway. I could not use my iPhone SE until I pressed the update button.

if its too glassy...

Either

Settings, Display & Brightness , Liquid glass, set to Tinted instead of Glassy

Or

one or more of these

Settings, Accessibility, Display & Text size, reduce transparency

Settings, Accessibility, Display & Text size , increase contrast

Settings, Accessibility, Motion, Reduce motion

Settings, Accessibility, Display & Text size , Display Borders

Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

Ah I see you hit the Update button, too late. No way back.

You could have continued using the phone, just leave settings or erase the file as I described, as

i say too late.

Ok, oh well, so far my issues have been relatively minor… thankfully!

You're welcome! Thanks for feeding back.

Schneb wrote:

I had “do not automatically install updates” selected because I like to have bugs ironed out first. Unfortunately, Apple forced me to update anyway. I could not use my iPhone SE until I pressed the update button.

Are you sure? Each ios18 update that you allow often turns auto install and auto download back on. We have to be diligent each update

Is it installed or just waiting to be installed? If it is waiting for you to install you can go to Settings, General, Iphone storage, find the update file, and delete it.

the original pineypl wrote:

Bonus, how do I get the red alert dot to go away from the Settings app?

The only way to do that is to update.